The Easiest Way to Celebrate a Holiday
In the past, the idea of celebrating a holiday would make me feel overwhelmed (and guilty-- I do own a party company after all!). I’d finally get our rhythm going and then a holiday would come up and I’d feel like we were abandoning our well-oiled machine for an interruption.
I felt this way because I was making holidays too complicated.
I’ve learned how to slow down, do less, and enjoy our homeschool more. Why couldn’t I apply this mindset shift to holidays?
I could. And so can you.
The easiest way to celebrate a holiday and still be intentional is through books. Books paired with a special treat? Even better, but books by themselves create the best of memories. And they don’t have to be different books each year. Create a simple family tradition and read the same books each year, maybe add in 1-2 new ones alongside your yearly favorites.
TLDR, here's a summary of this post:
Use your own books (learn how even if you don't have holiday books)
Take advantage of your local library (and a homeschool hack to beat hold lines)
Borrow books from friends (and a fun app to keep track of borrowed books)
1. Use Your Own Books
The biggest mental breakthrough I had with this idea is: the books do not need to be holiday specific.
What is the theme of the holiday? Love, service, acts of kindness, sacrifice, food, mischief?
Pull books with those themes.
It’s okay if your Valentine’s Day books aren’t filled with pink and red hearts. One Little Bag is a touching wordless picture book that speaks on themes like love, sacrifice, service, and remembering those we have lost. To me, books like this are more impactful for holidays than character-themed books changed to match a holiday (although these can be cute!).
2. Your Local Library
The next best place to get free books is your local library. Most libraries have apps now or at least a great website to search books and place them on hold for pick up.
The only issue is library hold lines. Sometimes it can take weeks to get a popular book, especially around a specific holiday.
This frustrated me to no end until I came across this amazing homeschool hack— YouTube read-alouds! There is a very good chance you can find someone reading the book you are waiting for on YouTube. This is a great option for last-minute planning.
3. Borrow Books from Friends
Remember you do not need holiday-specific books, you can look for themes in books that relate to the holiday you are celebrating.
Chances are your friends have books you can borrow or swap. Reading and books are a big part of our family culture, so we own more books than we probably should. I use this app to scan and log all our books. It allows us to let our friends “check out” books from our home library. It is great for keeping track of who is borrowing our books. We also pay a small monthly fee that allows our friends to view our home library catalog online.
Are you ready to grab some books? Check out my favorite books for each holiday below!
