Jolabokaflod {A New Tradition}

At the beginning of the month I sat down with our December calendar and carefully planned easy, fun little activities for our 25 day wooden Advent countdown calendar.  Everyday the kids open the door and find out what the day will bring.  Some days were very simple "so and so picks a Christmas movie," "give a compliment to someone today," or "pick up a mess you didn't make."  Too many of our bigger activities got put on the back burner or canceled because of sickness (gingerbread houses, looking at lights, seeing a cousin in his play, and so much more), to the point where opening the little door each day was almost depressing.

Today, however, today felt like a simple win.  In today's little door was "jolabokaflod" and when the kids read the slip of paper they looked at me like I was crazy.  I explained about the Icelandic tradition of giving books on Christmas Eve and then spending the day reading and drinking hot chocolate, and the kids were all in, especially when they realized I had a new book for each of them.

Books and hot chocolate were a perfect way to pass a few hours on the first day of our winter blizzard with real feels temps of -30.  

Even though this is a Christmas Eve tradition in Iceland, we usually have a gathering or Christmas celebration on Christmas Eve, so doing it today was best for us.  Making our own traditions.