Traditions

I started a new tradition last year, one that the kids and I are enjoying immensely.

Instead of using the classic Advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas, we have a stack of holiday and Winter-themed books all wrapped up, waiting to be opened and read, one per day.

After they've been opened and read, they go into an old crock, where they are easy to grab and read again, as many times as desired.

I eliminated a few of the books from last year, for various reasons, and therefore got to add a few new titles. Based on some of your recommendations and my own searching, we added A Wish for Wings that Work by Berkely Breathed, Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo, Christmas Farm by Mary Lyn Ray, Just Right for Christmas by Birdie Black, and Owl Moon by Jane Yolen.

If you're interested, you can check out my Advent Bookshelf over at Goodreads to see the complete list.

Here we'll be, every evening around 7:30 Pacific Time, cozied up with our backs to the fire, embarking on another winter-y adventure.

Picture of the Week

A New Kind of Advent Calendar

I saw the idea a year or so ago, and immediately started planning to implement it this year. Instead of a traditional open-a-door-each-day, or other type of Countdown to Christmas, this "calendar" consists of a stack of wrapped books, each one telling a tale about Winter or Christmas.

It wasn't very hard to accumulate enough titles to make up the 25 days. I know... traditionally there should be 24, but I have 25, which means the last one gets read ON Christmas day. Its more about the fun of building excitement and learning all at the same time.

My stack of books is partially random, having accumulated about half the number needed over the last several years, gifts from friends, thrift store finds, hand-me-downs. The remaining books I chose based on reviews read online. I've read about other families who have the same tradition, but borrow the books from the library instead of purchasing them.

Each day between now and Christmas, the kids will get to choose a wrapped book at random from the pile, and we will read it together as a family. I can hardly wait to get started!

I figure that as the kids get older, we'll probably swap out some books for others, but a good portion of them are going to remain staples of this tradition.

If you want to see the list of book titles, I created a shelf over at Goodreads for you to peruse.

Do any of you have a similar tradition? Do you have favorite Christmas stories that I don't have on my list? Have I inspired you to start the same tradition?