Traditions

Like my friend Courtney, I love lists. I make a "to do" list almost every day and there is also the ever present grocery list. I make a list of every item to pack before our trips to Tennessee. Riley's birthday lists, what to do to get the house ready, what food to serve at her party and her "want" list. Of course, right now I am making my Christmas lists ~ who to buy presents for, what to buy and the Christmas card list. Those are my favorite kinds of lists.

Today, though, I thought I would list here our family holiday traditions.

1. The Christmas Tree. I already mentioned that we get a live tree every year. We are going on Saturday to get our tree. There is this adorable tree farm in our town that we go to every year. They give us a saw and a wheel-barrow type "thing" to haul it back on and off we trek. For the past few years there has been snow on the ground. So far, we still just have that dusting from the other day. We each pick our favorite (this year Riley will get to pick, too) and then we vote on the best. The trees always seem so much smaller outside and once we get them home we are always having to cut down to trunk to make them fit! Then, as I mentioned before two (frustrating) hours later we finally get the tree up and ready to decorate. This year, I am going to make hot chocolate and put on some Christmas movies for the girls to watch while Kyle and I work on the tree. Usually, they are so excited about the tree and wanting to decorate it that they just sit and watch and ask over and over (and over and over) when will it be ready and that makes it that much more nuts. Not this year. I will distract them until they actually can put the ornaments on.

2. Christmas countdowns. We don't have an actual advent wreath with candles that we light each Sunday, but we have a felt one that you add the felt "flames" to the felt "candles". We also have a felt Nativity scene that my mom made where you add a piece of the Nativity every day until you get to baby Jesus on Christmas. The girls have already been opening their chocolate advent calendars just like the ones my Grandmother used to get us every year, where you open the little door and there is a chocolate behind it. And finally, Hallmark makes little cardstock houses that you put together and open the doors and windows where pictures are hidden. This year we have the church and even though its such a little thing, they love it. It somehow makes the wait that much more fun.

3. Christmas baking. This year my two best friends are coming over to bake for a whole day (a school day, so the distractions will be kept to a minimum). Hopefully we will get most everything done and have lots of goodies to give away. I hope to make this an annual tradition. What could be better than hanging out and chatting with my buddies while knocking a huge "to-do" off my list?

4. Gingerbread making. Again, I hope to make this an annual tradition. Kyle is going to get his mom's recipe and spend an afternoon baking and decorating with Kellen, Jenna and Riley. I am going to sit this one out and let them have this special tradition to themselves. What wonderful memories the girls will have of their Daddy.

5. Holiday fudge. This is what I do with the girls. We make fudge and we put a (washed and sanitized!) gold dollar in the fudge and on New Year's day whoever finds the coin in their fudge has good luck for the year!

6. Christmas Eve. Every year changes about if we are going to Tennessee or not depending on lots of things. This year we aren't going down but luckily everyone will be coming here! However, we did decide a few years ago that we would always spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house, so the girls get to really enjoy Santa coming. Since we are always at home on Christmas Eve, that is when we celebrate with Kyle's family. They all come here and I cook a big meal and it just kicks off the night. Then, for Christmas morning, if Sarah and Kris are here in CT, then they usually come on Christmas morning for breakfast (breakfast casserole and sausage balls) just like my Mammaw, Pappaw and Aunt Karen always did to see what Santa brought.

7. Happy Birthday to Jesus! We don't bake cookies for Santa, we leave him a piece of birthday cake. In all the hullabaloo of Christmas, we do try to keep in mind what the holiday is all about. So, just like we always did when I was little we bake Jesus a birthday cake to remind the girls why we have Christmas in the first place.

There you have it. My favorite traditions. Some are new, some are old and some are just our own.