Christmas Eve Box

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This post is a little overdo but life got a little crazy and busy. We just finished celebrating our first Christmas in the new house and Rhett experienced this magical season for the first time. We also started some new traditions this year while continuing some old ones too. One tradition we continued was the Christmas Eve Box. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I started this when Mattisyn was 2 years old and have carried it on ever since.

This special gift can only be opened on Christmas Eve. It is a box that includes a new pair of pajamas, a Christmas book and sometimes one small trinket (such as a stuffed animal) that goes with the story. Each year the girls are so eager to see what pajamas I have picked out for them and which new story we add to our collection. This is a custom that I hope my kids will pass down to their own children one day. I look forward to the time we look back and have whole collection of various Christmas books with remnants of fingerprints on the page from revisiting the book year after year.

=The books I choose each year take time and consideration in order for me to find the right one. I don’t just choose any random Christmas book off of the store’s shelves. The books have to deliver a strong Christmas message or are full of the season’s spirit.

Our collection includes the following books:

  1. Twas the Night Before Christmas (a staple to any Christmas book collection)
  2. Katie the Candy Cane Fairy by Tim Bugbird
  3. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
  4. A Snowman Named Bob by Mark Moulton
  5. Santa’s Sleigh is on its way to Texas by Eric James
  6. Christmas Wish by Lori Evert
  7. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston

This Christmas, I chose the book Dasher by Matt Tavares. It’s a story about a reindeer, Dasher, who wishes to have a different life than the one she lives. When she is given the opportunity to achieve this wish she takes it meeting Santa Claus on the way. It is a story that is full of emotion but has such sweet, relatable messages provided to the readers, which is why I chose it.

This year, we had the girls open their box earlier than usual. Christmas Eve is also my husband’s birthday, so the day is very busy with birthday activities and pre-Christmas shenanigans. I didn’t want it to feel like a rush this year with opening their Christmas Eve box then rushing to bed which usually happens after we come home from our church’s Christmas Eve service. So they opened their gift around 2 in the afternoon. The girls liked this as well. Of course, Rhett was too small to understand, but let’s just say that everyone was a fan of their pajamas and the book.