Editor’s Note: If you missed our morning post today, check out Bobby Herron’s take on why music lessons aren’t always the right path for your budding musician HERE. Now, it’s time for some holiday cheer and a fun, old skool Comox Valley event that is all about family, stories, treats and the traditions of the holidays.

One thing that I day dream about each year as the holidays grow close is the smell of my grandmother’s house at Christmas time. With her mountains of baking and months of preparation she beamed knowing we would all walk through the door knowing exactly what to expect.

Each year, we would sit in her kitchen and whisper challenges to each other, daring ourselves to sneak off to church with as many of grandma’s snowball cookies as possible in our pockets.

We’d snack and giggle all the way in the car. But, the instant the cousins slipped inside the warm, glittering cathedral, we were silenced by the awe of stories. While we got the traditional nativity re-enactment and unending choir of songs, the ones that stuck with us were the quiet stories told by the priest, as all of us in our wool coats and itchy holiday outfits huddled together at the front to listen. They were about the Polish Wigilia celebration, the animals of the forest, the angels - and I remember many a year when my brother and I were carried home sleeping by parents brimming with a bit of joy.

These days, many of the old storytelling traditions of the past have been lost to DVDs and Santa tracking. Not that those aren’t fun, but recreating a space where the stories of the holiday can be told around the fire, cozied up in your flannels with the family before creating some holiday fun is way up on the OBE To Do list this year.

With that, we invite you to pull out the wool blankets, don your jammies and join us for stories, traditions and tasty treats around the fire at the Filberg Heritage Lodge this month as Our Big Earth, Planet Kids and the Filberg Lodge and Heritage Park bring you The Family Heritage Holiday Experience.

We will gather around the roaring fire in the lodge two Wednesday evenings and two Saturday afternoons from Dec. 9-19 for classic Winter stories from Jan Brett (The Mitten) and Eve Bunting (The Night Tree) as well as fun, family activities focused on the traditions of the past with the Filberg sparkling with holiday charm (it’s on the Christmas home tour this year. So, it will be extra spectacular).

- Jan Brett’s The Mitten (click through on the link to smile and see a bit of the story) will be read beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 9 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 12. The reading will include a story around the fire, a crafty gratitude mitten project to decorate your house with this season and homemade snacks to take home with you.

- Eve Bunting’s Night Tree (click the link to check out this lovely tale) will be read beginning at 6 p.m. Wednesday Dec. 16 and at 2 p.m. Dec. 19. The reading will include a story around the fire, the decorating of a tree on the Filberg grounds and homemade snacks to take home with you as well.

The cost is $10 per family per date, $7 for Filberg members, including a take-away project and snacks for all.

Pre-registration is required (although cash or cheque payment will be taken at the door). So, please e-mail us at info@ourbigearth.com with your name, number of family members attending and the date(s) you are attending and we will get you on the list for what promises to be a warm holiday event filled with charm, creativity and connection.