Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Stories at Night



We have a wonderful Halloween tradition we've practiced for the last 4 or 5 years: For bedtime stories in October we gather in the living room, light spooky candles and read scary stories in the flickering light. At the end of the stories each child gets to blow out a candle.
I can't believe how much my kids look forward to this ritual. And I do to. Bedtime stories around our house can get a little out of control — sometimes filling an hour or more and eating up that precious evening worktime — and our October tradition helps me reign things in without being a mean mom.

We've attempted to do something similar, in November with Thanksgiving stories and in December with Christmas stories, and met with limited success. What is it about October?

Our Halloween story collection is quite small and added to irregularly, so we supplement with library books. Some books we like:
Pumpkin Moonshine, Jeb Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch, The Spider and the Fly, and In a Dark, Dark Wood.

Halloween candle pic via Jago Illustration.

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6 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

You guys are great parents!!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 4:07:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Gabrielle of Design Mom said...

Robin K, one of our favorite Halloween books (the one about Jeb Scarecrow) is from you. Thank you.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 8:04:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Girl con Queso said...

I LOVE it! What a cool tradition. You are making some fantastic memories!

Wednesday, October 11, 2006 at 10:32:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Ashlynn {mamabear} said...

Great idea - I will have to remember that one.

Thursday, October 12, 2006 at 1:55:00 PM EDT  
Blogger Kathryn said...

Our favorite Halloween story is Mousekin's Golden House, not scary but very cute about what happens to a pumpkin after Halloween and how a mouse inhabits it.

I loved your ghosts in your windows!

Friday, October 13, 2006 at 12:54:00 PM EDT  
Blogger marygoose said...

I'm going to have to try stories at night. It's something my children, ages 8,6 and 2 would all love. Our FAVORITE halloween book is John Pig's Halloween. The illustrations are wonderful and the story is super fun to read aloud.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 at 10:56:00 PM EDT  

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