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Christmas is my favourite time of the year and, once you know it, you have flown by from the 1st of December to the 25th. So I’m always looking for ideas to make those 24 days the must magical. On the last two years, I’ve tried to post every day until Christmas (back on my old blog) but it takes a crazy amount of time, preparation and creativity to come up with 24 different ideas. I prefer quality over quantity so I decided to give it a twist.

I’m still be going to post every day, but it will be different types of content. From the 1st to the 23rd (only the odd days) I’ll be posting DIYs and from the 2nd to the 24th (only the even days) it will be posting reading updates for my Christmas readathon. So I’m doing 12 Crafts Till Christmas and reading 12 Books Till Christmas. This way I can read books Christmas related or set in winter and still have DIYs to do without being overwhelmed by it.

The 12 Crafts Till Christmas

This time of the year is when people get more crafty. Maybe the rainy days and the family afternoons bring up the creators inside each one of us. Whatever the reason is, I want to share 12 crafts I’m doing this Christmas to decorate the house. If everything goes according to plan only the first and the last post won’t be a DIY but it will be 100% Christmas related. If you can’t do them this year in time for Christmas you can always take it as inspiration or save them for next year.

So far I’m really excited and happy how they are turning out. All of them are easy to do, but some can take time. Just put a Christmas movie on, call your family, and put everyone working on the decor. I’m going to try and organize the posts “chronologically”, for example, ornaments on the first week and decoration for the dining table for last. I won’t reveal anything about them because on the first post it will have a glimpse of the majority.

The 12 Books Till Christmas

To fulfil the rest of the days, I decided to try a readathon of my own. From December 1st to the 24th I’m expecting to read a total of 12 books. It’s kind of crazy and probably won’t succeed, but at least I’m going to give it a try. I know a few people do one for the entire month but I just wanted to make something special for this joyful season.

All of this started when I realized there are a ton of Christmas books and so little time to read them all. I thought it would be nice to try and read as many books as I could until the time is up. Also, in my hometown, it doesn’t snow so it would be the perfect time to read wintery novels. Instead of just doing two posts, a TBR and a wrap-up, I will keep you updated every couple of days of how I’m doing. The posts will be up from the 2nd until the 24th and it will be like a journal or more like a readathon dairy. Just a few thoughts and if I do any reviews it will be in January or Christmas next year.

Now, I don’t own many Christmassy books so part of my list are books that are already on my TBR and even if they don’t have a direct relation with Christmas or winter, for some reason they are cosy. I have mysteries, JK Rowling and a ton of romances. As I’m writing this, I still have to receive 3 books from Book Depository, but they will be arriving soon, even this week. Right on time. The following list is on order of reading and the due date in which I have to finish them.

2nd – Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu (150 pages)
4th – We Were Liars by E. Lockhart (312 pages)
6th – The List by Joanna Bolouri (400 pages)
8th – They Do It With Mirrors by Agatha Christie (188 pages)
10th – Welcome to Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop of Dreams by Jenny Colgan (480 pages)
12th – The Mirror Crack’d from Side to Side by Agatha Christie (251 pages)
14th – Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J. K. Rowling (296 pages)
16th – Almost Midnight: Two Short Stories by Rambow Rowell (138 pages)
18th – Dash & Lily Book of Dares by David Levithan, Rachel Cohn (314 pages)
20th – Winter Town by Stephen Edmond (331 pages)
22nd – Winter Wonderland by Belinda Jones (297 pages)
24th – A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (148 pages)

This not-so-little adventure will take me 3305 pages to finish, about 138 per day. For the bigger books I will start reading them early or else it won’t be possible for me to read Jenny Colgan’s book. My goal is to finish the book that I assigned to that day no matter how I make it possible. I believe I can read them all if I’m organised and take the “extra” time for finishing early the smaller books and invest in the big ones. We’ll see how I manage to do this.

I know that Dash & Lily and Rosie Hopkins’ series have other books set in Christmas, but for me, it wouldn’t make sense to buy two books from Jenny Colgan without knowing if I like her in the first place. I’ll leave The 12 Days of Dash & Lily and Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweet Shop of Dreams for next year. I also know Miss Marple has a story set in a snowstorm night making it the ultimate cosy mystery. Since I don’t own that book, I think is better for me and my wallet if I leave it for another time. Also, most mysteries are already cosy without taking place in winter.

Bottom line, I’m thrilled for Christmas this year and I can’t wait to start reading and posting the crafts. Hope you have as much fun as I’ll have and get ready for blogmas and bookmas. See you on the 1st of December.