It’s December! For me that means taking a break from my regularly scheduled everyday fare of books, audiobooks and podcasts (I’m currently listening to Travels With George and The Mayflower, both by Nathaniel Philbrick and Salt Sugar Fat by Michael Moss) to binge on all the good, beautiful and true things Christmas! I’ve been doing this for years. I didn’t really have a name for it, but I just found a name for what I do. Today I discovered this video below to describe what I’ve been doing every year: a Merry Mother’s Christmas curriculum. I love it! If you homeschool, you probably have heard about Christmas school. This is Christmas-themed homeschooling curriculum. What about having a personalized Christmas-themed curriculum for the homeschooling mom? That’s what this is! You don’t even have to be a homeschooler to do this. This is what veteran homeschooling mother Karen Andreola calls Mother Culture. (Her book about it is below.) It’s what Ramona Zabriskie in Wife for Life calls drops, delights, and dazzles of the heart. But for December it’s Christmas-themed! These are little and big things to fill your heart so you easily feel willing, happy, and able to serve others. With so many demands on you, mom, as chief merry maker of the family, it’s more important than ever to have an especially joyful December Mother Culture/Merry Christmas Mom Curriculum, to nourish your soul!

(As an Amazon associate, any purchases of books made through the links on this post earn me a small commission. The cost is the same to you.)

Watch below to see homeschooling mom America describe her Merry Christmas Mother Curriculum.

OK, so here’s my Merry Christmas Mother’s Curriculum. Some of it overlaps with family reading/Immanuel Wreath discussion at dinner time and December Morning Basket time for homeschooling, as well as family movie time.

First, I’ll be reading from these two advent books above and below. We do the Our Family Christmas as a family at dinnertime, after we do the name of Christ for the day/lighting the Immanuel Advent Wreath. (Go here to read about the Immanuel Wreath.)

Our Family Christmas is basically an Advent book from an LDS Christian perspective. I found this thrifting for only $3! One of my favorite ever thrift store finds! Definitely a Magical Thrifting Moment. Each day has a question that can be used as a journal prompt or discussion starter. Like for Dec. 1, the question is “What are you looking forward to the most this Christmas season?” and for Dec. 2 the question is “What is your favorite Christmas tree ornament?” There’s always a story, an activity, and a song for each day in this Advent book. We always do the question, never the activity, and sometimes we look up the history of the song in YouTube and watch that video. What I do on my own is sometimes read the whole story. Then I often retell it because the story is often long and people are done eating before I’m done with the story if I don’t condense it.

Then this Advent book above is from a different Christian perspective. I’ve seen it mentioned it by a lot of homeschool Christian moms vloggers. I found it in the children’s book section at Savers and joyfully snatched it up for $5 a few years ago. I just love, love the pretty cover. I’ll pick it up and read from it occasionally with no systematic study plan which is totally OK. Even though I don’t agree with all of it doctrinally I do enjoy it.

Then we have magazines from my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I absolutely love reading the Christmas stories in these. I have this month’s print copies that I’ll share with my son for our homeschool Morning Basket, and then I also love reading stories from previous years in the LDS Gospel Library App. (You can find a collection of stories I curated from Gospel Library in my Family Devotionals Ebook in the December section. Go here to get it.)

Usually I listen to one General Conference talk a day after I listen to the Book of Mormon Another Testament of Jesus Christ. For December, I’ll be listening to at least one talk a day from the First Presidency Christmas Devotionals.

I started listening to this book above last year after seeing it in the BYU Store. I never finished it and now I’m starting over. It’s in Everand and I just unlocked the title yesterday. So far I’m loving it. It has a familiar ring to it since it’s historical fiction based on Charles Dickens and his writing of A Christmas Carol. So it sounds like The Man Who Invented Christmas. Deja vu! I’m curious to see if it turns out the same way as TMWIC. Which one came first and which is better? We shall see!

I heard about this Christmas romance from a homeschool vlogger and it sounded fun and clean so I also got it in Everand. So far I’m enjoying it.

Then there are Christmas podcasts. I love listening to Focus on the Family Christmas Stories podcast. Also the BYU Radio Constant Wonder Advent. I learned about the Constant Wonder Advent last year, when I providentially met the producer, Tennery Norton, at a women’s party for my church. I listen to one episode a day. I am getting so educated as to different people, cultures and places around the world and how they celebrate Christmas. I just love it! Go here to read more about the podcast and how to listen.

I’m also enjoying The Christmas Jars podcast. The Christmas Jars book is fiction, but it has inspired many real, true stories of people receiving Christmas Jars anonymously. These stories are so heartwarming! Just what I love to hear! Read the book (and the picture book), watch the movie here, and only then listen to the podcast here. It’s hosted by the author of the book, Jason F. Wright. I just love these stories!

Then there’s the Christmas Chronicles story, which isn’t really a true podcast but is published on podcast platforms by BYU Radio. This is a story written by Tim Slover. I just love the story because it is my favorite telling of the backstory of Santa. Not only that, but it tells the history of Mrs. Claus. We hardly ever hear about her. What’s with that in this post-feminist world? She definitely deserves equal time! The fantasy elements of this story kind of remind me of the Chronicles of Narnia. Go here to listen. I listened to this with all of my children when they lived at home, so it just breathes nostalgia for me as I fondly remember those Christmas years and I hope it does for them. The charming magical fantasy of the story with the epic battle of good vs. evil takes your Christmas to a whole new level of delight and wonder! Mr. Slover definitely has a way with words to weave a marvelous Christmas tale.

