Best Christmas Ever: The First Donkey In the Living Room Book Arrives in the Mail

Two years ago, I hit the book section of a big box store in search of a fun family book that would help set the stage for Christmas.

I wanted to do more than ring in retail-Christmas, the kind that makes store aisles explode with lights and garland and “CLEARANCE” signs. But to gather up my family around meaning and hope. To scratch the surface of the sacred, special holy Christmas…the one fused to a God who chose to commune with humankind.

What I found:

• A few books (one was an international best-seller) that touted variations of the “be-good-so-Santa-will-bring-you-presents” plot line. (Cute, but holy smokes do my kids already have enough toys.)
• A skimpy handful of nativity story books–nothing that stood out, some poorly illustrated, some whose text lacked much connection to spirituality, and most near-carbon-copies of the others.

I went home without spending a dollar.

That afternoon, as I googled my brain about what-great-thing-was-missing, I found myself nostalgically retracing my childhood Christmas experiences. And before long, I was reminiscing about a specific tradition my parents had introduced to my brothers and I as a child.

Every night, my brothers and I would open a figurine from the nativity. And every night, we would crawl up on my dad’s lap as he told us the Christmas story from that character’s perspective. (Imagine sheep baa-ing on and on about the bright lights they saw in the sky.) 

This was IT. THIS was the Christmas book I wanted my kids to insist on reading over and over again.

We’d read about Jesus via the lamb, Jesus via the Shepherds, Jesus via the Donkey, Jesus via Mary. But mostly, we would read about JESUS. Every single night.

With caffeine in hand, I immediately got to work piecing together bits of story-ideas and stock illustrations around this tradition. And by the next morning, I was telling my friends about The Donkey In the Living Room, originally intended to be a gift for my own kids, as well as my nieces and possibly my parents. That’s when my friends started buying 3 or 4 copies at a time for every niece and grandkid they had…all the while totally unworried about the book’s ragged, self-published simplicity. 

Because, as I quickly learned, not many healthy parents really wants to sum up the Christmas spirit with dodgy encouragements to their kids to “be good enough” to get presents. (Perfectionism complex, anyone?)

And not many parents want to make the biggest promise about Christmas a pledge to fill their kids’ shelves and toy boxes (and by that I mean your floors, your stairs, your bathtubs) with MORE toys. More tribute to Disney and Pixar and this show and that movie.

What if, in addition to all that other childhood fun, in addition to those unwrapped toys and mealtime celebrations, family Christmas could be about sitting together? About cuddling close. About reading in hushed and then excited tones about the-God-born-Jesus every night of the season, year after year, until the kids won’t sit on our laps anymore?

And now a recap of what’s happened since: In a few weeks, with just a single press release and a few social media posts, the book was launched and made it to the list of top selling Christmas books for kids on Amazon.

Shortly after that Christmas passed, a friend put me in touch with a children’s publishing rep at B&H Kids and from there the vision grew into something that makes me pause and breathe in wonder when I think of it.

This year, the book released as a fully-illustrated hardback that is available alone (to use with ANY nativity set) or with a boxed manger scene whose figurines match those in the book.

I know that makes it another toy, in one respect. There’s no getting around that. But the idea that parents might have a simple tool, that families around the country might gather up their little ones on laps and say the name of Jesus over and over and over and over as Christmas fills their home…man, knowing thousands of families might do that is plenty enough goodness to last a lifetime of Christmases for me.

So this week, the week after my children received the first ever Donkey In the Living Room boxed gift set, I wanted to share some of their childlike wonder as they poured over the book and figurines (see photos I snapped below).

And I wanted to point you to where you can pre-order the e-book by itself or the book with manger scene, to ensure the kids in your life can get one this year if you so desire (they will be shipped to you September 1st).

I hope you and yours enjoy it half as much as we do.

Best Christmas Books for Kids