Happy Wednesday! We are halfway through the first week back from winter break and still going strong! I wanted to share one of my favorite winter traditions with you today. It has to do with books, of course, and it also includes chocolate – yum. Check out how we celebrated in 2018 and 2019.

Jolabokaflod is an Icelandic tradition dating back to it’s independence in 1944. Families exchange books on Christmas Eve and then read quietly while drinking hot chocolate. I love how personal picking a book for someone is, but I also find it so stressful. It’s hard to find the perfect book for the people you love, especially if I haven’t read it yet or I don’t read their preferred genre. I think I did a pretty good job this year, but we’ll see as everyone reads their books.

Mom – The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis
I was so excited to hear that my mom hadn’t read this book yet! My mom is a big reader and I need to do a better job keeping track of what she’s read this year.

Annie – The Editor by Steven Rowley
I’m pretty sure Annie won’t be reading this anytime soon, but once she gets settled into motherhood, I think she’ll love it!

Mom/Annie/Sarah book – This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens
I already read it and I loved it. I think my mom will like it and my sister will really like it.

Jeff – Stuff You Should Know by and Alright, Alright, Alright by Melissa Maerz
I thought Jeff would really like the Stuff You Know book because he likes to read lots of interesting facts. He mentioned the Alright book a bunch so I picked it up for him.

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Jack – The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton and The Final Four by Paul Volponi
Jack’s so hard to pick books for! I thought this would be a good time for him to read The Outsiders and a sports book is a sure win with him.

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Luke – The Bad Guys 12 by Aaron Blabey and Happy Narwhalidays by Ben Clanton
These were no brainers for Luke. He’s loved all the books in these series and was pumped to get the next ones.

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Dad – Ballad of the Whiskey Robber by Julian Rubinstein
My dad loves hockey and this book looked like a fun pick for him!

Zach – Stuff You Should Know by Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant
He’s started reading it!! But Zach definitely disagreed with the book saying that beards were ornamental right off the bat!

Maggie – Room For a Little One by Martin Waddell and Christmas in the Manger by Nola Back
These were two of our boys’ favorite Christmas books and I wanted Maggie to have them too!

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Karen – News of the World by Paulette Jiles
Jeff’s mom likes good stories and she reads a good bit of historical fiction. Karen is hard to pick books for like my mom because she reads a bunch and I don’t do the best job keeping track of what she’s read.

That was our 2020 Jolabokaflod. We always exchange books on Christmas Eve, like the Icelandic tradition, but we never have the time to read them quietly with hot chocolate. That usually comes in the week after Christmas while we are home from school, and I enjoy every minute of it!

Did you give or receive any books as presents? I’d love to hear about them. Have a great day full of sunshine and books!