The countdown to Christmas is on, and we are filling our days with all of our favorite Christmas activities and traditions. We’ve been baking cookies, looking at Christmas lights, listening to carolers sing downtown, and reading our favorite Christmas books!
My boys love books, and I love that! Which is why we books play an important role in one of our favorite family traditions! Today I’m excited to join with a fun group of bloggers to talk about creating Christmas traditions, and we’ve each teamed with At Home stores to give our traditions some stylish upgrades! At Home wants to help you make your holiday traditions extra special as well, so be sure to check out the giveaway at the end of the post!
Like many families, the Elf on the Shelf makes a visit to our house during the holidays, but our elf brings a load of gifts with him – Christmas books for our boys to unwrap and read each night before bed. In the past, all of the wrapped books have just been stacked on our entry table, but this year, our elf delivered them in a gorgeous acrylic trunk from At Home!
The open hallway area outside our boys’ bedrooms is a nice space, but largely under utilized. This year, I decided to to make it a more comfortable and cozy space where we could read our Christmas books as a family each night.
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| If you are wondering about the reflections on our railing, it’s because of the way we childproofed them. You can read all of the details in this post: How to Child-Proof Horizontal Railings |
Our elf brings us the same books year after year {with a few new ones mixed in here and there as they outgrow others}, but seeing them all of the books wrapped up inside that amazing acrylic trunk makes them feel extra special! And since we always cuddle up together to read the books, I also picked up a new blanket and a couple of festive pillows from At Home to make this space perfectly cozy,
Each night before bed, they boys get to mark a day off of our Christmas countdown calendar on the chalkboard wall in our kitchen.
Then we head upstairs and they get to search through the trunk of books to find the one with the matching number. In the back corner of the trunk, I filled a tall glass vase from At Home with Christmas bows, and the pretty wrapping paper was another At Home find! This vase takes up the perfect amount of space to keep all the books upright, plus it just looks darn pretty!
It was love at first sight when I spotted that striped blanket at At Home! I am always drawn to bold stripes, and I really liked the detail of the different styles of crocheted stitches, from ribbed and cable knit to diamonds. Nonetheless, I initially thought the gold color in the blanket wouldn’t match any of my Christmas decor, so I reluctantly passed it by. Fortunately, a few minutes later I spotted that cute Happy Holidays pillow embroidered in gray, pink, and gold, and I knew it was meant to be! I added super soft and furry white pillow to the mix, and combined them on the black faux-snake skin chair that we already had in the upstairs hall.
My older son is just learning to read, and he loves reading books to his little brother. It melts my heart to see them cuddled up together under that blanket!
Of course, now the rest of the hallway needed a few pink and gold touches to tie the space together!
I filled my lamp base with some gold ornaments and added a collection of Christmas trees to my black and white striped cabinet. I think I might need some sort of intervention, because I can’t stop adding groups of Christmas trees to every flat surface in the house!
Sharing Christmas books with my boys each night before bed is one of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions because it fosters their love of reading and allows us to spend quality time together!
Looking for some inspiration for new holiday traditions? Here are some fabulous ideas to consider! We would also love to hear about your traditions…share them with us on Instagram by using #MyReason!
Blue i Style {you are here}
Be sure to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a $100 gift card from At Home to make you Christmas traditions even more memorable this year!
At Home provided some of the products featured in this post, but as always, all opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for supporting the brands that make this blog possible!
Melissa @ Polished Habitat says
The books were a brilliant tradition idea! And that trunk table needs to come live in my house. LOVE IT!
At Home With Zan says
Wow – I really loved reading this about this tradition. It seems so special! That trunk is amazing! What a great find to used for this reason. I also love the bold colors of the blanket and the wrapping paper. The entire thing looks beautiful – I love all the little Christmas trees and have way too many of them too!!!
Craftivity Designs says
This is such a neat family tradition — what special moments! The trunk is such a cool item for it, and it will be fun to use throughout the year 🙂
Jenn @ Loveland Lodge says
Awwww… I'm a book lover to and can't wait to start this type of tradition with my own kids (one day ;). Such a great way to capture the spirit of the season.
Colette Wright says
oh my gosh how sweet! I LOVE the acrylic box with the presents! Also, totally swooning over the black and white striped cabinet!
Evelyn Osborn says
What a great way to take an previously unused area and turn it into a cozy family space! Reading books is so important and this is a great way to promote it.
Melanie @ bear rabbit bear says
The acrylic box is so cute! I like the mix of traditional and non-traditional colors.
Debi at Life Currents says
What a great tradition. And that hallway is the perfect place for it. How cute that they both sit in the chair together.
Ellie Augustin says
Love the tradition and that blanket really looked so cozy.
Molly Wagner says
I love this! Your style is gorgeous, btw. I think it's sweet how the boys are so excited about the books, Christmas traditions are the best 🙂
foody schmoody says
My son is a reader too (makes me so happy). Great idea for the trunk of books. I wish our elf had thought of that!
Angela LeMoine says
Oh my goodness! I LOVE this idea!!! I think my boys would love this!! I need to start this fun tradition ~
Cate says
I love this idea! I'll definitely be trying this with my kids
Shani Ogden says
We have the same family tradition and my kids LOVE it. What a fun little space in your house to have story time! 🙂
Kim says
I absolutely love this tradition! And your home looks so cozy and beautiful… loving all of the Christmas touches. Pinned!