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A Christmas Countdown Your Child Stars In: Six Days Until Christmas

Six Days Until Christmas is a book countdown starring your child: six personalized books, one a night from December 19 to 24. How it works and when to order.

Magic Story

Magic Story Editorial Team

15 min read

A boy in green plaid pajamas gasps at a hardcover of The Spirit Is Everywhere, Book 1 of Six Days Until Christmas, on a window seat beside a carved wooden Santa.
In this article

A Christmas countdown book set gives your child one story to open each night before Christmas. Six Days Until Christmas is ours, and your child is the hero of all of it: six personalized hardcovers, read one each night from December 19 to Christmas Eve. One photo turns your child into the illustrated hero of every book, with their name in the story. Each night they help a carved wooden Santa with one small act of kindness, and the six stories build to a Christmas Eve finale. The books are written for ages 3 to 10 and sold only as the complete set. For US delivery by December 18, order by December 4 with Standard shipping or December 8 with Expedited. These 2026 dates are estimates, not guarantees.

This guide explains how a book advent calendar works, what happens in each of the six books, and when to order so the countdown starts on time.

What is Six Days Until Christmas?

Six Days Until Christmas reading plan: the six covers, one for each night from December 19 to December 24, with each book's kindness.
The covers show our example child. Your set shows your child.

Six nights before Christmas, your child says goodnight to the carved wooden Santa on the dresser, and this time Santa answers. He can be in every house at night, but so much of Christmas happens in the daytime, and he needs a helper. For six days, your child is that helper.

NightBookThe kindness
Dec 19The Spirit Is EverywhereGiving your very best
Dec 20The Christmas CookiesSharing with a new friend
Dec 21The Edge of ThingsIncluding someone left out
Dec 22Look OutwardListening with a kind heart
Dec 23The Gift You Can't WrapFinding the courage to forgive
Dec 24How More Santas Are MadeGiving from the heart

Each hardcover has 22 story pages: a complete bedtime adventure with one small act of kindness to talk about together. The set has its own price, shown on the Six Days Until Christmas page, and shoppers outside the US see their own price at checkout.

How does a book advent calendar work?

A book advent calendar is a stack of wrapped books, numbered for the nights before Christmas. Your child unwraps one each evening, and you read it together before bed. Many families wrap books they already own, or library books, and number them 1 to 24.

A boy in green plaid pajamas tugs the ribbon on the first of six wrapped books on a windowsill, each tagged with a date from December 19 to December 24.
An illustration made for this guide. The date tags are one way to wrap the set at home.

Six Days Until Christmas is a shorter version with one difference: the books belong together. Each story picks up where the last one ended, so your child wants to open the next one. To turn the set into an advent calendar:

  1. Wrap the six books when they arrive. They come together in one shipment, and gift wrap at checkout doesn't mean each book is wrapped separately (our gift wrap guide explains), so this part happens at home.
  2. Number the tags 19 to 24, or write each date, so the order is clear. Book 1 is The Spirit Is Everywhere.
  3. Pick a spot. A windowsill, the mantel, or under the tree, somewhere your child passes every day.
  4. Open one after dinner each night from December 19. Read it together at bedtime and talk about that night's kindness.

6, 12 or 24 books?

Twenty-four books is a lot to keep up through December. We make six, for the last six nights. That's short enough to keep going through the busiest week of the year, and each story fits in a bedtime. We don't make a 12 or 24 book set. If you want a longer countdown, start with your own books from the shelf and save the six Six Days books for December 19 to 24.

How the Six Days Until Christmas set works

Four steps: add one photo and a name, see a free preview, get six hardcovers together, then read one book each night from December 19.
  1. Add one photo and your child's name. Your child becomes the illustrated hero of all six books, and the text uses their name.
  2. See a free preview before you buy. Upload a photo to see your child's personalized cover preview, with no credit card. The preview does not show every page. Sample pages show our example child, so you can also look through the stories themselves.
  3. Get six hardcovers together. Every book is printed to order after you buy. The set ships as one order.
  4. Read one book each night. Start on December 19 and finish with the Christmas Eve finale.

The set is the only way to buy these books. You can't buy one book on its own, so there is no risk of missing a night. Our Help article on book bundles and sets has more on how sets work.

Six nights, six books

Here is what happens on each night of the countdown. The pictures are sample pages with our example child; in your set, your child is the hero.

Night 1, December 19: The Spirit Is Everywhere

The wooden Santa on the dresser says goodnight back. He can be in every house at night, but in the daytime he needs a helper, and his first mission is a hard one: give away the very best cookie, the star with far too many pink sprinkles, saved all day long.

