25 Heartwarming Christmas Stories for Children
These beautiful Christmas stories for kids are perfect for reading together throughout the holiday season, on Christmas Eve, or as part of your family’s Christmas morning tradition. Reading Christmas books can create joyful memories as families reflect on the true meaning of Christmas and spend quality time together over the holidays.
I have so many fond memories of reading Christmas books with my family growing up and now I get to pass on that love of reading and Christmas to my kids by sharing my favorite Christmas books! This list has ideas for short, simple reads and longer read aloud options. If you select a longer book you can always break up reading it into multiple sessions. (Use my Kids Christmas Bible Verse bookmarks to help mark your place!)
Creating a Christmas book tradition
One way to get in the holiday spirit as a family is to create a Christmas story book tradition. This is a great way to help kids keep up with reading skills over Christmas break as well. You can do this a couple of ways–whatever works best for your family!
- Wrap 25 Christmas books and place them under the tree. Unwrap and read one day from December 1st to Christmas Day. Each year your collection of books can grow and you reuse old books. You could also borrow library books to wrap up as well! (Just be sure to renew them through the holidays!) I love the fun and surprise of this method! Plus opening presents is always fun.
- Place all your Christmas books out in a basket or on a special shelf. Give your kids free access to pick a book each night to read. They may pick the same book over and over! But I like this way because my kids can enjoy ALL the books ALL season long! (Which is what bothers me about the opening one a night method.)
- Draw a book. I’m going to try this method this Christmas to ensure we read ALL the Christmas books together AND we have access to all the books throughout Christmas! Write a small number 1-24 on the inside of the books. You can read them in order matching the date or draw a number out of a hat each night to read together.
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25 Christmas Stories for Kids to Read This Christmas
Heartwarming Christmas Stories
Here are some books that will tug at your heartstrings! You may even shed a tear. These books teach moral lessons or may have church service elements, but aren’t overtly Christian or Jesus-focused.
Best Christmas Pageant Ever
A great read aloud book filled with classic characters and antics! The end of the story is incredibly sweet as we see the Herman children begin to embrace the birth of Jesus as the true meaning of Christmas. This is a short chapter book.
A Certain Small Shepherd
This book never fails to make me weep. My parents read it to their five children every Christmas season and now we’re reading it to my own children underneath the Christmas tree lights each year too! The story of Jamie, who doesn’t talk, his family and community in rural Appalachia, a snowstorm, and a Christmas miracle. This book isn’t long, but we normally break it up into two readings for our
Christmas Farm
A cozy book that highlights neighborliness, care, and working together. I love that it incorporates math skills, farming, and patience as the young boy and his neighbor grow Christmas trees over 5 years together. This story will be read time and time again and has beautiful illustrations and storytelling that draws in young and old alike!
Apple Tree Christmas
I love this story of a little girl and her family working together to harvest their apples in the fall and how a tragedy leads to joy on Christmas morning. This book is one of my absolute favorite Christmas stories from childhood! It has Little House on the Prairie vibes!
Red and Lulu
This Christmas story is perfect for little ears, but older kids will love it too. Red and Lulu are two happy cardinals who find themselves separated when their pine tree gets taken down. The search leads them to New York City and a very special Christmas tree. This book includes lots of gorgeous illustrations of NYC and some great information at the end about the Rockefeller Christmas Tree.
The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
In this heartwarming story a young couple with little money gets resourceful to create meaningful gifts for each other at Christmas. Sacrificial gift-giving is a theme of this book and it is better to give than receive.
The Little Red Sleigh
This is a super cute story of a little red sleigh who wants to become Santa’s sleigh. It’s a great lesson in patience and perseverance. It’s a great reminder for kids (and grown-ups) who often want to rush ahead that “life builds up one thing at a time.”
An Orange for Frankie
This sweet book is set in the 1930s in Michigan. A young boy and his family care for the less fortunate while waiting for their father to return through a snowstorm with Christmas Eve oranges. Compassion and unselfishness are highlighted throughout this family story.
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree
A family works together to bring home the perfect balsam tree for Christmas to their little Appalachian village. This is such a sweet story of resilience and family working together. This story is a little longer, but can also be broken up into multiple readings.
Christ Centered Christmas Stories
These stories are distinctively Christian and tell the story of the Christmas nativity centered on Jesus birth.
