Can Preparing for the Holidays Be Made Easy? Cuddle and Read a Christmas Book Aloud!

Cuddle and Read a Christmas Book Aloud!

What are the holidays all about? Some of the words that come to mind are peace, love, brotherhood, sharing, celebrations, gratitude, family and friends. So let’s make sure that we take the time to balance and ensure that these positive elements stay at the forefront. We can do this with R&R: reading and relaxing!

Reading a great book unleashes the imagination that can immediately whisk us away into another world. It doesn’t stop there, the process strengthens imagination, memory and improves analytical skills. By imagining ourselves in the story we can also ignite new emotions. Hence, if we are feeling stressed, our imaginations can transport us to experiencing another place plus the emotions of a character, distancing us from our present lives.

Celebration ideas are generated from holiday-themed reading. Historical fiction can inspire us with traditions from the past. Picture books can reinforce special traditions that we already engage in, such as tree decorating, gingerbread houses and cookies or Santa rituals. Creative whimsical speculations can be inspired, as I found with a recent historical fantasy fiction piece written by Yvonne Pont, which tells the tale of Bess, who after setting up her lighted ceramic Christmas village, flips between 1849 New Hampshire and her 21st-century life with her husband. Reading holiday fiction is an easy, inexpensive way of escaping and being inspired.

Reading to one’s child or to anyone else for that matter, is a great way to improve one’s listening skills, memory, comprehension and ability to paint images in one’s mind. In our fast-paced ADHD world, both young and old can benefit from slowing down to listen. Possibly, because it requires us to slow down the reading process, maybe reading out loud develops our patience? Take a look at this extensive article.

Above all, one of the most deliciously relaxing activities is snuggling up and reading. Reading can be a private solitary spa-like experience by grabbing a blanket, comfy seat, cup of tea and a few sweets while turning pages, while we shut out reality for a short time. Reading aloud with our children, snuggled up soaking up our favourite picture books, giggling, speculating and discussing our favourite characters, we lose ourselves in the magic of image and print. The experience is intimately playful while building literacy skills.