Starting a new tradition: Christmas bedtime stories.
With the first of December, my girls and I are starting a new tradition this year. Usually these months are ever so busy for me and their Father, as we craft away many presents for other children in the world, and try at the same time to keep the magic of this special time at the end of the year for our own children. The days are shorter, and food and the warmth of the fire beckon to sit a spell.
So, I gingerly decided to put them again to bed with a story; this is something we no longer do as they read themselves in bed. But since it is a special season in our family, it calls for special stories of Christmas, some silly ones, some sad ones. I read aloud to my children quite a lot, we have read many large books, enthralled and excited. I have discovered so many authors and great stories that this is not a chore for me, it is one of the greatest gifts I have been bestowed upon by my children. So I thought maybe you would like to know the books we are going to be reading.
Since our library only allows one week loans for Holiday books, in order to share the wealth with everybody, we are only taking the amount we would need to read before we have to return them. Some are old versions or editions, and I love the feel in my hands of books that have been handled by so many before me.
This week’s list is:
Stick Man, by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffer.
The Night Before Christmas, a poem by Clement Clarke Moore, illustrated by Tasha Tudor.
The Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler’s Sons, told by Ruth Sawyer and illustrated by Barbara Cooney.
Little Tree, by E.E. Cummings, illustrated by Deborah Kogan Ray.
Home for Christmas, written and illustrated by Jan Brett.
The Christmas Cat, written by Efner Tudor Holmes, illustrated by her mother Tasha Tudor.
My children are 10 and 8.5 years old. While there will be longer stories, I thought it good to keep it short and simple this week, and revise old favourites. All these illustrators seem to capture an essence, and my girls are particularly in love with their style. The stories themselves are classics mixed with funny ones.
How about you? Are you starting new traditions this year? Care to show some of your favourite ones? What is one of the greatest traditions of your childhood or of the time when you had littles at home? I hope you can share some, and if not, I hope you find the time to start enjoying this season with little bits of magic. To me, there is nothing better in the world than drifting off to sleep with a fresh story in your head.
**PS. Stay tuned this week for some peeks at the little wool girls that are keeping me busy. Four mischief makers of the worst kind!