The First Christmas Night
The story of Jesus birth is told in the traditional Night Before Christmas rhyme along with beautiful illustrations. I love reading this one every Christmas Eve with my kids! Great for all ages!
God Gave Us Christmas
This is such a cute and classic story that helps kids understand the real meaning of Christmas when little cub asks “Is Santa more important than Jesus?”. Together mama bear and her cub take a journey to see God all around them. This is a beautiful story that shows many apsects of God’s character and how Jesus is the best gift!
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
Widow Jensen and her young son connect with old grumpy Jonathan to watch him carve some Christmas figurines for their manger scene. Old Jonathan’s heart grows as he spends time with the little boy and brings redemption on Christmas morning.
Humphrey’s First Christmas
Humphrey is a sassy camel who comes with the wise men on their long journey to greet the newborn king in Bethlehem. This picture book is a great way to reflect on the wise men and their part of the Christmas story in a lighthearted way.
The Crippled Lamb
This story is about a crippled, orphan lamb named Joshua. Unable to do many of the things the other sheep did, Joshua often feels lonely and left out. But during a miraculous night Josh learns that “God has a special plan for those who feel left out” and gets a front row seat to the most amazing night in the stable. Great illustrations and message for kids!
The Littlest Watchman
Benjamin is a junior shepherd who is charged with watching over a stump whose new growth would herald the arrival of the rescuing Savior. He gets the chance to see the sky light up and hear the angels sing which leads him to the newborn baby Jesus.
Song of the Stars
A sweet story, perfect for littler ones. Told in the beautiful style of Sally Lloyd Jones (of the Jesus Storybook Bible) along with gorgeous illustrations this will quickly become a family favorite.
The Christmas Promise
This book is from the Tales that Tell the Truth series and is the perfect introduction to Jesus as God’s promise kept to the world! It’s illustrations are super engaging and the words are rooted in Biblical truth. There are also discussion questions for parents at the end.
The Legend of the Candy Cane
A little girl and a new-to-towner work together to make Christmas candy canes and he tells her the story of the legend of the candy cane and how their unique stripes came to be. I love how this story brings Christ into this well-known Christmas candy–a great reminder and talking point throughout the season. Also, would be fun to match this book up with hot chocolate with candy cane stirrers!
Holy Night and Little Star
This magical story is the retelling of the Bethlehem narrative from the perspective of a small star who shines in the night sky of Bethlehem. The colors in it are vivid and it’s a great imaginative story with themes of courage and faith.
Jesus Calling: The Story of Christmas
This is a classic retelling of the Christmas story from God’s original promise of a Rescuer to Abraham to the prophets to Mary and Joseph to Jesus’ birth. It includes “Jesus calling” messages written like God is speaking directly to children along with prose retellings of the classic Christmas stories. This can be read in one sitting or each story separately for a shorter attention spans.
Classic Books and Christmas Stories
A Christmas Carol
Because I enjoy the muppets movie version best, I love this bright and colorful muppets version that is basically a word-for-word rendition of the movie. If you want the classic text with a twist, check out the Little Christmas Carol. While most of the text is unchanged the story is told with bunnies! Any way you read it the Christmas carol book is a great Christmas read of the miser Mr. Scrooge, the ghosts of Christmas, and sweet tiny Tim. I love the emphasis on joy and generosity!
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
This is a great book my kids love to read over and over again! The classic rhyme of the grumpy grinch (quite similar to Mr. Scrooge!) whose heart grows three sizes when he hears the relentless cheer and Christmas spirit of the Who-villagers.
The Polar Express
This classic Christmas story shares the magical Christmas Eve train journey of a young boy to the North Pole to meet Santa. He receives a bell from Santa’s sleigh to remember this magical night. It would be fun to pair reading this book with getting a silver Christmas bell ornament for your own tree!
The Night Before Christmas
This classic Santa Claus tale has beautiful illustrations to accompany the classic Christmas poem. It’s always a fun read at Christmas time!
The Long Winter
This would be a great read-aloud for Christmas season going into the rest of the winter. Chapter 18 is entitled Merry Christmas and could be a great stand alone read for the holidays. There are 33 chapters total in the book so you could also start reading around Thanksgiving and finish closer to Christmas and the end of the month.
I hope you enjoy a Merry Christmas season reading these beautiful stories together!
What is one of your can’t miss Christmas books to read together?
