Celebrate the Christmas season with That Artsy Reader Girl and her bookish friends! 

Celebrate #ChristmasWithJana: Instagram ✦ Twitter ✦ Event Schedule

Today I’m welcoming my friend Alyssa, book blogger at Books Take You Places and host of the On the Same Page Secret Sister Project! She’s here (on her birthday, by the way!!) to tell us about her Christmas traditions. I love traditions and any excuse to form a new one.

Hi all!

I am so happy to be on Jana’s blog today to help her celebrate A Bookish Little Christmas! Today I will be talking about some of my Christmas traditions growing up and the kinds of things I like to do to celebrate nowadays.

 

Growing up, Christmas was always my favorite time of year. Yes, this was in large part because I was a spoiled brat and got ALL THE PRESENTS, but that wasn’t the only reason why I loved the holiday so much. My earliest memories of Christmas were when my grandmother had a tiny third floor apartment in a town nearby. She had this tiny living room and would put up a tiny tree on top of a table in between two of the most comfortable chairs ever. She decorated the tree with tinsel and those ornaments that look like apples and she only ever used colored Christmas lights. The best part was that every year we would make new ornaments out of walnuts and glitter and my grandmother would act as if they were just the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. My grandmother collected Santas and they were alllll over the living room. Everywhere you looked, there was a Santa. I still covet this collection and ask her every Christmas if she is ready to bestow her giant collection to me – no luck thus far! Now, my favorite “Santa” will come as no surprise to those who know me. My uncle bought my grandmother a statue of Black Peter one year and I fell in love. He had these switches in his sack that I would take out and hold while watching different Christmas movies. I LOVED this guy, and every year I peruse Ebay and debate buying him for myself (Justin, do you see this, honey?)

So anyway, why did I love Black Peter so much? This weird tradition came from my great grandmother from Germany and my mother and her rather macabre likes. I grew up learning about Belsnickel. An easy explanation is that Belsnickel is akin to Saint Nicholas. He brings treats to good children but instead of coal, he brings switches to beat the naughty children. His companion is Krampus, who is often the one who does the beating. These stories turned into a new tradition in my family where we began to celebrate Krampusnacht. On the evening of December 5 we would leave out our shoes for when Belsnickel and Krampus visited. In the morning, if it was filled with treats then we knew Santa was coming to bring us gifts. If I had been particularly bratty around that time, I would get some rocks thrown in there to remind me to be on my best behavior, or Krampus was going to come and give me the switch. Interesting family I grew up with, eh? So ANYWAY Black Peter is another companion to Saint Nicholas, and for some reason I found these complex beings a lot more interesting than the traditional Santa Claus.

That being said, have you read Krampus: The Yule Lord by Brom? I HIGHLY recommend it if you enjoy dark fantasy and authors such as Neil Gaiman. For readers looking for a dark and harrowing story on the origins of Santa Claus, differences between Christmas and Yuletide, or a vivid novel steeped in Norse mythology, this novel is highly recommended.

 

So what am I doing this year? Let me tell ya! I am going to be making Christmas cookies with my mom (head over to Sarah’s blog to see some yummy and easy recipes for some of those) and sitting by my tree A LOT. As of writing this, it is less than one week until I go and pick out my Christmas tree for a day of decorating! I already have it in my calendar as “CHRISTMAS TREE DAY” because I am SO EXCITED. I always watch those old school Christmas movies like The Year Without a Santa Claus and The Muppet Christmas Carol while decorating and have the best time ever. I will then spend the next few (yep, FEW) months bundled up on my couch next to my tree. It is my very favorite thing to do. Finally, around Valentine’s Day I will make myself take down my tree because by that time it will probably be droopy and sad looking.

 

What will I be reading? I am weird because I always choose my last book of the year months in advance. I have ELEVEN books to go on my Goodreads goal (LOL why does this always happen?!) but I have a few end of year reads in mind…

 

The Last Unicorn by Peter Beagle – I have owned this book for YEARS and have yet to read it. This is just one of those classics that somehow slipped by me as I was growing up and I cannot wait to read it.

 

Krampusnacht: Twelve Nights of Krampus by Kate Wolford – This book was gifted to me by my secret sister and I cannot wait to delve in this holiday season! Short, horror, Krampus-filled stories? Yes, please.

 

The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories by Tara Moore – This one I have been coveting for a while now and no libraries have it so if I don’t receive it from Santa (or Belsnickel) I might have to just treat myself. I mean…hello…CHRISTMAS GHOST STORIES!

…and finally…my last read of the year…

 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: The Illustrated Edition – I CANNOT WAIT FOR THIS ONE! I have refrained from buying it just so I could hold off and have it be my last read of the year. I am SO excited to fall into this world and ring in the new year with my favorite characters.

What will you be reading this holiday season? Sending you all of the best wishes! XO