The Donkey in the Living Room: A Tradition that Celebrates the Real Meaning of Christmas

That most wonderful season is upon us, the holiday shopping season. The approach of Christmas and my son's third birthday has created a perfect storm in our house of pointing out all the toys he desires. If he had his way, the local Toys R Us would be liberated of all its cars, trucks, trains and vehicles of any kind. (Thank goodness Isaiah is not old enough to participate yet.)I understand one of the exciting elements of the holiday season for kids is the presents. I don't want to rob him of that, but it does concern me that he has so easily succumbed to the hyper-consumer spirit of the age. His requests are a regular reminder that we will need to be extra intentional about teaching him what Christmas is all about.Since this is the first year the little guy will be old enough to comprehend some of the finer elements of Christmas, we will implement some new traditions just for him to highlight the reason for our celebration. While I’ve always thought the Christmas birthday cake was a little cheesy, we will be doing a cake because it will help him understand we are celebrating Jesus' birthday. And we'll be bringing a donkey into the living room.The Donkey in the Living Room is a children's book written by Sarah Cunningham based on a Christmas tradition from her childhood. In the days leading up to Christmas, her family would set up the manger scene one character at a time. Each day they unwrapped one character and told the Christmas story from that character's perspective.She mentioned her family’s tradition on her blog last year, and I remember thinking I wanted to give it a try. I had no idea she would to make it so easy for me. The Donkey in the Living Room tells the Christmas story in ten simple poems, each from the perspective of a different character in your nativity. In the end you will hear from Mary, the donkey she rode, a camel and a cow, the sheep and shepherds, angels, the magi, Joseph and finally Jesus.As I read the final poem, the story from Jesus’ perspective, I couldn’t help but get a little misty thinking about reading this with Caiden and Isaiah in the coming years.

I bought this thinking it was just another children's book about the Christmas Story. It is so much more than that. It is a great way to bring excitement and life into the story of the birth of Jesus, with your children. And since there are little bits that are done daily over several days, it is a good alternative to Elf on the Shelf, for those who are looking for one. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5, is because of the confusion that could be created in where the wise men's part of the story takes place in this book. Their part of the story is told before baby Jesus (which makes sense for the book because baby Jesus' part of the story is the "grand finale" and is told on Christmas Day), but this could create confusion for little ones since the wise men did not appear to see Baby Jesus until much later after his birth (some say two years).

I gave this book 4 stars because of its cutesy poem. I was looking forward to seeing how the story would be told and I enjoyed the story. I just think something was lost when the story was so cutesy. It is amazing how young children can handle such a spiritual story when we give them the chance. There is a series of bible storytelling books for children that is called, Godly Play and this story, The Donkey In The Room had me hoping for a family experience of the Christmas story. I do like the concept and I can see a way to add characters to last longer than 9 days. I also come from a tradition that celebrates the 12 days of Christmas and Epiphany. I am glad I bought the ebook version.

I started this with my first child and as our family grew to include another, this has caused all levels of excitement in the days leading up to Christmas. I found wrapping a piece for each child was helpful and taping them together so that taking out the applicable day's pieces is easy.

I gave The Donkey in the Living Room to my toddler grandson. I know this gift will bring many memories in the future. I love sharing the Good News of the birth of Jesus with our grandson!

This book is super cute and a great alternative to Elf on the Shelf if you dont want to do that. We got the Elf this year but my son didnt love it so My mom bought this us after Christmas and we will try this next year and maybe just sit the elf out.

I cannot recommend this book enough! This book tells the story of Christmas using the pieces of a nativity set. The idea (as explained at the beginning) is to wrap up each day's character(s) and have your child (children) open them, one each day, and read the corresponding story in the book. The illustrations are lovely, and the story is wonderful. I am so excited to share this with my kids, and I can't wait to get out my Christmas decorations so that we can wrap up the figures and explain to the kids what we'll be doing this year! It's such a great way to share the meaning of Christmas with my family, in a fun and meaningful way, and to begin a new tradition. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing a part of your childhood with all of us!

What an awesome idea for a children’s book! Now that I have read the book, I can’t wait to have my son open the different characters in the 9 days leading up to Christmas. For small children, I would recommend having that many days to read it before Christmas because it is quite a bit of reading for 1 day. Breaking it into nine days gives you a little snippet for each day.

it was a great story for children. It would also be great to sell it with the animals used in the story as well. A great add on. I found my own characters for the story to use.

This will be a great family tradition.