A lot of holidays in December, of course, have to do with Christmas and Santa Claus, but there are many other wonderful holidays during this winter month. The holidays below have to do with reading and writing.
Will you write a letter to Santa on Santa’s Letter Writing Day? On Dewey Decimal System Day, will you learn about why this neat way of organizing books was created? How many wagers will you win on Phileas Fogg Win a Wager Day?
Santa’s Letter Writing Day - Do you know a child who doesn’t enjoy writing at all? This holiday could encourage that youngster to write. After all, what young person doesn’t want to let Santa Claus know what he wants for Christmas?
What if all the letters that children wrote to Santa were stolen by his evil twin brother? Does Santa really have an evil twin? I don’t know, but who says you can’t create one? Why would his wicked twin steal all of the letters? Does he want all of the milk and cookies that are left out for his famous brother? Or does he have some malicious plan in store for all of the little boys and girls who write to him? And what happened to cause his twin to become evil?
Letter Writing Day - When the last time you sat down and wrote a letter? I’m sure you probably text, instant message, or email people every day. Do you still remember how awesome it was to receive a letter in the mail from someone special? During this holiday month, why not take the time to give someone that same joy?
Sending letters through the mail may not be the normal way to communicate with others any more, but what if you had something you needed to get rid of in a way that no one would suspect? If the item was small enough, you could enclose it in a letter to someone you trust. What item would you send, and whom would you mail it to?
Dewey Decimal System Day - The Dewey Decimal system organizes books by numbers. Can you imagine trying to locate a specific book in a huge library if they weren’t organized? It would be a nightmare!
Why not pretend you live in a land where people love to read, but they have no system of organizing all of their books? The library is a mess, especially if you are in desperate need of a book. Along comes a stranger, and he has an idea how all of these books can be organized. What is his idea? Does it work?
Phileas Fogg Win Wager Day - If you have ever read Around the World in Eighty Days, then youn know who Phileas Fogg is. If not, Phileas Fogg won his wager, and he successfully traveled around the world in eighty days.
Why not have one of your characters accept a wager? Will someone challenge your character to write a book in so many days? Maybe a foe will dare your character to learn or do something that is next to impossible for him or her. What if your character’s dare is to murder someone and not get caught?
National Haiku Poetry Day - This is day for you poetry lovers to write a haiku, a traditional Japanese style poem. A haiku normally has a nature theme, but can be written about anything. One has 3 lines and 17 syllables; there are 5 syllables on the first line, 7 syllables on the second line, and 5 syllables on the third line. I wrote an example for you, but I am definitely not a poet, so please don't expect too much.
Late Kentucky fall.
Cold, icy rain pouring down.
Almost like winter.
In A Tale of Two Cities, Madame Defarge hid messages in her knitting. What if your character was a poet and wrote secret messages in the poems he created?
If you choose to use one of the above holidays in your writing, be sure and have fun with it. Or you can create a unique holiday just for the story you are writing.
