11 days: Christmas stories

We collect Christmas books. Every year for St. Nicholas Day we give a book to Calvin for us to share together year after year. We write in them each year, inscribing the opening pages with a message of love and a date. We're only up to six books at this point, but we also have a few favorites from our own childhoods that transport us to those early days of Christmas joy.

2006: The Snow Tree, by Caroline Repchuk

2007: The Night Before Christmas, by Clement C. Moore, illustrated by Bruce Whatley

2008: Amazing Peach, A Christmas Poem, by Maya Angelou

2009: Good King Wenceslas, by John M. Neale and Tim Ladwig

2010: The Polar Express, by Chris Van Allsburg

2011: The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, by L. Frank Baum, illustrated by Charles Santore and the full version, too.