A New Tradition with a Timeless Tale

‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

Creating family traditions to celebrate the holidays has always been important to Tanja Rigby, Heritage Makers Creative Marketing Assistant. Tanja says, “Reading beloved Christmas tales on Christmas Eve has always been one of the special traditions our family enjoys at holiday time.”

This year, Tanja wanted to create a personalized keepsake for her family that would be part of that storytelling tradition. She chose Clement Moore’s classic, out-of-copyright poem “Twas the Night Before Christmas” and wove it into a delightful blend of original story and familys names and photos. Her intention was to offer the story as a little extra magic to her three-year-old daughter Hannah on Christmas Eve.

It didn’t work quite the way Tanja expected. Hannah accidently found the little book well before Halloween. After seeing that it was the story of her family and even included photos of a beloved dog that had recently passed away, Hannah took very firm possession of the Christmas storybook. She toted her little book with her everywhere—to the doctor’s office, to pre-school and to church.

Pleased that the book was something Hannah was obviously going to treasure for years to come, Tanja was a little taken aback when Hannah recently announced, “We need a new book.”

What would make Hannah ask for a new book? Well, Hannah needed a new book because Hannah "got it". At three years old, she’d noticed something that showed she understood her Heritage Makers book was an important family legacy. “Ruby’s not in my book,” she explained, referring to the new family dog. Hannah’s book, like Heritage Makers books in the hands of youngsters everywhere, is helping define her world, her family and her family’s values and traditions.

You can personalize a book like Hannah’s for your family this year. It’s a 7 x 5 Storybook called “Rigby Night Before Christmas.” Just don’t let anyone peek at it before the holidays!