I want to highly recommend Just Right for Christmas by Birdie Black as a thoroughly excellent secular mustachian and fun kids book.
My toddler loves it (2.5) but she likes books a lot more than most toddlers - this is 1-2 paragraphs per page, which seems like it'd be appropriate up to kindergarten/grade 1 for most kids.
It's the story of a king who buys a hold of red cloth that is "so soft and warm and Christmassy" and has a cloak made for the princess, and then the maiden discard the scraps, which are found by a lady who makes a coat for her mother and discards the scraps, and they're found by a badger who makes a hat for his father and discards the scraps, etc, etc, until every bit is used and everyone has presents. The illustrations are pretty, the text is good, and it isn't obnoxious to read out loud.
Specifically recommending it to this crowd for the following reasons:
- every socioeconomic bracket is represented. The king wraps his present in gold and silver wrapping, and the visibly poor mouse at the end explicitly has no wrapping so she folds it up and places it under the tree, but the grandness of the wrapping doesn't affect the caring the characters have for each other, or how they can celebrate.
- presents are handmade!
- And half the characters who are sewing are boys! Gender-neutral life skills!!
