Christmas Countdown with Books

I stole this idea and I don’t even know who to thank. Yes, being naughty at Christmas time is not a good idea. But someone, somewhere out there in cyberspace – perhaps living closer to the North Pole, found this idea on Pinterest, wrote about it, and I stole borrowed it. I confess: My name is Susan and I am a blogaholic. I have no idea where to look for it because I love to blog hop. Could be worse, right?

Going in my favor (Santa, are you reading this?) is that I love to read! So here is the “original” idea: Wrap up 25 children’s Christmas books and unwrap one a night and read it together as a family. Here’s my spin:  If you can’t find 25 Christmas books at the used books store or garage sales, especially with snow already blanketing some areas, then wrap up any children’s books – used, new, different genre; it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that you are reading books with your children every night.

If you are really pressed for time, and can’t even fathom wrapping 25 more things, just put a Countdown Till Christmas stash of books in a basket and pat yourself on the back for teaching math: 25, 24, 23… Counting backwards helps children learn subtraction. If you’re out of bows, perhaps you could put Post-it-Notes with numbers on the books. I opted for not wrapping the books, but wrote numbers on the backs of the bows going 1 through 25. Children can put the bows in numerical order—backwards or forwards. Whatever works, as long as you’re reading.

Martha Stewart won't be calling me for photo advice. We didn't even get the wood painted for the train track (oh no!). But that is on my list to do after Christmas. As well as shop on my favorite day of discounts, Dec. 26th. I bet I can find many children's books greatly reduced. I'll wrap them with scraps of wrapping paper (going green) and my basket will be ready for next year.

SNUGGLING, CUDDLING, AND READING PROMOTE:

• Bonding, security, consistency, stability, routine, self-esteem
• Literacy - a love of reading
• Helping children learn about their world through nature and science books
• The 3 Rs: Rhyming, Rhythm, and Repetition to enhance reading skills 

MY NEW YEAR’S CHALLENGE TO YOU

I have a simple challenge and it does not involve weighing yourself. Make a New Year’s Resolution to read at least one book a month—just for yourself. It is fun to pin, blog hop, surf, tweet, text, stumble around upon, connect with Facebook, and join in the increasing number of cyberspace adventures (myself included), but please let your children see you enjoying good books. Something about anything can be learned from reading. I wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS as you COUNTDOWN TILL CHRISTMAS WITH BOOKS!  

You might be interested in my books: The Happy Mommy Handbook: The Ultimate How-to Guide on Keeping Your Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy, Out of Trouble and Motivated to Learn. and Kindergarten: Tattle-Tales, Tools, Tactics, Triumphs and Tasty Treats for Teachers and Parents. Both have been number 1 Bestsellers on Amazon and make great parent or teacher gifts.