A New Tradition

Hi friends,
I am so exicted for the upcoming holidays! I wanted to share an idea that a friend of mine (a former teaching colleague who now has five beautiful children) shared with me last year. It's such a wonderful idea! It's become a new tradition for my little family.

Here are my little ones, Bryce, 5 1/2 years old, and Brayden, 3 1/2 years old (this is this year's Christmas card picture- it only took about 80 shots to get this one):

Here's the idea: Take 25 Christmas books and wrap them up. Each day from December 1 to December 25, let your children open up one of the books and read it together.

Honestly, last year we probably had about 20 Christmas children's books. I had fun picking up and ordering 5 more to make up the 25 for the collection. This year, I've already bought 3 new ones. I will wrap some of the smaller, shorter books together in one gift to make my total of 25 presents.

Very Important: These Christmas books are put away in the attic after the holidays so that we are surprised when we open them up again in a year.

All you need is this:

Tape and scissors:

25 Christmas books:

Wrapping paper and a place to store the gifts (I picked up this cute new basket at Target last week):

I also picked up this little adorable Santa who will help us count down the days to Christmas. His candy cane can be moved to help you keep track of how many days until Christmas.

Lastly, you will need a little bit of time by yourself. My awesome husband, Steve, took the kids to the playground for an hour on Saturday so I could wrap the books.

Here's a quiet house with no one in it but me.....ahhhh!

I did have a helper, Raven, the dog-



Oh, and I had entertainment too, Oraph's Lifeclass show on "Joy Rising", it was a good episode!!!!!

Here are some of my favorite children's Christmas books:

Our new books for this year:

So, our plan is starting December 1, one child will get to move the candy cane to December 1 and one child will get to chose a book to open which we will read. Then the next day, they'll switch roles. This will help us count the days until Christmas.

Now, we're ready for December 1:

I can't wait! I hope this is a tradition you'll consider stealing.

Do you have some fun holiday traditions you will share with me? I'd love to hear from you.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and your loved one-
Happy decorating & living,
Megan