We have been anticipating Advent during December for several years now. It has been such a wonderful way to focus our hearts on the truth behind all of Christmas!! Every day, we do just a little remembering. This is our third time using
Ann's book (it's free and beautifully done & you can download and print it off wherever you are. Again and again. For example, if you are not where you thought you'd be this Christmas season, and you find you have absolutely no Christmas things, don't worry, just download and print! It never hurt anyone to have several copies!):
Every Christmas season, another of our FAVORITE traditions is reading aloud around the Christmas tree all lit up. We stay up very late at night, that is, because the stories are just SO good! Hours after bedtime, you can find us cuddling with pillows, blankies and each other in that sleepy magical aura of Christmas tree lights. And we continually poke those sleepyheads who just. can't.. keep... their.... eyes...... open....... because we want to read more and we don't want anyone to miss anything!! We read this story right off the screen until a quarter past ten tonight... about a boy whose Christmas outlook looked rather bleak (like ours might this year with no decorations or Christmas books or... if I think too long I'll remember just what all we're missing, so I'll stop now.) Of course IF we had our basket of delights (a basket full of our favorite Christmas books that normally boasts the prime spot right next to the Christmas tree every year), I would want to do this project:
A book countdown with reusable wrappings...
But as it is, we have no basket o' books, so I'll be choosing from the holiday stories listed at AO this year! How convenient.We'll probably even sing some songs from this free e-book!
And I decided to buy the book above on the kindle to splurge a little in light of our sad state of affairs in the holiday library category. We may be lacking in books, but we've lost nothing in the merrymaking category. I've heard this story is great fun. I'm looking forward to reading it next! :)
Do you have any favorite holiday stories?
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6 comments:
Thanks for the reminder about the AO Holiday list. We too miss the many Christmas books we had collected in the States. There are many traditions that we must adjust living overseas.
That book is a very fun book! And now I'm off to check out the AO list...
Thank you for the link to Ann's free book! We started our Advent readings already, but I'm going to switch midstream to Ann's Jesse Tree book as I really like the daily activities. Many thanks.
Enjoy your readings!
Wow, it sounds like you're in the state I was in last Christmas. We had moved from Illinois to Pennsylvania for a job, but we didn't have a house yet so had to stay in a hotel from Dec. 3-24. We tried to find a house to rent but just couldn't find the right one until Christmas Eve! It was miserable. I didn't expect to be in the hotel that long, so I devoted my time and attention to finding a house when I used our laptop. At first we didn't know if our laptop would work in our room. Even after we discovered it would, I didn't think of finding stories online to read. It was a very disheartening Advent and Christmas season. I could have made it better, but I didn't think about finding books to read online. The kids watched more TV than they have in their lives! We ended up celebrating Christmas morning on Jan. 27! It still felt like we had really missed something. I'm glad you're not letting that happen.
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever is a lot of fun. And it has a good message.
The wrapped book idea - lovely! I would do this if I could sew!
Thanks for sharing such an excellent post.
Oh, this year, we are going all out for advent and Christmas. I started planning in the beginning of November, and my one daughter is helping me to make my plans happen.
Hi Amy, it sounds like the Christmas spirit is alive and well in your family despite not having your box of delights! Thanks for the link to the AO Holiday reading list, I'll definitely be choosing a few from there to read aloud to the kids. We have our tree up, and our crate filled with straw and 'baby Jesus' under the tree, so it's beginning to feel a little like Christmas. Mel x
Amy you are such a wealth of information! I didn't even know there was such a list on AO, a big thankyou, I'm going to check it out as we have no basket of delights either:(
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