Sunday, December 23, 2012

Christmas Traditions

Christmas is my favorite time of the year.
I love everything about it.
The lights, the smells, the food, the traditions and most importantly celebrating Jesus' birthday.
Oh and me and Mackenzie's birthdays too.

This year things have been a little different than usual (with bed rest and all).
But we still managed to do a few of our favorite Christmas traditions.
And a few of our usuals will just have to make a come back next year when things are back to normal. 
Anyways I thought I'd share some of our favorite Christmas traditions with you.
And I'd love to hear about some of yours! 


This year we bought this one to add to our collection.


One of our favorite traditions is celebrating Saint Nicholas Day! 
We pick out a family and secretly drop off a bunch of presents (and a note telling them about Jesus).
Read about the details here and here.


Christmas Cookies
Every year one of our favorite Christmas traditions is making cookies for all of our neighbors. We usually spend the whole day baking and then deliver them all as a family once Daddy is home. It's always fun to be able to bless the neighbors we already know and a great way to meet new ones. I mean who doesn't like yummy cookies and Christmas treats!
*We usually try to do our baking the first week of December before everyone is over sugary treats.


Nativity Sets for the Kids.
Read the post here about why we love them.
We have this one my mom made many moons ago, THIS fisher price one, THIS Veggie Tale one and THIS awesome Playmobile one that we scored as a white elephant gift last year.
We keep them in container in our family room for easy access. 


Christmas Morning Breakfast
Before Madelyn came along we used to spend Christmas day driving from one house to another to visit all of our family. We loved seeing everyone but we felt like we spent half the day in the car so last year we started a new family tradition. We decided to invite Aaron's parents and sisters and my parents and  brother all over to our place for Christmas morning breakfast and to open presents from one another. Since our kids wake up really early we open all of our gifts as a family before everyone comes over. It's so great to see all of our family and be able to stay at home. It's one of our new favorite traditions.


Wrapping Paper
This is a secret I learned from my mom...buy a roll of wrapping paper for each kid and wrap all of their presents in their wrapping paper (ex. blue snowflakes for Wesley, red snowmen for Mackenzie, etc.). That way Christmas morning you know who gets which presents but the kids wait in anticipation to find out which are theirs. Plus it eliminates the need for gift tags (and kids peeking into packages ahead of time to get a look at what's inside). 


The Minivan Express 
I just saw THIS on Pinterest and thought it would be so much fun! Definitely adding it to the list for next year! 

And if you are looking for some last minute holiday things to make I thought I'd attach some of my previous holiday tutorials. 
1. Felt Initial ornaments
2. Birch wreath
3. "Let it snow" ornaments
4. Ruffle Fabric Christmas ornament

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?

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