Happy Leon Day: Finding Christmas Joy in the Midst of a Pandemic

If there is one thing you should know about me, it is that I LOVE Christmas. I love the music, the lights, the smells. I love the feeling of hope and joy that Christmas brings. I love that everyone seems to be a little kinder, a bit jollier, and just a smidge more hopeful. Hugh Grant said it best in one of my favorites, Love Actually, when he said “If you look for it, I’ve got a sneaky feeling you’ll find that love actually is all around.” *cue Billy Mack singing Christmas is all Around*.

So what does this have to do with right now, you may be asking. It’s June, right? Christmas isn’t for another six months! You are absolutely right, but June 25th marks a special day, Leon Day if you will (Noel spelled backwards), which marks the halfway marker to Christmas. I can’t think of a year more important to celebrate Leon Day. With so much tragedy surrounding us, just for one day, let’s maybe fill our homes and hearts with the Christmas spirit instead. I’m not saying go put up your whole Christmas tree (or do, Im not going to stop you) or make a whole Christmas dinner (again, not going to stop you), but maybe try some little things to remind you of a happier time.

For my family, I decided to keep it simple. I wanted to go to my favorite Christmas shop, Robert’s Christmas Wonderland, but unfortunately they are still closed due to Covid, so we created the magic right here in our home. That started with one of my favorite Christmas traditions: making Christmas cookies. I decided to go for one of my easier recipes, Grinch cookies. I will post the link to the recipe at the bottom of this post in case anyone is interested in trying them out. They are a super simple recipe, with the only difficult part in June being you have to buy a giant bag of M&M’s and sort out all the red and green ones. The cookies were a huge success with my kids and are always in the Christmas cookie boxes I send out to my in-laws. My Christmas expert advice is to blast your favorite holiday tunes while you bake, for me that would be the She & Him Holiday Station on Pandora.

Our next Christmas activity was obviously Christmas movies. My kids already have some favorites and mine aren’t necessarily child appropriate (looking at you Christmas Vacation), so we rolled with the kid’s favorites: The Grinch, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, and Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas. The best part? All of these are available on streaming services. The Grinch is the new animated take on the beloved classic and is available on Netflix, while Olaf’s Frozen Adventure and Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas are both on Disney +. Regardless of which movie you choose to watch, it is a great way to get yourself in the holiday spirit. Hey, maybe you can enjoy one of your Christmas cookies while you watch your movie!

For our final Christmas activity, I wanted to bring out some of our favorite Christmas books. For us, those books are Olaf’s Night Before Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Story of Christmas. The Story of Christmas is a short little kids book, but I love it because it explains why we give gifts as a way of celebrating the birth of Christ. For me the nativity story is so near and dear to my heart and fills me with a spirit of love and giving.

No matter how you choose to spend your Leon day, I hope it is a great one. I hope that you are filled with the Christmas Spirit and that maybe a Christmas tune fills your ears. From the Magic Kingdom Morins, Merry Leon Day!

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Cookie Recipe: https://therecipecritic.com/grinch-cookies/