12 Days: Day 1: My Holiday Traditions Old & New

   

Hello Everyone! Today is the kickoff for my Holiday themed event 12 days ! Every day I will have a 12 Days post where I share info on how I like to celebrate the season as well as book reviews and guest posts! Be sure to comment on every post! Not only so you can share your holiday celebrations but also for a chance at a $30.00 dollar gift card!

My Traditions

My Holiday Season always begins the Day after Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving weekend was always a relaxing fun time for my family, well maybe a little more work for my mother but she never complained. My mother enjoyed the Holidays so much that  all the decorations were pulled out the Day after Thanksgiving. I still have wonderful memories about pulling those boxes down from the attic an decorating each room. After the house was decorated we would pile into the car and drive to a Christmas Tree farm and pick our tree.

I still keep that tradition though I use artificial trees. This year I've changed things up. I have two trees:

Here is my Green tree 

GEEKY Tree

This year I decided to take all my Star Wars , Spongebob and Disney ornaments on one tree. I've had a lot of fun doing this and I will definitely do it again next year.

Ornaments

I really love Holiday ornaments. The fact that I could fill two trees this year and am currently working on a zombie tree shows I have a large ornament selection. Every year brings an opportunity to revisit Ornaments of holiday's past and of course to buy new ones!



                            I got this great ornament at Cost Plus:

                                                     Holiday Reading

I really enjoy reading holiday themed books, especially Romance during the Holiday season. This year I'm participating in this reading challenge:

              Here are some of the books I'll be reading and reviewing:

Puzzles & Games

I always buy at least one puzzle or activity book every Holiday Season. I find it's a welcome Oasis in a busy season and it's just fun. Here are two great ones I picked up for this year.

                                                               

                                        

 These are just a few of the traditions I keep every year. I will be sharing more about these topics over the next few days. Don't forget to scroll down and read today's 12 Days Review about Dickens and Victorian Christmas traditions. Also share some of your Holiday Traditions with me in the comments!

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12 Days Review: Dicken's Christmas A Victorian Celebration by Simon Callow

 

PUBLISHER:

ABRAMS


 

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol is always a part of my Holiday Celebrations. There have been  various adaptations of A Christmas Carol, live action, animated and even musical.

 In Dickens Christmas we learn the roots of our current Holiday celebrations, a look at Dickens life and muses, and how the themes in  A Christmas Carol inspired the Victorians .

Through my own research I knew a lot about the origins of many of our winter celebrations. In Dickens Christmas we learn not only about the foundations of the Holiday but also about the many years when Christmas was barely celebrated at all.

A great resurgence in Celebrating the season began in the early 19th Century Britain. It was interesting times for the country. The Industrial Revolution was in full bloom and a new generation of children were working in factories  and trade positions.

Dickens himself was sent to work in a shoe factory for several years. The experience really changed him. Charles harbored some simmering resentments towards his family for the experience and a compassion for the underprivileged that resonated through out his life and his fiction.

This book also contains a complete copy of the Christmas Carol novel and a look at the food and celebratory traditions of the Victorian people.

Really enjoyed leaning more about Dickens life and the events that inspired this classic Christmas read.

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