Christmas story countdown (part 2)

Last week I posted the first set of books the boys opened for our Christmas Story countdown. Here's the next installment!

Room for a Little One a Christmas Tale by Martin Waddell, is a beautifully illustrated version of the Christmas story as told by the "kind ox" who let Mary enter the stable.

Olive the Other Reindeer by J. Otto Seibold and Wivian Walsh. I think this is one of my favorite non-traditional Christmas stories. Olive is a dog who hears "All of the other reindeer" and thinks it is Olive the other reindeer. So she goes to the North Pole to help Santa deliver toys.

Rocking Horse Christmas by Mary Pope Osborne. A young boy gets a rocking horse for Christmas. They have many adventures together, but then the boy grows too old for the horse. He is left in the attic until one day the boy's own son finds the horse.

Christmas Tapestry by Patricia Polacco, is written slightly above the level of my boys, but is a great Christmas story. A preacher and his family moves to a new parish. Things seem to be getting better until a big storm that causes a hole in the church wall. The preacher's son finds a piece of tapestry that he wants to buy to cover the hole. On their way home they meet a woman who turns out to be the person who made the tapestry many years earlier. She is a Jewish woman who was separated from her husband in the Holocaust. Come to find out her husband was also in the town and was the person who was coming to plaster the wall. It shows how intertwined our lives actually are is you look closely at the pieces.


Franklin's Christmas Gift by Paulette Bourgeois and Brenda Clark. Franklin learns that it is truly better to give than receive as he decided what toy of his to give up to a local toy drive.