Traditions of the Season

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Hey Y'all!

Hope you are all in the Christmas spirit.  The little ones are surely getting excited about Santa and you may even have gifts under your tree.  We don't yet, but they are coming soon.

Every family has traditions that make their holiday season sparkle. I have always tried to make sure we did Christmas activities each year to make special memories that would hopefully become a tradition Brittney would carry on in her family.  We go to a Christmas movie, have hot chocolate with 83 marshmallows, the Christmas program at our church or live Nativity scenes. We have seen the Rockettes and been to the symphony and to many Nut Cracker ballet performances.  I always want to squeeze as much Christmas into the season as we can.  It goes so quickly, I want to be sure we all enjoy it and not just get through it.  How do you celebrate?

Here are a few of my favorite Christmas season must have activities:

Cookie baking~ we talked about that on Monday. I only make these certain items at Christmas so they stay special treats. Brittney and I have fun baking and Mike enjoys tasting.

Christmas movies~ there are so many funny ones! I love Christmas with the Kranks and The Family Stone.  Brittney had a great list yesterday.  Hope you were able to see it. I am looking forward to seeing them all this year.

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Christmas PJ's ~ gotta have new PJ's for Christmas morning pictures. This was generally the gift you opened on Christmas eve when I was little.

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Christmas Eve Candle light service ~ there is nothing more heart warming than this service. Our church has a lovely service and it is such a precious time of singing and worship, all the lights are low and we have our candles... Really feeling the sweet spirit of the Lord and celebrating the real Reason for Season.


 

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Seafood Christmas eve dinner ~ we do a low country boil and fried shrimp with all the trimmings on Christmas Eve.  It is delish!!






 

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The 12 Days of Christmas ~ As the little ones get older, it is a little more of a challenge to keep the excitement. We started this when Brittney was in late elementary school.  On the 13th of December, she got a small gift.  It was hidden somewhere in the house and had a little poem attached.  It might be a movie, or a book, a can of popcorn or chap stick. She got another one every day leading up to Christmas morning.  The items were little things she might get in her stocking.  It was really sweet. She had fun finding the items each day, especially when the elf delivering them might have been a little late dropping the gift off... oops:)   Sometimes there would be a little "job" attached to the gift... share this with a friend or make a card for a grandparent. It would be easy to do for multiple children too ~  The gifts were hidden in different areas of the house, or on a Christmas tree.  So the hunt is part of the fun.   She tried to find them without it being obvious that she was searching for her gift each day. (We started this before the "Elf on the Shelf" came out.) Lots of fun!


We love to celebrate and try to have the best holiday season we can.  How do you make the season special for your family?  SHE shares with her friends and we would love to hear from you.

Have a great week friends!  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

     xoxo,

                    Amy