  • Santa sits beside a patchwork quilt as a boy in pajamas covers a gasp with both hands, in The Spirit Is Everywhere.

    Santa answers. The countdown starts with a surprise at bedtime and a job only your child can do.

  • A boy lies on a wooden floor smiling at a star cookie covered in pink sprinkles, in The Spirit Is Everywhere.

    The best cookie. Giving away the one you saved is the first kindness, and the first crumb in Santa's beard.

Night 2, December 20: The Christmas Cookies

"Keep your eyes open," says Santa. At lunch, your child notices Maya, who has nothing to eat. Inside your child's lunchbox are three snowman cookies they have been waiting all morning to eat.

  • A boy in a red sweater looks across a lunch table at a girl with red bows who has no lunch, in The Christmas Cookies.

    Eyes open. Your child spots the classmate with an empty space where her lunch should be.

  • A boy holds his chin, thinking, beside an open lunch tin of snowman cookies while the girl next to him looks on hopefully, in The Christmas Cookies.

    Thinking it over. Sharing turns a lonely lunch into the start of a friendship, and both friends get the biggest half.

Night 3, December 21: The Edge of Things

It's Reindeer Tag at recess, and your child finally gets to be Red-Nose. So why are they running the wrong way, antlers bobbing? Santa said to look at the edge of things, and out by the fence, a boy named Dylan is standing alone.

  • Children in winter coats and reindeer antlers cheer during a game of tag in the snow, in The Edge of Things.

    Reindeer Tag. The best game at recess, and your child's big turn.

  • A boy in a red puffer coat stops in the snow and looks toward a boy standing alone by a wooden fence, in The Edge of Things.

    The boy by the fence. One small invitation, and giving away a turn feels better than taking it.

Night 4, December 22: Look Outward

On the walk home, your child tries Santa's newest clue, look outward, and spots Mrs. Alvarez fighting a wreath that won't stay on her door. Your child stops to help, then stays a little longer to listen to her stories about the husband who sang the same three songs off-key every Christmas.

  • A boy in a red coat looks up as an older neighbor in red glasses throws up her hands on her porch, a fallen wreath and tangled lights below, in Look Outward.

    A wreath that won't stay up. Your child notices a neighbor who needs a hand.

  • A boy holds up a green wreath with a red bow as the neighbor smiles from her front door, in Look Outward.

    The gift of time. Helping is a start. Staying to listen is the real gift.

Night 5, December 23: The Gift You Can't Wrap

Your child and Eli, their best friend, are building the best snow fort ever. The walls keep falling, Eli gets grumpy, and then he says something that hurts. The bus ride home is very quiet. Then the doorbell rings, and Eli is on the porch with a real apology and a gingerbread man with only one foot.

  • Two boys in winter coats watch their snow fort wall tumble down in a burst of snow, in The Gift You Can't Wrap.

    The snow fort. A frustrating afternoon, and a few words that knock everything flat.

  • A boy kneels in the snow hugging himself, looking hurt, while his friend stands apart with his arms crossed, in The Gift You Can't Wrap.

    Hurt feelings. The story treats them as real, and shows that a true sorry and forgiving both take courage.

Night 6, December 24: How More Santas Are Made

On Christmas Eve morning, your child opens one present early: the maroon and gold scooter, number one on the list. By lunch, news arrives that a burst pipe ruined everything at Sam's house. Then a quiet idea creeps in and won't go away. By afternoon, your child is tying a red ribbon around the scooter for Sam.

  • A boy in a holiday sweater grins as he tears red paper off a maroon and gold scooter beside the Christmas tree, in How More Santas Are Made.

    One present early. The scooter your child wanted most.

  • A boy sits on snowy front steps beside the scooter, deep in thought, in How More Santas Are Made.

    The hardest choice. Giving from the heart, and the finale where Santa explains how he can be everywhere at once.

Every kindness adds a crumb to Santa's beard

A boy leans on a dresser smiling at the carved wooden Santa, beside a list of the six crumbs: pink sprinkle, white frosting, candy cane, cinnamon sugar, gingerbread and brownie.
Art from The Christmas Cookies, with the series' example child.

The six books share one thread your child can follow. Each night's kindness leaves a crumb in the carved Santa's beard, proof that it really happened: a pink sprinkle, white frosting, a candy cane, cinnamon sugar, gingerbread and a brownie. Each kindness also lights up another house in town. That's why the books are read in order, starting with Book 1, and why the Christmas Eve finale lands the way it does.

Children who love a pattern get to watch it grow: one more crumb, one more lit window, every night.

Why choose a countdown your child stars in?

