Merry Christmas and Joyous Season to Everyone: What Books Did You Get?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (which includes if you are having a holiday such as a vacation)! I hope you have been enjoying the magic and love of the season, no matter what you have going on in your life, how you celebrate, or if you have to work.  Whatever you case is in life at the moment, I hope you have had or get to enjoy some time to relax. It’s the small moments that count and the memories that last.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with my kids while they are on break from school. We had a wonderful Christmas and we are enjoying our holiday time connecting with each other. To me, this is the most important thing in my life, so I’ve not blogged, put most work and writing aside, and limited my time to them. It’s why my holiday message to you, readers and friends, is somewhat delayed! I’ve been busy baking, reading, cuddling, making bracelets, coloring with Sharpies, and playing with Monster High dolls.

I do wish all of you much joy, happiness, and love during the hustle and bustle of this end of the year time. I hope you are taking precious moments to enjoy your kids or grandkids, give to those less fortunate, count your blessings and think on your positives. I hope you embrace the feelings that come from having a heart two sizes too big.

We have some special traditions that I look forward to every year. The kids and I have been busy baking sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. The latter we make from my great-grandma Emma Bryan’s recipe, which is hundreds of years old. We talked about our ancestors and connected to our past as we rolled the dough. We talked of our past and of our futures together. We made wonderful memories. We recorded our cooking baking process on Instagram (Erin Al-Mehairi) and Twitter (@ErinAlMehairi). The pictures are really cute if you want to check them out.

We also have watched our Christmas favorites on Netflix and on DVD, such as The Muppet Christmas Carol, Rise of the Guardians, Peanuts All I Want for Christmas is a Dog to name a few, and some other movies for fun as well. We made homemade hot chocolate that simmered all day and then drank it while we watched The Polar Express. We’ve cooked together our favorite foods, decorated our tree and remembered each memory from almost each ornament we pulled out, and read books such as The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (Nassem read to his sisters and me in his best Grinch voice), The Nutcracker, and Madeline’s Christmas. We read of the birth of Jesus and set-up our Nativity scenes under the tree.

And not to be forgotten, we are excited each year to write letters to Santa and put them in the red Macy’s mailbox under the BELIEVE meter, pick out a Yes, Virginia ornament to hang on the tree, then hang our past Virginia ornaments while watching the Yes, Virginia animated story. Happily, Netflix streams this favorite version. Next year, I think I’ll splurge for the picture book.

We’ve had a great time carving out special minutes together. I know when they are older this will be what they will remember, not any high-priced gift that quits working or goes obsolete in a year. Listening to the Nutcracker Ballet while hanging ornaments and eating homemade cookies will be what they tell their own kids that they did each Christmas. I hope they even pass down our traditions to their families.

I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday as well. What are your Christmas traditions? Have you made time for reading like us? Did you get any good books for Christmas? Feel free to leave your comments below! I’d love to hear.

In the meantime, I’ll be reading and working on catching up on all the Fall reviews I owe (I really own a huge backlog), some great new ones for January, and some super interviews I have coming up!

Love to you and yours! And I’ll be back with more posts soon!

Baking and Frosting Gingerbread People!