Many years ago a friend told me that one of their Christmas traditions was to keep all their Christmas books packed away for eleven months of the year. Then, at the beginning of December, they would pull out all the books and wrap them individually. Each night over the course of the month they would unwrap the books as a family and read one. It was a literary advent calendar.
I thought reading the books together sounded sweet, but the thought of keeping all those books in book jail for so long made my heart sad. I like having access to all my books all the time. So I quickly pushed aside the possibility of adding this particular tradition to our repertoire.
This year the kids were complaining that they didn't feel Christmas-y enough, even after we had put up all the decorations. I had been playing Christmas music, but that didn't seem to be helping them get into the spirit of the holiday. Christmas movies weren't doing the trick either. We had talked about the Savior's birth as we set up our many Nativities, but even that didn't help. What could we do to help us feel the beauty and magic of this special time of year?
That's when I remembered the Christmas book tradition. At the end of November Sophie helped me gather all our Christmas books. We had more than the required twenty-four books, so I sorted through and picked which ones I wanted to read together. Then, instead of wrapping them up, I plunked them into a basket near the Christmas tree, so we could read any of them at any time if we wanted to. I told Bryan my plan to read one of those books each night as a family, then introduced the idea to the kids.
Some of the books are funny and about Santa Claus. Some of the books are about the Savior and require me to pause repeatedly so I don't cry while I'm reading aloud. Some nights we've had to skip reading because things got too busy, so we've doubled up on other nights. Some nights have been crazy chaotic since Topher has a hard time being still (or at least quiet) so close to bedtime.
Even with all of that, I've really enjoyed adding this Christmas countdown to our season. The daily reminder has helped me be more excited for Christmas and more focused on the Savior.
This is what we'll be reading tonight for Christmas Eve.
Merry Christmas!
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