9 Favorite Homeschool Christmas Chapter Books and Short Stories

Hi, this is Sheri from the blog OurLifeHomeschooling.com where I share homeschooling encouragement for everyday moms. I'm going to be talking today about our nine favorite Christmas chapter books and short stories. One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to read Christmas stories with my kids. Doing this every year just creates in our family a culture of shared memories of places that we've all been together and stories that we've all enjoyed and we're all familiar with. The great thing about these stories, because chapter books take a little bit of time and short stories also take a couple days to read, you can read them every year and your child will get a little bit more vocabulary or a little bit understand a little bit more of the storyline. So these are chapter books and short stories that I have read over and over again for many years and we'll pick a couple. There are some that my kids insist that I read every year and some that we kind of switch around, but these are just heartwarming stories and are ones that I know our kids will remember for years to come. Almost like when you hear a song from your childhood it brings back a flood of emotions. I think that these stories have that same kind of effect. If you're new to my channel my name is Sherry. I am married to my high school sweetheart Nelson. We have nine kids, one on the way, and I love sharing homeschooling encouragement on my channel and on the blog ourlifehomeschooling.com. If you like the content you see on this channel I would love for you to hit the subscribe button. Every time you subscribe that shows YouTube that this is the kind of content that you would like to see more of. The first book on our list and hands down our favorite is The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. This is a book I read many years ago at the very beginning and it is the one that my kids insist I read every year. I tried one year to skip it and just kind of try some other things and they were not happy with me. They've asked me to read it every year. This is a chapter book. I think there are seven chapters in it. It's a story about the Herdmans who are the terror of the town. It's a family of latchkey kids. They have no father at home. Their mother is working constantly to be able to provide for them. The Herdman kids decide one year that they want to be in the local Christmas pageant which is done every year in the church. The reasons for doing this are that they heard that there were refreshments at church and so they can get juice and cake at church and so they feel like this is reason enough to come join the Christmas pageant. When they come to the practices they hear the Christmas story for the very first time and it's very touching because most of us have heard the real Christmas story many times but through this book you see what it's like to be someone who has heard the Christmas story for the very first time. This book is a tearjerker and just well loved by everyone. The second book on our list is the Little House Christmas Treasury. This is all the sections about Christmas that is taken from the Little House stories. It includes Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, Farmer Boy, On the Banks of Plum Creek, The Long Winter, and These Happy Golden Years. If you like the simplicity of the Little House stories you will love this book. I remember as a child just reading stories about Laura and Mary and how they were so grateful for just little simple things. Getting a cup for Christmas, getting her rag doll, and it takes you to a time that is simpler where as a child you can see and observe the small things and how she makes just a little picture for Mary for Christmas, handmade gifts. So these are well-loved stories and you can find the best parts, the Christmas sections in this book, The Little House Christmas Treasury. The third book on our list is The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street. This is a story about a family living in a brownstone in Harlem and five days before Christmas they find out that their landlord is not going to renew their lease and they don't know why their landlord has this angst against them but the children are doing everything they can to rescue their home so that they don't have to move and this is also just a great story. This is a longer chapter book. It is 300 pages so if you're going to read this one with your kids it's probably good to start at the very beginning of December so you can finish it before Christmas comes. My kids love this book. It's definitely, it's one we've read only one time but it's one we'll definitely come back to. The fourth book is the book The Family Under the Bridge. This is the story of an old gentleman. He is homeless. His name is Armand. It takes place in Paris, France and he's just a grumpy old man but he meets this family of children living under the and these children warm his heart and become his family. This is a short book. It's only 97 pages so it's one you could read in maybe one or two weeks and this is one that I have read and my kids every day we come back to read aloud time. They can't wait for me to start reading to them. The fifth book is a short story and this is A Little Women Christmas. This is a picture book that is adapted from the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. I love the illustrations in this book. They