My Favorite Christmas Tradition: the Book Stack

I am always working to add to the culture of reading in our home, curating our bookshelves with a wide variety of books.

One of my favorite things to do is wrap a stack of new (to them) books with some ribbon & place them front & center for Christmas morning. This simple gift becomes a fun first moment for the kids on that festive morning. They don't have to unwrap them in order to see what is in their book stack & those books usually buy us enough time to get the espresso machine warmed up & a warm double-shot Americano poured into our mugs.

Where to Buy Books for a Christmas Book Stack

I am a bargain-buyer. I will watch the price of a book for months until it hits what I consider a good price. This usually happens on Amazon most, but many other book sites follow their lead.

• ThriftBooks.com - If you follow this referral link & spend $30, we will both get a free book reward! I buy regularly from this site. We follow a largely book-driven curriculum, so I use this site to procure books at a better price. And buying used books allows me to fill up their stack a little more than if I bought all of them new. Plus, I earn a free book reward at regular intervals & free books are always fun!
• Christian Bookstores - I recently wrote this blog post highlighting some of the best online Christian bookstores I've found over the years. I am really dedicated to bringing high-quality, theologically-rich books into my kids' lives.
• Brick & Mortar bookstores - If you can find an independent one, all the better. We all know these shops are closing regularly, so think about trying to be a regular patron at your local book store. Our local book store even has a great bargain section where my kids have found some treasures. There are also so many used book stores that are so fun to look through!
• Bookshop.org - This is a site that donates the profits of your purchase to independent bookstores. Either you can pick a bookstore that you want your contribution to help or they will send it out evenly to all the stores that are part of the program. The link here is to my "shop," so I get some commission if you shop through that link.
• Amazon - When all else fails, there's always Amazon. It's an affiliate link, so there's that!

What Books to Buy for a Christmas Book Stack

You know your kid best, which means that you know what they're into & also what they might enjoy if given the chance. Here are a few types of books that I've included over the years:

• Picture Books - Sometimes, we borrow a book from the local library that we all just love so much that it merits a permanent place on our shelves. We've found some of our favorites this way. (I've also been able to flip through some & determine that they absolutely should never have been published, but that's beside the point!) I really love when they have beautiful illustrations, teach something (maybe about the weather or about empathy or about a person), and use rich language. If they are laugh-out-loud funny, it gets extra points.
• Classic Comics - When I was a kid, one of my favorite things to do on Sunday was to read the full color comic pages. Peanuts, Garfield, Foxtrot, Family Circus, Dennis the Menace. I also remember having a book of Garfield cartoons that I would read often. I saw one for pretty cheap on ThriftBooks, so I bought it for my kids. They obviously inherited my sense of humor because they all read it together & would take turns having it to read before bed. The following Christmas, I got one more for each of their book stacks! I also have a Peanuts treasury to add to one of their stacks this year.
• Discipleship Resources - Whether its devotionals or missionary biographies or books that help build Biblical literacy, I always try to include a few of these books. High-quality Christian books for kids are abundant right now. If you didn't go to that bookstore post from before, feel free to hop over there now!
• Nonfiction Books - My oldest is a HUGE fan of history books. He will read & reread these big books that are packed with facts about battles & weapons & empires. Another of mine went through a major ocean animals phase, so we got a bunch of books about those. My daughter enjoys getting craft books & cookbooks. We've got books full of outdoor activity ideas, I SPY books, books with superhero facts. All that to say, think of something your child loves & find a book that might help them grow in that!

Assemble the Christmas Book Stack

Once you have your collection of books, now it's time to put it all together. I usually keep it really simple with a bit of ribbon in one of their favorite colors. You could definitely wrap each one, but with 4 kids, I'm usually just about out of wrapping paper at this point!

After they're wrapped (minimally or not so much), I place them front & center by the Christmas tree, so it's the first thing the kids see (unless we get them new snow toys).

I hope this gave you an idea to use in your own family. I just started this a couple Christmases ago, so don't think you've missed the boat on some grand Christmas tradition handed down from my grandmother or something.

I also understand that lots of us are already done shopping for the kiddos, so save this idea for next year. Or maybe use it when they have their next birthday.

It's become a fun little spin on that "Something to Read" gift that people suggest.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cheering you on!

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