#AMonthofFaves Holiday Book and Ornament Traditions

A Month of Faves! Get into it!

⭐ DEC 18 – Favorite Things [Holiday Edition]⁠
(Treats, Traditions, Books, Movies, Songs, Decorations, Activities, etc)⁠

Today, I’m going to focus on traditions since I don’t really have anything new to report about the other stuff, and my traditions also include activities ✅ and decorations ✅. I haven’t watched any of the new Christmas movies and my old ones haven’t changed. I have no new treats to report. I haven’t heard any new Christmas songs except for that Sia one, and I do like it but I’ve only heard it twice and only because I watched the video.

Jólabókaflóð, the Yule Book Flood

Hello, my new favorite tradition is (of course) Jólabókaflóð, the Yule Book Flood wherein you exchange books on Christmas Eve and read while eating snacks. Last year was my first year participating when I was at my friend’s house, and it was a fun whirlwind of a doozy. This year will be much more lowkey since there are only three of us. The plan is for each person to buy the other two people books and then read while drinking hot cocoa and eating cookies/snacks. We initially pulled names out of a hat, but both girls were like, “Why can’t we just buy books for everybody?” and so that’s what we’re going to do.

Ornaments

And, of course, I am continuing my own personal tradition of commemorative ornaments.

This year, I added the following ornaments to my tree:

My daughter studied abroad for a semester in Japan, and I asked her to bring me back an ornament as a souvenir. Christmas is not as big a deal in Japan as it is here (they’re much more into New Year’s), so she said it wasn’t an easy task, but still she found me this beauty. It’s made of folded paper.

Of course, the big everything of this year was the pandemic, so I found a cute coronavirus wearing a mask on Etsy.

We did make a trip to Downtown Disney this season and when I saw this ornament I knew I had to get it. First, Lilo & Stitch is my daughter’s favorite movie, and the way her face lit up when she saw this ornament brought me a lot of joy. Second, when she opened the ornament during tree decorating, she squealed. And then she and her friend said it represented us this Christmas. I’m Nani, my daughter is Lilo, and her friend is Stitch. It gave them a good laugh.

TBD

My daughter is thrilled to have company this Christmas, so has made a plan for how we’re going to spend the week of Christmas. We’re supposed to go see lights, watch movies, bake/eat cookies, do crafts (!!!), and who knows what else. So. We shall see how that all goes.