Creating Holiday Traditions!
Posted: 22 Dec 2009 10:51 AM PST
One of the things I love about the Holiday season is remembering the past! I love going to my parents house and seeing christmas ornaments on the tree that I created as a child! Or talking about Christmas memories we shared as a family during different times in our lives. The smell of homemade sugar cookies cut out like Christmas trees with green frosting and red hots as ornaments! All of these things and more mean Christmas time to me…Now that I have my own family and Christmas is a big deal around here with 2 small children, it’s been really fun for my husband and I to create new traditions for our family. But we do this in a simple way, a way that is not stressful for anyone. Because really what is tradition? It should be something done as a family, everyone having fun, and creating lasting memories! And in our house they do not have to be expensive ravish gifts or dinners, no actually quite opposite in fact…
Here are some of our traditions in our family….
1. We drive around the neighborhoods and look at all of the Christmas Lights – listening to Christmas Music of course!
2. We bake cookies for Santa and leave them out with a glass of milk and carrots & apples for the reindeer!
3. Everyone gets to open one gift on Christmas Eve.
4. We attend Christmas Eve Church Service.
5. We watch several different kinds of holiday movies and TV shows from the day after Thanksgiving through New Years.
6. We make Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows.
7. I dedicate one day to baking and make plates for family, friends, and neighbors.
8. My sister, my mom, and I go Christmas Shopping one night together and enjoy a nice long dinner together.
9. All the gifts from Santa are wrapped in different wrapping paper.
10. Each person unwraps one gift at a time. So we can really see and appreciate what each person has received.
What do you do to make lasting memories for you and your family? Share your ideas … I am always open to new ideas and creating new memories!
Happy Holidays!
Here's some of our Christmas Traditions:
1. Shelf Elf: The Shelf Elf comes out around Thanksgiving and watches the kids each day and then reports back to Santa every night! He's hiding in a new place every morning and the kids love going and looking for him when they wake up!
2. We have Kelly Cookie Day! That's a tradition my hubby's family started years ago! The first weekend of December the family gets together and we bake all sorts of cookies all day. Each family ends up going home with dozens and dozens of cookies! The kids get to decorate sugar cookies with tons of frosting and sprinkles too!
3. We go to Auntsie's house on Christmas Eve! The kids love going over there and they get to open presents from other family members too! We eat, chat and open presents and the kids all wear their jammies!
4. Now I think this one is the best one! We go and cut down our own Christmas Tree! We go to a great Christmas tree farm every year and see Santa, ride the train and take the hay ride out to the fields and we search and search until our tree picks us out! The kids love running up and down the rows searching for our tree and then we all agree on the perfect one, cut it down and load it on the wagon. We bring it home and decorate it while drinking hot cocoa and listening to Christmas music!
Whatever your holiday traditions are, making memories that last are what count! We take tons of photos and have albums dedicated to those activities so we can see how the kids have grown from year to year! Christmas is such a fun time of year!
Wende
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