Next, movies! I have some of my favorite, little-known Christmas movies/videos over here and some of my fave Christmas rom coms here for date night. We usually always watch It’s a Wonderful Life (except the past few years I’ve needed a break after watching it annually for 30+ years) and Muppet Christmas Carol. I’ve been meaning to watch I Heard the Bells and haven’t yet so will definitely prioritize it this year. I also want to watch The Most Wonderful Time of Year (stars Henry Winkler) for the laughs it gives me as well as Christmas With the Karountzoses. Both are so, so funny! They also give you that happy holiday family energy as well.

It’s been awhile since I watched The Nativity Story movie so I want to watch that this year.

Then there are a few new-to-me Christmas movies I noticed in this video below that maybe I’ll watch for date night with my husband.

I’m also going to dabble in watching/listening to as many Christmas Concerts with the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. Many are on YouTube here, and often tell the backstories of well-known Christmas carols and/or stories. I got to see in person the one with the Muppets back in 2013 or so which was so fun, as well as the one about Dickens narrated by John-Rhys Davies. Some of these concerts have been made into picture books as well, like the one above.

Speaking of the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra, that leads into music. I’ll be piano-playing as many of the LDS-themed Christmas songs I’ve curated in the December section of my Family Devotionals ebook, here, as I can. I will also be playing classics from The Reader’s Digest Merry Christmas Songbook. I play on the piano every morning and evening as a call for family prayer, and scripture study in the evening. I got this for my birthday when I turned 16, and have treasured it ever since.

It has almost every Christmas song you can think of in it, that you would want. (Not the obnoxious ones like “Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer,” “Feliz Navidad” etc.) Sadly, it is missing “Silver Bells” and “Mary’s Lullaby.” Mine’s an old edition, maybe the newer ones have rectified these oversights. So I’m rejoicing in the bounties of Providence in that the Our Family Christmas book which I showed above and show again below, has those two songs and the Hallelujah Chorus from the Messiah. I just love, love playing and singing all these songs! (Hint: you can buy the songbooks above for cheaper

And guess what?! One of the libraries I patronize has this book of piano and vocal sheet music below waiting for me to pick up! This is so, so exciting! Soon we can be singing the song above while I accompany on the piano, maybe for my Jolabokkaflod party or Christmas Eve! This is the one movie I love to watch every year with the family and haven’t gotten tired of.

How can I leave out thrifting as part of my December curriculum? It’s not really a course of study, which is the technical definition of “curriculum” but it does bring me a lot of joy. Especially thrifting for gifting! You can see what I’ve found here and here so far, including the gorgeous Hanna Andersson sweater for one of my grandsons above. Unless you are a family member, then don’t go look. I have a little bit more to do and look forward to what else I will find. I’ve also found more earlier in the year but don’t want to bother to hunt down which posts have those pictures :-).

I gave the above thrifted books, DVD, and new Dollar Tree candle to a friend who just left for Nevada where she lives. I put it all in the basket below with some Dollar Tree potholders and new set of gloves. My mom’s birthday is tomorrow so I’ll be making a gift basket for her too.

Next, handicrafts! America in the top video of this post mentioned that having a Christmas handicraft is important to her. I’ve got a scarf I started crocheting a few years ago. I’d love to finish it so I’ll work on that during movie time. I will also be getting out my two Nativity jigsaw puzzles to do if I have the free moment when I’m not doing other multitasking while listening to the audiobooks and podcasts. I will also work on them on Sundays and hope to get the family to join. Of course I will be sipping some peppermint tea in my Christmas-y Pioneer Woman mug while puzzling. One of my sons gave me these mugs for my birthday two years ago. They make me so happy!

I also love watching slow, soothing crafting and decorating for Christmas videos, like this one below with Little Women vibes. The paper snowflakes are probably the only thing I’ll be making from it but if you want some old-fashioned craft ideas to do, watch below. Or just watch for fun! 🙂

I’ve also posted this handout below on my fridge to encourage/invite/remind myself and my family members to do at least one thing each day to #lighttheworld with the light of Christ. This is part of the #lighttheworld campaign from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Giving of ourselves doesn’t have to be grand projects, it can be little acts of kindness.

I always do a little reading in bed after saying my prayers, sitting up, with an amber light bulb in my lamp. For Christmas I swapped out my usual night cap reading fare for these Christmas books:

I was thrilled to find this book shown above, while shopping at thrift stores last year, twice, once right before Christmas and once right after! It’s a tiny book but packs a punch. The first copy I gave to my married daughter, in her stocking, and then on Jan. 3 I found a copy for me. Except our copies are red. This book is a companion to a picture book for children. You can read about them here.

Then I’m reading a story a night from the books above and below. Being able to be in bed, all cozy, reading with my soft amber light motivates me to go to bed!

Merry Christmas! God bless us everyone!