December 16, 2019 - Raising World Children

Uplifting Children’s Books for Christmas 2019

Festive season is around us. What a wonderful time to enjoy beautifully illustrated books that teach our kids values and entertain them as well. Here is a list of books for Christmas 2019. Please note the links mentioned are aff links. Please make sure to leave reviews to encourage the authors to create more value based stories.

Make sure you give your child the gift of values and festive atmosphere.

The Elf Who Couldn’t Read

Show kids how magical reading is and teach them that every expert was once a beginner, perseverance is the key to success and practice makes perfect.

Arial The Secrete Santa

Follow Arial through her day at school, in her community, in nature where your child will learn how easy it can be to share kindness. From giving a compliment to smiling at someone who’s having a bad day, Arial shows children that words and act of kindness MATTER, no matter how small!

The Festive Flamingo

Enjoy the benefits of meditation with journeys that spark the imagination. Build a magical camel out of snow, learn to ice-skate with the woodland animals and create an exciting game for the elves. Enjoy many traditional Christmas activities with a twist!

When the Clock Strikes on Christmas Eve

Written in a rolling rhythm and brought to life with a vibrant illustration style, the Christmas season feels magical as every hour passes. A clock on every page introduces kids to telling time. The candy canes on every illustration reinforce counting and will have your kids looking for details on every page.

Santa’s Reindeer

Take a journey to the North Pole where Santa’s Reindeer share their unique personalities.While they are all very different, their shared passion for Christmas brings them together to make the holidays a magical time for children around the world.

A Christmas Cookie Exchange

This sweet holiday story has a powerful message of self-love and acceptance, showing children that character and self-confidence matter. It’s perfect for reading aloud, early learners, elementary classrooms, plus anyone who loves holiday cookies!

Little Squirrel Squish

Little Squirrel Squish Gets His Christmas Wish Little Squirrel Squish wished all his life to be part of santas flying crew. But only reindeer were allowed. He liked to dress up in his shiny nose and antlers. This year he decided to follow his wish and his life was never the same again.
A fun and festive story that will delight children of all ages.

Never Let a Unicorn Met a Reindeer

A story about a little girl that wants a reindeer for her birthday!

Put a unicorn and a reindeer together and let the games begin! Read this book to the kids at bedtime and you will spark their imagination as they dream up all the ways that unicorns and reindeer might collaborate on future projects!

Christmas Celebrations in Multicultural Homes Around the World

Christmas is one of the few global celebrations that touches every home. Today we take a look at some of the different ways this occasion is acknowledged in multicultural homes around the world. A sneak peak into the lives of those who have let the spirit of Christmas into their homes in-spite of it not necessarily being from their own culture even. Be prepared to smile with joy.

At home we celebrate Christmas Eve by eating a huge dinner of diverse dishes from Venezuela, the US and Germany. On Christmas Day, we adopt the American style and have again a nice family meal and open presents from Santa Claus.
We are a Venezuelan/American family living in Germany.

Flor Garcia

We love creating space every night of December to reflect as a family and to sing villancicos ( traditional Christmas Spanish songs)!! I remember doing it as a child and for me is so important that my children learn those songs also!!!
I grew up with the Catholic tradition of Las Novenas!!!

Johana C Castillo-Rodriguez

At home, we start our celebration with Advent and counting down the days to Christmas. On Christmas day we celebrate with a multicultural (Southern and Puerto Rican) meal and opening gifts. We keep our Christmas tree up through January 6th because we celebrate Epiphany “Día de Reyes” (Three Kings Day/Day of the Magi) my son cuts some grass and places it in a box (and the magi leave a gift behind). What is fun about celebrating Epiphany is that he’s already back in school and we continue to celebrate the holidays!

Frances Evans

We read books and sing in both Spanish and English throughout the month of December. We usually have a church service Christmas Eve, wherever we are. When in the US, Christmas Eve is a quiet night in front of a fireplace. When in Peru, the weather is hot and we have fireworks at midnight, when most families eat dinner together here.

Elisabeth Alvarado

At home in North Carolina, we attend festivals with Santa and Latino festivals with the traditional food, songs and dance. We celebrate Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) with the Ecuadorian traditions and celebrate Christmas Day with the American traditions.

Linda López-Stone

As a Muslim convert living in the UK, I do not celebrate Christmas in my own home. However, my family are Catholic so we go to see them on Christmas day. We exchange gifts and have a big roast turkey dinner. We eat Christmas pudding and mince pies. Then we sit down to watch the Queen’s speech. The rest of the day is spent playing board games and watching Christmas TV specials. On boxing day we go to see the Mummers performing out in the street. This is an old English tradition. The actors wear costumes made out of shredded newspaper and act out a play and sing songs!

Weronika Ozpolat

In Australia is common to serve seafood. As it’s summer at Christmas its quite refreshing to have seafood with salads instead. Plus you’re not adding to the heat of the day by using the oven!

Kathleen Trewin

Siena decorates its streets with Christmas lights and Christmas trees so there will be plenty of opportunities to take lots of holiday photos with your family. The church bells ringing, the chestnuts roasting and the holiday lights sparkling will surely bring joy to kids and parents alike. You will also find a traditional nativity scene as well as a giant and real Christmas tree in Piazza del Campo. And if you’re lucky enough, you might be able to see the March of the Santas!

Read celebrations in Sienna by Carmela

Many Filipinos attend the “misa de gallo”, a Roman Catholic mass celebrated around midnight of Christmas Eve. After the mass, church goers would eat special Christmas desserts such as “puto bumbong” ( a purple rice cake sprinkled with coconut and brown sugar) and “bibingka” (a glutinous rice cake with margarine and sugar). The traditional Christmas drink is called “mainit na tsokolate”, a hot chocolate drink made with tablea cacao and peanut butter.

Carmela Granada

Every Christmas eve, my Indian friends and I get together and treat the kids to some presents from each other. We enjoy a mutli -cuisine meal as the food is provided by different households and take pictures with the Christmas tree. On Christmas Day, my kids bid farewell to the mischievous elf “Rudy” who comes to our home December 1 and open the lovely presents with all their excitement. The day passes in fun and evening we go around looking at Christmas lights around the city.

Aditi Wardhan Singh