My Christmas Gift to You
Happy Thanksgiving to all my American readers, friends, and family! And for those of you outside the U.S.A. happy third-to-last day of November!
And to everyone: let the Christmas decorating and music commence!
I love Christmas. It's my favorite time of year. (I love Thanksgiving, too... don't worry, this isn't me hopping on the "skip Thanksgiving" ride... today is one of my favorite days of the year and I hope yours has been lovely and restful and filled with good food and quality conversations and peace and that you have spent some time reflecting on those things you are truly grateful for... I know I have).
But I have a Christmas gift for you, and I couldn't wait one. more. second to share it with you, I'm FAR too excited about it.
Like many of you, I have a lot of favorite Christmas traditions. Every year, we watch all our favorite Christmas movies throughout the month of December. The kids and I put up our Jesse tree and hang ornaments each day. We buy a new Lego Star Wars advent calendar each year because we're nerds. I also pack up all the Christmas picture books when we put away the decorations so that I can pull them out, wrap them up, and put them under the tree and each night in December the kids pick one out to unwrap and read together as a family. Another tradition we started last year was Jolabokaflod, an Icelandic tradition in which everyone gifts each other books and we open them on the morning of Christmas Eve and then spend the rest of the day reading our new books and eating chocolate. (Could there BE a better tradition anyone has ever come up with anywhere?!?!?) It was awesome and we are definitely doing that again this year.
This year, I'm so excited to be able to include MY Christmas Picture Book in the mix of these traditions.
A few of you know that one of my dreams is to narrate my own audio-books. Yes, this is why there is no audio version yet, because making an audio book requires a few things I don't have access to: namely TIME and QUIET. But it's on my list.
But, in spite of my lacking the time/quiet/nice microphone that I need to narrate one of my longer fantasy novels... a portion of that dream has come true for me this year anyway! And today, I would like to present it to you as an early Christmas present. I hope you enjoy it!
Merry Christmas!
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DoF2Pnrb9c[/embedyt]
Make sure to come by tomorrow and find out about some awesome book sales and freebies you can get over the holiday shopping weekend... and if you're leaving your house to join the insanity of Black Friday.... I salute you... from the comfort and quiet of my own home... be safe out there!And now it's your turn! What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?