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As you may have assumed, we’re into books around here, so books have a place in our holiday traditions.  Today we’re going to talk about that some, and next week, we’re going to discuss bookish gifts, so prepare your gift shopping list and get ready!  For now, just sit back, relax, and see what bookish traditions inspire you, but DO NOT should on yourself!

Before I jump in, I have to say, I am normally judging every one of you who’s already started decorating for Christmas because Thanksgiving is my favorite.  This year, I am not judging, but I am lighting my pumpkin candle with every picture I see or text I get.  I am, however, already planning for traditional activities for my family, both nuclear and extended, and I started Christmas shopping in September (only slightly but still).  I shared last week that I need to listen to the theme of 1995’s Little Women to set the mood for Christmas.  That may yet happen before Thanksgiving, but reading Louisa May Alcott’s classic tale, Little Women in preparation for Friday, December 11 at 7:30 p.m. CST will not happen until after Thanksgiving.  Something about the book, and movies feels more like a Christmas tradition to me.  However you like to prepare for the holidays and for book club, you do you dear readers, just be sure you register here to join us.  

One tradition that includes my holiday shopping list is the tradition of how we give gifts to our children both at Christmas and for their birthdays.  For both occasions, we give them something they want, something they need, something to wear, and something to read, along with some other small items in their stockings at Christmas.  I haven’t picked out or purchased their books yet (their school book fair is coming up, so I’ll probably either purchase from it or our local indie, if I plan well, and Amazon if I don’t).  As part of our Christmas decorations (and Halloween for that matter), we bring out our themed books and place them in a special spot where they can be distinguished from the rest of our collection (usually an end table or a special basket).  I’ve heard of some families wrapping up their treasured collections and unwrapping a book each night to read together (I feel like this is Modern Mrs. Darcy, but I couldn’t find it, so perhaps not). [Update, it was Modern Mrs. Darcy, and this post was waiting in my email the same day this post went live!]

Some corners of the internet and booksellers make much effort to honor the Icelandic tradition of Jolabokaflod, where each person receives a new book on Christmas Eve, then spends the evening reading it.  My youngest has decided to adopt this tradition each Saturday, as he takes consuming reading his spoils from our library visit and then is either eating or reading until bathtime.  I definitely feel a lot of pressure this year to choose his book well, but I have some ideas (which I’ll share next week).  

As much as I love books and reading and find them an essential part of my self-care routine, my favorite holiday tradition takes me back to college.  As you may know, Ashley and I went to college together, and despite having different majors, we were both a part of the Honors College at UTC (@ us with all your questions, especially those of you with high school students!).  The Honors College is a small community whose life and action is centered around a reading room (yes, that is what we called it, and reading and much more took place in the space) that reminded me of an updated, smaller take on the banquet hall of Hogwarts, and usually included less food and more books.  One tradition of the program was to email the listserv (yes, that’s how old we are) employing the dreaded “reply all” and make a list of things you’re thankful for to the rest of the college. Each response was usually ridiculously long, and sometimes silly, but always uplifting. There are several traditions I miss about college, and this one ranks very high (along with Charity Date Auctions – not unlike the one that opens Stud in the Stacks – and Prospective Student visits) to the point that occasionally I do a series of thankful posts on social media as I can no longer send my thanks through the listserv to my friends, classmates, and the ladies who gathered periodically for hamburger helper, and annually for our own Friends-giving, dorm style!  So much love to all of you, always!

And dear readers, you’re also getting some of my thankfulness today as well.  I’m thankful for this outlet Ashley and I created, that we get to read and talk about books and bookish things with each other and with you.  We are thankful for everyone who has joined us for Virtual Book Club since May.  We’re thankful for each and every (non-spam) comment we’ve gotten on our posts or social media accounts.  We’re thankful to the amazing writers, authors, publishers, booksellers, and countless others who pour into the industry so that we have so many amazing books to choose from for our reading lives.  And we’re thankful to the creatives who take our beloved characters, favorite lines, and glorious bookish ideas, and turn them into bookmarks, postcards, shirts, and more so that we can enjoy them even when we’re not reading or daydreaming about them. I’m thankful for the librarians who suggest books to me and my little people every week (and then befriended me on Goodreads so we can keep going in between visits).  And last for today, I’m thankful for each and every one of you who reads the blog, likes the social media posts, and shares the word about what we’re doing on our little corner of the internet.  Without our readers, this wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.  

What are your favorite traditions?

~Nikki 

There’s been a lot of upheaval in my holiday traditions in the years since I spent my Thanksgiving break sending a Thankfulness email to all our Honors College colleagues and making a ham for the annual Honors Thanksgiving celebration. My nuclear family’s holiday traditions start at Halloween and continue on to the end of January. That’s a long time, I know, but with my mom’s and sister’s birthdays at the beginning of November and mine and my dad’s mid-late January, we’re just celebrating from October until February. Add to the fact that for the first years of my marriage Adam and I would travel North for Canadian Thanksgiving, which falls on the second Monday of October, to celebrate the holidays with his family if we weren’t visiting them for Christmas or New Years. If we didn’t travel then we’d usually make our own Canadian ::cough::fake::cough:: Thanksgiving meal for ourselves. 

Things are different now that all my family lives in the New Orleans Area and Adam and I recently returned to
Tennessee from California. So, we’ll be re-creating our holiday traditions in these pandemic-times. One tradition we’re not participating in, and it is unclear if it will happen at all with the pandemic that shall not be named, is my extended maternal family’s annual Gobble Gamble. After Thanksgiving lunch around 1:30pm, football, and second Thanksgiving around 6pm, we’d hop into cars and drive down to the casino for a night of gambling and preparing for Black Friday shopping. The Gobble Gamble has had official shirts made for the participants. This is a serious family undertaking and we usually have a rest period in one of the casino hotel rooms, procured for free because my family likes to gamble on a regular basis. It’s harder now that there are multiple sets of littles that need care and feeding while the adults enjoy themselves. But, lemme just tell ya, my 85 year old grandma is usually the last one to bed whereas this grandkid likes her sleep. A lot. I really love that my family has created this annual tradition that’s a little weird and so very us.

As an adult, I’ve come to love and be so thankful for my favorite seasonal scents hitting the literal and virtual shelves. The items that bring me the most joy are the Mrs. Meyers holiday scents, specifically the Orange Clove. Yeah, I buy several sets a year and they never last long enough. Maybe one day I’ll just buy 20 bottles of everything so I can use it all year round. I’m burning an orange clove candle right now because it puts me in this calm, grateful, and happy mood. Who among us isn’t thankful for the seasonal food items that join us? Many of you weirdos love Pumpkin Spice Lattes (this former Starbucks Barista stands by the fact that it looks like watery baby food being pumped into the white cups and it smells and tastes like it looks) and that’s cool, you do you. I’ve probably made several thousand of those drinks for you. I prefer a peppermint mocha (which you can get all year round, just ask for it!) or a caramel apple spice (which is just a giant cup of warm, apply sweetness). 

I’m also thankful for the feeling that the year is winding down and nature is taking time for introspection and quiet as the nights are longer. I feel myself doing the same, usually with good books and warm beverages, sometimes with friends and family over impromptu ‘framily’ meals and game nights. That looks different now, but we’re all doing our best to connect however we can. 

Are your traditions being re-calibrated this year and how are you planning on continuing or reimagining the ones that mean the most to you?

~Ashley

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