Christmas in July - Day Twenty-Two

 

22 weeks and 2 days until Christmas and today I'm sharing a sort-of-a-craft.  The craft part comes from however creative you want to get with the wrapping, but the main event is inside the packages - a Christmas book advent calendar.  Advent calendars are usually 24 days so you have just under enough weeks to pick up a book a week, or you can put some money aside each week if you want to purchase just Christmas books for the Advent calendar.  Wrap them up, label with number 1 to 24, and delight in reading to or with your children throughout the month of December.  If you don't have children at home, or grandchildren or nieces and nephews, make one for yourself.  You could even make one with magazines.

Not a craft topic but an interesting one about books - the Icelandic Jolabokaflod

Imagine this:  It's Christmas Eve and after receiving a brand-new book from your family, you cozy up in your favorite reading nook or in front of the fire with a mug of hot cocoa and spend the rest of the evening reading.

That's exactly how Icelandic people celebrate Christmas each year.  This tradition is known as Jolabokaflod, which translates roughly to "Christmas book flood" in English.

Jolabokaflod started during World War II, when paper was one of the few things not rationed in Iceland.  Because of this, Icelanders gave books as gifts while other commodities were in short supply, turning them into a country of bookaholics to this day.

Ever since 1944, the Icelandic book trade has sent out a book bulletin to each household in the middle of November when the Reykjavik Book Fair happens.  People use this catalogue to order books to give to their friends and family on Christmas Eve, the main gift-giving day in Iceland.  After all the presents are open, everyone grabs a cup of hot chocolate and cozies up to spend the rest of the evening reading their books.

Source:  Ashley Leath, Why Icelanders Spend Every Christmas Eve Reading Books and Drinking Cocoa, Country Living, November 29, 2021