This is a sweet tale of a curmudgeonly woodcarver and his advent journey through carving a nativity scene. The pictures by P.J. Lynch add a beauty and depth to the experience.

While not the cheeriest of stories, this certainly is a heartwarming tale of love and sacrifice for those we love.

This became a favorite after owning it for years without children and thinking it a bit cheezy. My perspective changed because there is nothing like hearing your child be able to tell the gospel — and want to — every time he sees a candy cane. I guess that’s why we’ve created a soft spot for this book that tells of anticipation and the sacrifice Christ came to make on our behalf.

This is a classic, obviously. My love for Dickens grows every time I read him and this edition has broadened my appreciation for his lesser-known Christmas writings.

Given our journey of “is Santa real?” one year I hesitated to read it, but have fond memories of my own childhood. We will keep it in our collection and look forward to enjoying this young girl’s question to the New York Sun and Church’s response.

The marriage of art with scripture is a beautiful reminder of the worship of the Savior throughout the ages. It is also good for picture study depending on your current artist.

While I don’t always appreciate the colloquial liberties of Max Lucado, there was something that struck me about this book and the perspective it took on those around the Christ child. The posture of waiting gave me pause as I considered these different perspectives. In the prayer of Mary, “God, O infant-God. Heaven’s fairest child. Conceived by the union of divine grace with our disgrace. Sleep well.”

I know this book has become ubiquitous, but I remember very few knowing about it in my friend group growing up, so did not think a “best of” list would be complete without it. After hearing a lot of high praise for the movie we folded and saw the movie with extended family last year and were disappointed, but still read and reread this as my youngest is going through the obligatory train obsession of many two-year-old boys.

This is the reason my Santa-loving son calls him “Saint Nicholas” at all times. He knows that Nicholas was real no matter what, so figures he has a better chance getting his military tanker toy from him. All joking aside, this story draws the reader in to the generosity and virtue behind the legend.

I never thought I’d be the parent who did not encourage belief in Santa. I always grew up with it and assumed it would be a part of our family tradition. Long story short, we decided it would not be, but that we would introduce it as “something we enjoy pretending together.” I have been amused to have conversations with my four-year-old son to find out that he refuses to NOT believe. He is all in on the whole Santa situation. We’ve decided to just let him have it. When he asks what is real we go back to short answers referencing “imagine” and “pretend” and figure the innocence of childhood and imagination only lasts so long no matter how far you take it.

Best known for “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” Wiggin’s tale of this sweet family is right up there for me. I used to read it to my fourth grade class every year and is a sweet memory with each class I cherish. I look forward to my boys being old enough to read this, but hopefully your family can benefit of this tale of virtue and Christmas joy.

This was in a stack of books from my dad’s childhood that my grandma gave to me because no one else wanted. Along with several others that have become favorites, this is just sweet and my boys want to reread every time!

While this is generally the life of Christ, and could also be pertinent for Lent and Resurrection celebrations, this is a beautiful overlay between two of my favorite artists, Giotto and L’Engle.

One disclaimer is that there is a graphic scene of Herod’s decree of the death of the firstborn.

Many of Cooney’s books she has illustrated are a part of our regular reading. This tale of a little girl and the town tradition of providing a Christmas tree will leave your heart warmed, yet your eyes won’t be dry.

This gave our family a great appreciation for all the hard work our local tree farm goes through to provide us with the perfect tree every year!

A cat, a dog, and a donkey leave their lives of loss behind to follow a caravan of kings. My oldest is struck by this story and has asked so many good questions about the birth of Christ as a result of reading this. A caveat I will give is that there is talk of abuse of the animals and that humans can not be trusted. There are several books by this name, but this is the specific one we have.