Santa's First Christmas by Mac Barnett illustrated by Sydney Smith

Santa has been delivering presents to children all over the world for years, but he has never had his own Christmas celebration. After prompting by a bear who lives near the North Pole, his elves are determined to fix this and to give Santa the best Christmas ever with presents, a feast, a huge Christmas tree, lights and of course a celebration with the best company of all. 

There are some sweet touches in this story - such as when the elves deliver breakfast in bed to Santa on Christmas morning - fresh doughnuts; when Santa and the elves decorate the tree with gingerbread pigs; and when they make biscuits to leave out with a glass of milk for 'you know who'.  Santa settles back to read a famous story 'he had a broad face and a little round belly that shook when he laughed, like a bowl full of jelly'. 

But who is going to arrive with the presents? And what will Santa receive?

You will love their Christmas feast:

"For the table was set with mince pies and pudding and rolls and roasts, Brussels sprouts, gravies, horseradish sauce, sparkling crystal glasses filled with milled wine, a yule log, poached pears, candy canes, several pies, and a ginger stout cake, powdered with sugar and six layers high."

Santa's First Christmas was published in 2024 and this week my friend gifted me a copy for Christmas 2025. 

There are so many Christmas books and of course so many that I love but this one is TRULY special partly because, amazingly, it is an utterly fresh story and partly or perhaps mainly because Hans Christian Andersen Award winning illustrator Sydney Smtih has created utterly delightful illustrations. Even the cover has a special feature called spot varnish. There is one double spread in this book (with no words) that made me gasp!

Cozier than a roaring fire and sweeter than milk and cookies, this earns its “Christmas classic” stripes with flying colors. Kirkus Star review

I am sure you have seen lots of other splendid books by Mac Barnett. I love Extra Yarn, 20 questions, Billy Twitters and his Blue Whale Problem, and Just Because. Read more here. I have talked about Sydney Smith extensively on this blog (click on the label at the bottom of this post).

Look for this book in your local or school library - it is also by Mac Barnett:

A Medieval Feast by Aliki

Blurb: The King is coming to visit! For the lord and lady of Camdenton Manor, the announcement from the palace is an awesome challenge. The King travels with his Queen and court: rooms must be readied, tents set up, fields fenced for the royal horses-and above all, there is the great feast to concoct.The preparations take weeks. There is hunting and hawking, milling and baking, brewing and churning .... Then, in the great vaulted kitchen, the cooking begins in earnest! One after another the sumptuous dishes emerge -- succulent roasts, birds baked in Pies, and fantastic sculptures of pastry and marzipan. And to the music of minstrels, while jugglers juggle and jesters jest, the guests in the Great Hall eat their way through it all. The lord gives his King a feast to remember!With A Medieval Feast Aliki creates a joyful extravaganza to bring the character and colour of a distant world tantalisingly close.

The illustrations in this book match the medieval setting with illuminated letters and pretty embellishments on each page. There are also tiny captions for each illustration.  The story is set in 1400. You can see inside this book here. 

I spied this book in a school library yesterday and I knew it would be the perfect companion book to pair with The Amazing Meals of Martha Maloney. Sadly, though, I do need to report this book very ole but you might find a copy for sale. It was first published in 1983. How lucky the library I visited had kept it all this time. 

About Aliki. She was born in 1929 and is the author of some fabulous books. I found a list of all her titles.  Here are a few you might find in a school or public library: