Happy New Year!
This Red Reading Boots lady is just back from a glorious ten days in Hawaii. My whole family went — three generations, sixteen of us in all — including seven ecstatic cousins (and another in-law-to-be cousin made official while we were there!), two intrepid grandparents, and then the middle generation, of which I am a part. It was fantastic! We are so not a family who travels to Hawaii for Christmas, so I think we were all sort of astounded it actually happened! Hardly knew how to behave ….
As I lay on the beach on Christmas (I know!) I thought about winter. All of us enjoyed the sun and the ocean and the palm trees, of course, but several in our older two generations are really tired of winter as we experience it in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Montana. They were especially excited to be in the warm sun.
I actually love a good winter, which so far we’ve not had in our Minnesota neck of the woods … but I digress. For me, the winter holidays have snow and ice, glimmer and shimmer, and squeaky and muffled footsteps in the snow. It was very strange, though certainly enjoyable, to be on the beach in the heat and bright sun, with the shifting blue and turquoise water, and the sand between our toes (and everywhere else!).
Which made me think about my Winter Storytimes, which I planned in November. December’s stories were mostly about Christmas and Hanukkah and the Solstice. January’s are entirely about snow. But as I write this, we A) yet to have any snow here in the Twin Cities, and B) not everyone has snow at Christmas! How snow-centric could I possibly be?!
But there are such lovely picture books about snow. Wonderful classics like The Snowy Day and The Mitten. Terrific kid-friendly books like Froggy Gets Dressed with its wonderful sound effects of getting dressed to play in the snow. Quiet books like Winter Is Here that celebrate the joyful sounds and sights of a snowy winter.
I have picked out a month’s worth of snowy books for the long wintery month of January. But I’m second guessing it now. Must our storytime be so snowy? What if it doesn’t snow all of January?! We will all need a sunny sandy break, I think, even those of us who are lovers of a northern winter of snow and ice.
So I’m thinking The Sandcastle that Lola Built and Who’s Hiding at the Beach? Maybe Here Comes Ocean and The Seashore Book, as well. I think we’ll sing “The Waves at the Beach” (to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”) along with a reprise of “Jingle Bells,” because everyone loved singing that in December. And I’ll definitely play my ukulele (badly, but the kids love it) to bring in a cheerful island sort of vibe.
I wonder if Big Hill Books will let me bring in a small sandbox for the kiddos … ?