Literacy - Yours For The Holidays!

With a multitude of holidays celebrated during December, Literacy Link South Central team members have been thinking about the different ways literacy plays a part in holiday traditions.

Here are some of the stories we shared with each other. We hope you enjoy them!

In my house growing up, we celebrated Chanukah and my mother always read to us from Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Stories for Children. The book has several wonderful Chanukah stories, including one about two young people trying to survive in the Warsaw Ghetto during World War II (“The Power of Light”).

 My mother read it to my sister and me every year and now I do the same on Chanukah with my two daughters. ~ Jeremy

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Every Christmas Eve my husband reads a story out loud to our 18-year-old and me. He went to school for acting and really gets into storytelling and reading in characters’ voices. Currently, we are thoroughly enjoying one short story a year from Stuart Maclean's “Christmas at the Vinyl Café”. It's hilarious! I highly recommend it. Especially if you have someone who will read it to you dramatically. ~ Sherry

Click here to listen to an excerpt from "Dave Cooks the Turkey"

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We sang Christmas carols, a must before opening presents. The youngest got the first choice of what song we sang. We had family songbooks made up with pictures of us growing up embedded throughout the books. Family members yelled out what song they wanted to sing next and it was no surprise it was the song with their picture on the page. The "12 Days of Christmas" was always a favourite as people were assigned their "number" and each time we got to that number they'd have to sing it with all they had and often acted it out - drumming, dancing, milking and

...alaying(?) 

The carols would end with a group retelling of "T'was the Night Before Christmas." Each person (of ages) took turn reading two phrases and then look to the next person to continue the story, and so on. Everyone hoped that got to read out the fun lines, especially the ones that called the reindeer into action. As each new member of the next generation listened to the enthusiastically told story, little did they know that in a few years they would be telling the story too. "Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!" ~ Anne Marie

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We used to do something when the kids were young. They would write their letters to Santa (with our help) and then we would burn them in the fireplace so that the messages would float up the chimney and find their way to Santa. As the little embers would be released from the burning paper, the kids would swear they could see the letters from the page making their way to the North Pole.

In later years, the letter to Santa was replaced with tracking Santa’s progress online. How things change! ~ Tamara

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For most of my adult life, I’ve created customized Christmas crackers (or poppers) for members of my family. Instead of the little paper crowns and plastic toys you find in store-bought cracker, everyone gets Lindt chocolates and other tiny treats I hope will strike their fancy. They also get a slip of paper with something to read. Last year it was a quote from a holiday film, which the person would read out loud for others – then everyone would guess what film the quote came from. It’s a fun tradition, and I’m busily thinking of what to put in the slips of paper in the Christmas crackers this year! ~ Summer

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My family loves to play board games in general, but especially during the holidays when there is a break from school and work! Every year we spend a large chunk of an afternoon or two, gathered around the kitchen table playing a board game. We have a few collaborative games where the players work together to beat the game, in addition to the ones that have a single winner. ~ Kate