A mother reads a picture book to her son in bed while he points at the page, with a carved wooden Santa on the dresser in the foreground.
An illustration made for this guide.
  • They see themselves as the helper. Your child's face and name are in every book, so the kindness on each page is something they did. That makes it easier to talk about the next day.
  • A bedtime routine for the busiest week. One story a night, the same time and place, while everything else about the week is busy and new.
  • Something to do, not just something to get. Every book ends with a small kindness children can copy: sharing a snack, asking someone to play, helping a neighbor, saying sorry.
  • A set that comes back out every year. The books are made to be read December 19 to 24, so they go back in the box with the ornaments and come back out the next December.
  • A gift that starts before Christmas. Grandparents and godparents can give the set as an early gift, opened in time for the first night. Our Help article on buying a book for someone else explains photo permission and delivery.

A countdown about kindness

This countdown is about doing, not waiting. Each book gives your child one small, real thing to do, and the reward is a crumb in Santa's beard and another house lit up in town.

A boy in a red coat carries a plate of wrapped star cookies up a neighbor's porch steps with his father, as the older neighbor smiles at the door.
An illustration made for this guide.

If you want to carry the stories into the day, try the matching kindness after each book: share a treat with someone new after The Christmas Cookies, invite a child who is on their own to play after The Edge of Things, or take cookies to a neighbor after Look Outward. Keep it small and let your child choose.

When should you start a Christmas book countdown?

A 24-book advent calendar starts on December 1. A 12-book countdown that ends on Christmas Eve starts on December 13. Six Days Until Christmas starts on December 19 and ends with the finale on Christmas Eve, December 24. Plan for the books to be home by December 18, so you can wrap them the night before the first story.

When to order Six Days Until Christmas (2026 dates)

Every book is printed to order, so the set needs time to be made before it ships. Here are the dates for US orders.

US order-by dates for the Six Days Until Christmas set to arrive by December 18: December 4 with Standard shipping, December 8 with Expedited.
Six Days set, US orders: order byStandardExpedited
To arrive by December 18Dec 4Dec 8

US printing takes 3 to 5 business days. From order to arrival, Standard delivery takes 5 to 10 business days and Expedited takes 5 to 8. The dates above count back from those estimates. Estimates are not guarantees, and checkout shows the estimate for your address before you pay. Read will my book arrive by Christmas? for more.

We haven't published order-by dates for Canada, the UK or Mexico. Checkout shows the shipping options, delivery estimate and price for your address, so order as early as you can.

Missed the countdown dates? You can still order a single Christmas book later, because it only needs to arrive by Christmas Eve, not before the first night. The Night I Saved Christmas is one personalized Christmas Eve adventure, and US orders placed by December 10 (Standard) or December 14 (Expedited) are estimated to arrive by Christmas Eve.

What age is Six Days Until Christmas for?

The stories are written for ages 3 to 10. Three- and four-year-olds enjoy them as a read-aloud and love finding themselves in the pictures. Five- to seven-year-olds follow the crumbs and the houses lighting up, and older children can read the books on their own.

Each set stars one child: one photo and one name personalize all six books. For siblings, make a set for each child.

Start your child's countdown

Questions parents ask

How does a book advent calendar work?

You wrap a set of books, number them, and let your child open one each night before Christmas, then read it together. Six Days Until Christmas is built for this: six personalized hardcovers, one for each night from December 19 to Christmas Eve, and each story leads into the next.

Should a book advent calendar have 12 or 24 books?

Any number works if you can keep it up. Our countdown is six books for the last six nights before Christmas. We don't make a 12 or 24 book set. Six nights is easy to keep going through the busiest week of the year, and each story fits in a bedtime.

When do you start the Six Days Until Christmas countdown?

On December 19. Read Book 1 that night and one more book each night, in order, through Christmas Eve on December 24. Plan for the books to be home by December 18.

Do you wrap each book in the set?

No. The six books arrive together in one shipment, and gift wrap at checkout does not mean each book is wrapped separately. To make an advent calendar, wrap them yourself at home and number the tags 19 to 24.

Can I buy just one Six Days Until Christmas book?

No. Six Days Until Christmas is sold only as the complete set of six, so one photo personalizes all six books and they ship together.

What age is Six Days Until Christmas for?

The books are written for ages 3 to 10. Younger children enjoy them as a read-aloud, and older children can read their own adventures with Santa. Each hardcover has 22 story pages.

When should I order Six Days Until Christmas for US delivery?

For 2026 US orders to arrive by December 18, before the first night, order by December 4 with Standard shipping or December 8 with Expedited. These dates are estimates counted back from our US printing and shipping times, not guarantees. Checkout shows the estimate for your address.

Can siblings share one set?

One photo and one name personalize all six books, so each set stars one child. For siblings, make a set for each child so everyone gets to be Santa's helper.

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