Jolabokaflod: My Favorite Christmas Tradition

If you haven't heard of Jolabokaflod yet, you are missing out on one of the most magical traditions of the holiday season that I've experienced yet! Read on to find out how my family makes the most of this winter holiday.

Jolabokaflod is an Icelandic tradition that dates back to the 1940's and is roughly translated as "Christmas Book Flood".  I encourage you to google it and read all about its history! Basically it's a Christmas Eve book exchange where you gift and receive books and spend the rest of the night reading them while enjoying chocolates or hot chocolate.  What is not to love about this? 

I read about Jolabokaflod several years ago when my two children were pretty young (around 5 and 7 years old), and I knew immediately this was something I needed to incorporate into our Christmas traditions. Both of my kids absolutely love reading, but opening books on Christmas Day is just not ever going to be as exciting for them as their other gifts.  Even though the books will ultimately be their favorite and most used gifts throughout the year, they get lost in the sea of presents on the 25th.  

Enter - Jolabokaflod. 

Not only does this holiday revolve entirely around the amazingness of books, it also provided an unexpected lifeline to us parents.  It gave us a night of calm amongst the craziness that exists in the days leading up to Christmas when you live with kids! The holiday truly is a gift in itself. 

We celebrate on the 23rd since we already have our own family traditions on Christmas Eve. We have a nice, light dinner together and then take turns opening books from each other.  I buy fancy chocolates, and then we take the rest of the evening to read in our jammies. Now that my kids are older and reading well on their own, they like to go to their rooms and read in bed. They don't normally get to eat in their rooms, so to be able to take some chocolate and eat it in bed is just extra special.  And thus, two nights before Christmas, I get hours of quiet reading time... and chocolates.  

If I haven't convinced you yet, I don't know what else will!

To make this year's Jolabokaflod night even more special, I created some personalized items for my kids.  I painted a family of Christmas mice gifting books to each other with chocolates scattered about for the artwork. This design can be used not only for Jolabokaflod but also for holiday book exchanges. There's plenty to choose from in this collection in my shop, but here are some of my favorites. 

For those who'd rather have a warm mug of hot chocolate on Jolabokaflod, this adorable mug features my illustration and has room for personalizing with your child's name.  I bought these for my kids and I plan to pack them away with my holiday decorations (because who has any more room in their cabinets for more mugs?! Not me). 

I also made personalized DIY cut out bookmark sheets. Each sheet comes with four bookmarks that you can cut out at home. They're printed front and back on sturdy cardstock. You can also include your child's name on the back which features a quote from Garrison Keilor that reads, "A book is a gift you can open again and again." Keep reading or scroll down for a cute video of me turning these into bookmarks and using them as gift tags on my wrapped presents.

Book nameplate labels are another thing I got for my family. We always write a little Jolabokaflod message on the inside covers of the books we give to each other, so I thought this would be a cute little addition to that. The kids will have fun writing their names and making it their own! 

After ordering all of these things, I decided to make some special gift wrap as well. We always put our books into a large basket that sits in our family room. We get excited as it fills up, and this year I thought it would look extra special to have the gift wrap be Jolabokaflod themed.  I created a set of affordable wrapping sheets with cohesive designs. They come in a set of three. Depending on how large your books are, it may or may not be enough gift wrap, so be sure to check your measurements.

You can find these items and more in my Jolabokaflod Collection in my shop. 

I had a ton of fun designing these products. With or without them, do consider adding Jolabokaflod to your own family holiday traditions - you won't regret it!

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