Christmas traditions are something the kids look forward to all year. I have tried to simplify the traditions into just a few fun ones each year and it really helps to not be bombarded with a lot of things to do. Here are some of the traditions we do each Christmas.
First, we always have a great time setting up for each holiday and Christmas especially. This year we went simple on the tree ornaments and went old school. We put out all the homemade ornaments the kids have made over the years. The kids also strung popcorn and cranberries garland to wrap around the tree.
Emily said it was her turn to put up the star since it has been a long time. Here she is putting up the traditional star. Our tree decorating skills might not be the best and our tree will never win an award but we love it and each ornament has a special memory associated with it. It works for our family.
From summer to fall we save a lot of the candy from parades and Halloween so we can do our traditional gingerbread houses. By the time Christmas comes we have a huge amount of candy, enough to do seven houses. All of us love doing the gingerbread houses because we all have our own unique style. I enjoy seeing each of the kids think about how they will design it, and as they design it they eat candy, eat frosting and lick their fingers.
This year we lost some land on the house but kept the same size house. This is because we are running out of room on the shelf where we always put the house. We have to fit 7 houses up there and there is only so much room. So the yards on the gingerbread houses are pretty small. It was okay though because by the time we were all done we had some really cool houses. It was Brooklyn's first year to officially help build her own house. She liked eating the frosting and didn't understand why she couldn't eat her house afterward.
Here they all are. It is awesome because every year the houses look different from last year. It's funny to see how much candy one gingerbread house can hold.
Every year the houses look different and each person's house has its own personality. We love this tradition.
Tiffany and I are the 10-11 year old boys activity day leaders. We decided to do homemade snow globes as an activity this holiday season. It was a fun activity for all of the boys and I hope they enjoyed making them.
Once we were done with the activity days, later that week, we decided to make our own snow globes as a family. They turned out really good. We made them out of old baby food jars, water and glitter. Tiff found some little figurines at the dollar store to glue inside the jar to make it look like a winter scene.
I put in too much glitter and it covers my person in the globe. This is not one of our normal traditions but maybe it will become one in the future because they were fun to make. Another fun tradition we have with our activity days boys is going caroling on a hay ride. Our friend gets us a trailer of hay bales and we gather all of the boys and girls in Activity Days and drive around the ward singing carols. It is always freezing but it is fun. Afterward we gather at our house for hot chocolate and cookies.
Speaking of cold, we went to bed one night knowing a storm was approaching, but we did not expect it to come so quick and dump a foot of snow. School was delayed for a couple hours while the streets and sidewalks and things were cleared.
It was fun so see the fresh white snow all over in the morning. It is kind of peaceful. I woke the boys up and off we went to shovel the drive way and help other neighbors out. Brooklyn loved it so much that she did not want to come in at all that day. Even though the snow was basically as tall as she is and she couldn't walk in it very well, she loved it. Snow is becoming a tradition in our family.
We also have one of the coolest traditions that we have done for a long time, and it is the 12 Days of Christmas to a family in need. We as a family have always loved this and I hope we will do it forever. The family we chose this year was the Randall family. Their youngest boy recently got diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor. Jake just got off his mission and he just didn't feel right for a while. The saddest part of the story is he has terminal cancer. Jake was one of my young men when I was a youth leader. He was one of my favorite. It was a hard thing to hear. We stopped by and gave him a cool help bag while he goes through his treatments. As a family we were talking about who we should do for the 12 Days and I had a strong impression to help the Randall's. The kids agreed. It was a fun 12 Days. Each of the kids help throughout the week. They all ran and tried not to get caught as they dropped off the gifts each day. It was funny to watch Charlotte help. She was so excited when we told her it was her turn to help. She laughed with excitement. Logan had a funny mishap while he was doing it. The roads were slick with ice and as he got out of the van and as he was running he hit a patch of ice. At first we were worried, but he got back up laughing. He said he was good and off he went. It was a good time for us as a family.
We were able to get to down to St. George before Christmas and see family and go to the Morwood Christmas party. It has been a tradition that all unmarried kids sit on Santa's lap and get a present. All the kids did great except Brooklyn. Brooklyn was not to sure about the man with a white beard and red suit. She did not want to sit on his lap and clenched on to Tiffany for dear life.
The kids loved their gifts from Santa and were able to play with them before we left to the airport to see Becca return home.
This snow man dress has become a tradition as well. I made it for Emily when she was a little over a year old and it has been handed down through the girls.
They each got to wear it at least once while it fit them and they all looked so cute in it.
We also have some nightly traditions for Christmas Eve. First we read the Christmas Nativity story and opened up one present. The kids get new pajamas for the morning and it is fun to see the ones they get.
I don't know why Brooklyn looks so mad in her picture. She just didn't want to look at the camera for her picture to be taken. Funny girl. The kids liked their new pajamas and raced to put them on.
Here are all the kids in their pajamas. Now this time Brooklyn is not happy to take pictures. In fact she was bawling. Mostly because I was making her sit still for a picture against her will and second because I wouldn't give her the binky...
Before everyone went to bed, we set out Santa's cookies and eggnog. We also set out food for the reindeer so they can have energy to get around the world.
Charlotte was the most excited to set them out because she made some oatmeal reindeer food. All the kids wrote their letter to Santa and put it in their stockings before they went to bed. Then it was off to bed so that Santa could come and drop off presents.
Merry Christmas Eve!!!
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