Christmas Tradition #3: Books!

Yes, yes…Christmas is over. The kids’ toys are put away (well, for the moment!), the tree will come down this weekend and even the fridge is nearly void of leftovers. But one of the first thing you learn in writing class is “the power of three”. So, I thought I should share at least three traditions.

Eventually, I would like to do an advent calendar sort of thing to count down the 25 days till Christmas. The ones I really like are the drawers you can put little treats or notes with Scripture in them. But since I 1) don’t have the money to purchase a nice one I really like, or 2) haven’t the time to buy an unfinished one to finish this year Emry and I made a construction paper chain with numbers written on each link. After all, is childhood complete without making at least one paper chain to count down to Christmas?

Eventually, I might also like to “wrap” the books in cloth bags or pretty Christmas cloth and ribbons to be opened each day, permanent tags with a number attached to co-ordinate with the day. That might happen in, like, a decade. I’m thinking the permanent tag might be do-able, but this year I taped pieces of construction paper with numbers written on them. Emry could match the number on her chain link with the number on the paper. A fun way to review numbers!

And, eventually, I would like to actually own a collection of 25 Christmas stories, one to be read each night as we make our way to Christmas. That part is actually on it’s way. I own eight or nine favorite Christmas stories I’ve collected over the years. The remaining, I checked out about 30 or 40 Christmas books from the library to make up the difference or simply read. I also used them to begin compiling a list of the ones I would like to own. I found six or seven well worth a re-read every Christmas. And although I have 30 or 40 more on a list we did not check out, I have serious doubts of all the Pinterest pins I put on my Holidays! board. For thus far, I can barely name 20 books I would re-read every Christmas, let alone 30 or 50! Maybe I’m just a little picky.

In the end, I would like the tradition to be rather simple: every night we count down on the Advent calendar, reading a Christmas story and Scripture verses as a family before bed. This year, we got a good start on it. Next year, we’ll try it again!