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Christmas Tree Present Unboxing Night

I can’t believe it’s December already. We love this time of year, we remind ourselves the true meaning of Christmas and the Reason of the Season.  Of course, I love to add lots of fun along the way. Every year, the night that we take out our Christmas tree, I surprise my arrows with a gift box filled with lots of Christmas goodies getting us ready for the holiday season.

We have been doing this for the past several years and my arrows love it! Well, this along with our yearly Denali Express (which i will explain on a later post). So what’s in their boxes? I always include Christmas PJ’s, a book, a craft or toy, popcorn, hot chocolate packet or pod and some candy (what kid doesn’t like candy?).

When they open their boxes, my favorite part is seeing the joy on their faces, them knowing that their favorite time of year is officially here. They immediately changed into their Christmas Pj’s. They were a bigger hit this year because it came with a matching PJ for their American Girl doll (they couldn’t contain their excitement). We decorated our tree and watched Christmas movies for the rest of the evening while eating popcorn and hot chocolate as a family.

I look forward to this tradition every year. It always draws us closer as a family.  My goal is to make my arrows childhood special and memorable while spending every possible moment cherishing it with them. What are your favorite Holiday traditions for this time of year? Till next time, Journey On.

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My November Book List

It’s November, Yay!! I absolutely love this time of year because it’s the season of thanks. For myself and my family, I take full advantage of every opportunity to show, teach and reflect to be thankful for all that we have. As homeschoolers, we don’t have a school library, we have to build our own. I have been adding to our collection a little more than half a decade now and it’s so fun to dig into our shelves and find the perfect titles for the season. Now that the weather is cooler, we like to sit down on the couch with a hot cup of coffee / cocoa and enjoy some great books together as a family. (By the way, you can click on any of the links to purchase these books on Amazon.) So here is my November book list so far:

First up is one of our favorites, The Berenstain Bears.The Berenstain Bears Thanksgiving Blessings (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights) & The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks (Berenstain Bears/Living Lights). I believe I have at least one of their books for each of the holidays. I absolutely love that there’s always a lesson to learn and morals shine throughout the stories. The Berenstain Bears are the perfect way to start our month of Thanksgiving.

Next up, My kids are huge fans of silly books especially the Old Lady Who Swallowed books. So we have this really silly fun book called I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie (Picture Puffins) . It’s funny and we get a kick out of reading it after eating pumpkin pie (which is one of our favorite pies by the way).

We are also huge fans of the Magic Tree House Series. We got gifted last year, Thanksgiving on Thursday (Magic Tree House 27). We absolutely loved it, so we are definitely planning on reading it again this year.

I also have some great Thanksgiving picture books for my little arrows, especially for my little tot. My oldest loves reading to him. The Great Turkey Race, One Little, Two Little, Three Little Pilgrims (Picture Puffin Books), T is for Turkey: A True Thanksgiving Story & Bear Says Thanks (The Bear Books).

We added some new books to our Thanksgiving collection this year. They are: A Turkey for Thanksgiving & What Was the First Thanksgiving?. I usually like to add a new picture book and an informative book every year. This year, I am surprising them with the What Was The First Thanksgiving book. We really enjoy reading the Who Was books so i thought this book would be the perfect addition to our Thanksgiving collection. I think they are very informative while not too overwhelming for my younger arrows. Can’t wait to cuddle up and turn a page.

The evening before Thanksgiving we like to read Squanto and the Miracle of Thanksgiving and our picture book Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving (Scholastic Bookshelf). These two are great to prepare us for the next day where we always come together and give thanks with our friends and family.

Well, these are the books that we will be enjoying this year. What are your favorite Thanksgiving books? Would love to hear which ones your families enjoy. Till next time, Journey On.