Have you started planning for Christmas yet? I recently shared some of my Bullet Journaling Christmas ideas in a post on Sweet Tea and Saving Grace, and it made me start getting excited for the holidays.
The last few years I’ve kind of had a Bah! Humbug! attitude about Christmas. I think it started when I got divorced 8 years ago. It was so hard for me to rotate years with my ex and spend every other year without my kids. I was a single mom and didn’t have the energy to do all the fun Christmas traditions I’d done in years past. There was no cookie making, no gingerbread houses, no Secret Santa shopping. I feel bad about it, but I’m a strong believer that we do the best we can with what we are given in any moment that we are in, so I give myself grace and realize it’s okay. I’ve since remarried, and some of my kids are grown and married and starting families of their own, but I feel a desire to feel the spirit of the holidays again this year.
As I was thinking about Christmas traditions and bullet journal layouts I could make, I wanted to share my favorite Christmas tradition with you.
This bullet journal collection is a list of some of our favorite Christmas stories. One of our favorite Christmas traditions when my kids were little was to wrap 24 Christmas stories and put them under the tree. Each night in December, a child would get to pick one of the books to unwrap and we’d read it together.
It’s always fun to open presents, and the kids were excited when it was their turn. It helped us get in the Christmas spirit, and many of the stories taught them the true meaning of Christmas. I loved the time spent with them.
When I was in college and we didn’t have a lot of money, I went to the library and checked the books out then wrapped them, and we slowly built our personal collection of Christmas stories by buying one or two per year.
My youngest is now 13, so we don’t do this anymore, but it’s a tradition I’ll always look back on with fondness.
What’s your favorite Christmas tradition? Are you using your bullet journal to plan for Christmas this year? I’d love to hear your ideas in the comments below!