are beautiful and well done and this tells just a short section of the little women's story. Their father is away at war and at the end of the story he comes home. The only thing I do not like about this short story is that it leaves out the part of the book that is I think my favorite part and the most meaningful part which is where Marmee comes across a family of six children and their mother just had an infant. They have no wood for their fire and they have nothing for breakfast on Christmas morning and so Marmee convinces her four girls to take their Christmas breakfast to this mother and her children. This part is not in the picture book so the nice thing about this book is that you can read the illustrated version to younger kids and give them a feel for the story of Little Women at Christmas but if you have older kids you can let everyone look through the illustrations but read the book from chapter two which is the story that includes a lot more details. The fifth story is The Christmas Day Kitten. This is by James Harriot. James Harriot is a veterinarian on the English countryside and he writes stories about his experiences as a vet. This is a short story. It can be read in one sitting. It's about a Christmas kitten who is found as he's out servicing his customers. The kitten comes to life and I don't want to give away too much more of the story but this becomes a very special Christmas present for Mrs. Pickering. The seventh is another short story. This is the story of Little Christmas by George Macdonald. George Macdonald is an old Scottish writer. He's well known for books like The Princess and the Goblin, At the Back of the North Wind. He is an excellent author. This is the story told by Charlie of his uncle Peter who has lost his purpose for living and he finds this girl on the street who is a street sweeper. She's harshly treated by her aunt who is using her as a street sweeper to make money for her alcohol problem and Uncle Peter discovers this girl's name is Chrissy because she was born on Christmas Day and Peter was also born on Christmas Day so they have this in common. He finds new purpose for living by reaching out to Chrissy and buying her a new suit of clothes and taking her home to Charlie and his mother to feed her and care for her. The next book is The Story of Holly and Ivy. This is a book that is written by one of my favorite illustrators Barbara Cooney. She also illustrates Miss Rumpias if you're familiar with that picture book and The Year of the Perfect Balsam Christmas Tree which is also another great picture book. This story is told from three different perspectives. First the perspective of a little doll named Holly who's in a toy shop and all the dolls and toys are talking and they want to be held and loved by a child and be given as a gift to a child this Christmas. The second person in the story is a little girl Ivy who's living in an orphanage and for Christmas Day all the children have been adopted but the caretaker of the orphanage has to go take care of her sister and is not able to be with Ivy on Christmas Day so she is sending her away to the infant's home but Ivy does not want to go to the infant's home on Christmas so she gets off the train at a different stop and she sees this doll in the shop and she wants her. The third person in the story is a young wife a police officer's wife who wants Christmas to be meaningful so she buys a tree this Christmas and she feels like it needs to there's one thing missing in their home and it's children she wants a child a little girl to enjoy Christmas and these three characters end up meeting. In the end Holly's wish and Ivy's wish come true. This is a beautiful story when I read this to my kids they ask me just do a little bit more a little bit more it's a short story it is 30 pages so it will probably take between two to three days to read just read in little sections it's beautiful illustrations so even very young kids can appreciate this because they can look at the picture. The very last book is Wind in the Willows Christmas this is taken from part of the book Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham this is the part in the story where Mole and his friend the rat are out on the countryside after a long day of excursion it's beginning to snow and Mole is smelling something and he knows it's so familiar and he discovers what he is sensing in the air is his home and he's so drawn to it it it smells and its memories are just calling to him and he uncovers his home in the snow this is all about some of the best things that we love about being home for Christmas. He and Rat find the home and they go inside and find something to eat a group of caroling mice stops by and sings carols and they offer them something to eat it's very heartwarming and rich and just a favorite around here. A Wind in the Willows Christmas is about 32 pages so it will also take between you know anywhere from like three to four days to read if you read it in short sections. These are some of our favorite chapter books I hope this gives you some inspiration for reading to your kids this Christmas. Reading together is just something very simple but memorable that you can do with your kids it doesn't cost anything you can get many of these books from the library. If you head on over to the blog I have a full description of each of these as well as links where you can purchase them. Thanks for listening in have a Merry Christmas!