How do you get your kid to stop asking to hear holiday-themed books after the holiday?

by Christina Sbarro (Subscribe to Christina Sbarro's posts) Dec 31st 2007 11:00AM

Categories: Fun & Activities, Development, Education, That's Entertainment

So it's still sort of hoilday-ish at our house. The tree is still up, the twinkle still lingering in our eyes and hearts. Right now it's not a stretch to be in the mood to read The Night Before Christmas (which, by the way, magically appeared undder the tree with a brand new pair of PJs on Christmas Eve.)

Yet I know there will come a time--and that time will be soon, when the mere mention of the book will make me clench my teeth. This already happens every year with holiday music for me: people play it so freaking much that by the time the holiday arrives if I have to hear one more soulful or sappy rendition of silent night I am tempted to plug my ears and run screaming from the room. Call me a grinch, but I have a limited tolorance for all things holiday-ish, and reading about Santa in February (or July, for that matter) just doesn't sound appealing.

But how do I make the requests stop? Hide the book? Pack it away with the tree ornaments? Refuse to read it? What do you do?

Comments (8)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

SAM 12-31-2007 @ 11:30AM

Everything holiday gets packed away together: movies, books, CDs. That way you know where it is next year when you are ready to hear and see them again. :)

Nicola 12-31-2007 @ 11:35AM

We keep our holiday books out year round (why not?), but I do know a lot of friends who have a holiday book stash. So, they put the Christmas books away now and pull out the Valentine's set. If you don't want to have Christmas all year long, then just pack them away...

Joy 12-31-2007 @ 11:38AM

I do the same thing SAM does. I put ALL my Christmas stuff together. Movies, books, CD's, house decorations and so forth. I get it all out the Fri after Thanksgiving and pack it all up and "get it out" on Dec. 26. I love it for that month but then I need my house back.

aprilkelm 12-31-2007 @ 11:41AM

I pack away everything Christmas. Even the stuffed animals she receives for Christmas. That way they are special when we pull them out next year. You don't want "The night before Christmas" to ever become just a regular old book. My dad read a Christmas book that we had to us once a year on Christmas Eve and I still remember him doing it. That book is still at my mom's house, and I have such fond memories of it.

Shannon 12-31-2007 @ 12:04PM

I have a stack of Christmas books that I pack away with the Christmas decorations every year. They come out when we bring out the boxes of Christmas stuff in November or December. So we keep the Christmas reading to a holiday minimum.

BigGUM 12-31-2007 @ 12:54PM

I can never bring myself to refuse when my boys are asking for a specific book. It just feels wrong.
That doesn't mean that I don't sometimes attempt to hide a title that I've grown weary of. I do like to pull holiday titles and keep them together, though they're not really out of reach. Often, out of sight truly is out of mind and they'll go on to another book.
But if they don't? I'll go get it out again.

Sandyone 1-01-2008 @ 9:41AM

Christmas is still in full swing around our house. We celebrated Advent through December and then Christmas Day starts the Christmas Season. It lasts for 12 days and ends on January 6th, Epiphany. This year, Epiphany is on a Sunday, so maybe I'll actually get to take down all the Christmas stuff *on* Epiphany. Or maybe it will be on Monday. Or the following Saturday.

I try to keep all of the Christmas books with the Advent decorations. If I leave them out, they get lost or abused. We have a few books that are just too good to pack away during the year and get read sometime during the year. The religious ones are good for reinforcing catechism discussions.

My kids are ponderers. They'll start thinking about something today and it will pop up in a few months, seemingly out of the blue. It's good to have "the good books" handy during those times.

Jennifer 1-01-2008 @ 12:44PM

My mother in law used to wrap all the Christmas books up like presents and pack them away for next year. Throughout the Christmas season, each night they'd open a new 'present' and read it at bedtime. I think it's a great idea and every year I say I'm going to do it, but I never do.

I just put them in a rubbermaid bin, the books, movies, music, stuffed animals. Next year when we unpack them the kids treat them like they're brand new toys all over again. We do leave snowmen up, snowflakes, and winter storybooks to celebrate the winter season.

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