6 Great Children's Books this Christmas

One of my favorite things is to snuggle with my kids and read - and even more so during Advent and the Christmas season. All you need are books and a willing lap and you've got yourself some quality family time, growing security for your kids, and rest for the soul.

Since I've got a wide range of ages with my kiddos (19 months, 4 and 8 and a half) we also have a wide range of books floating around the house. The chewed-on board books, super-brightly illustrated ones and chapter books. I love them all.

I picked my 6 favorite ones to read and to give as gifts this season. A good book-gift doesn't take up much space and encourages a slowing down and closeness with our little people.

Three of the six are by the author Sally Lloyd-Jones and they are fantastic! Centered on God as the hero - they are well-written and the  illustrations are beautiful: "Song of the Stars": a great Christmas story.  "The Jesus Storybook Bible" is a perfect meta-narrtive way of reading the bible and "Thoughts to Make your Heart Sing" are little one-page thoughts that...make your heart sing!

"Olive, The Other Reindeer" was given to my daughter, Olive, and it's a great whimsical twist on the reindeer adventures.

"Christmas in Camelot" is a fun chapter book in The Magic Treehouse series that Robby has loved for reading to himself or a parent out loud.

"Snowmen at Night" is a board book that tells the adventures of what snowmen do while we are all sleeping.

Happy gift-giving! What are your favorite Christmas books?