One of my favorite thing to do at Christmas time, is simply to read Christmas stories to my children.
Sometimes I gain the fortitude to remember to reserve my favorite books from the library, always at the end of November, so that we have favorites to enjoy all month. Other years, I just use what we have in books and Christmas treasuries, which by the way is always plenty!
This is for me and for the children. I always get in the Christmas spirit when I read these books. I just love to read this old version of “Twas the Night before Christmas’ …I almost have it memorized but not quite. I will pick it up and read it with breakfast.
This year I am really thankful that Riley decided he wanted to read a novel to the children so I suggested Dicken’s good old, “Christmas story”. So nestled by the fire here and there of nights, we listen:
Catch this expression from Milly making a connection from the story!
Listening under light of the tree
And I found a great website for the bedtime regime when lets put it truthfully, I”ve given the gift of time as I can through out the day and now I am ready to finish up chores so I might squeeze out some Christmas crafting time! This sort of website is a heaven sent! (Liberovox). Let me give you a specific Children Christmas Story link!
Speaking of, I just love reading the old fashioned Christmas stories when you hear about what the mothers and fathers did for their children in the month of December. And because it was “Santa” they did these deeds after spending T*I*M*E (see quote below) with the children all day, then sacrificed into the night in labors of love. Read “Little Britches” to get some of this action (and their little warm tradition was fudge once a year and bowls of fresh popped popcorn to munch together at night.) We’ve also been reading a treasury of “Farmhouse Christmases” and reading about the treasured sock or sweater knitted freshly from mother, not a hand me down, or the home made clever wooden gifts from Dad, that got worn to the ground in love and returned to mother earth, rather than relished as heirlooms.
Our second key relationship is with our families. Since “no other success can compensate for failure” 12 here, we must place high priority on our families. We build deep and loving family relationships by doing simple things together, like family dinner and family home evening and by just having fun together. In family relationships love is really spelled t-i-m-e,time. Taking time for each other is the key for harmony at home. We talk with, rather than about, each other. We learn from each other, and we appreciate our differences as well as our commonalities. We establish a divine bond with each other as we approach God together through family prayer, gospel study, and Sunday worship. (Of Things that Matter Most, Elder Uchtdorff)
We had that same copy of “Night Before Christmas” growing up! I wonder where that went…
My husband and I are not Santa lovers, so I guess it doesn’t matter, we won’t be reading that book to our little ones anyway.
Thank you as always for your wonderful posts! I love reading them.
This was the coziest post to read! I love your family and wish we actually had face-to-face contact with you guys so I could get to know your husband and little ones. What a beautiful way to spend your evenings: surrounded by loved ones and listening to the Christmas classics. We are huge fans of Libervox recordings! We’ve been able to download some great classics onto Cory’s iPod so we can listen to books on tape during road trips. I love the free public domain books! You’ve reminded me, though, that books on tape aren’t just for car rides. What a great idea to help you have a little gift-making time. I’m totally going to do the same thing! We’ve now started three different read-alouds in the past few months, and haven’t finished a single one. It’s hard to find the time, sometimes, and then the story isn’t fresh in our minds anymore. We’ve just begun “The Long Winter” but maybe, just maybe Livervox can be my voice this time… (if that book is available).
Thanks for another beautiful, inspiring post, Emily!
Enjoy your cozy, lovely evenings. You are such a neat family. Oh–and I try to memorize “The Night Before Christmas” every single year! I always retain most of it, but I have to refresh my memory every year. One of these times I’ll get it to stick for good! (I get a little lost in the ordering of all those descriptive paragraphs of Saint Nick if you know what I mean.) And actually, my kids always practice memorizing it with me!