Saturday, December 09, 2006

Holiday Traditions



As we get closer to Christmas I keep thinking about Christmas's past and the different things we've done, some have been repeated, others have been gladly forgotten...LOL! This Christmas is going to be weird because it's my first Christmas as a parent without a child that still believes :-( It seems so strange for the kids not to be talking about Santa or asking to go see Santa. In some ways it's as if some of the magic of Christmas just isn't there. But being a creative person, I'm finding ways to make it fun still.

Anyway, back to the traditions. Some of the things that we've done over the years that we've continued to do have really made things fun. The biggest thing that I started doing when the kids were small is that they could open 2 gifts on Christmas Eve. One was a toy, stuffed animal or something that they could sleep with that night, but the other, and most important in my eyes, was a new pair of pajamas. Why pajamas you ask? Well, you know how we parents like to take pictures of our kids on Christmas morning? If they have new pj's on, they look a little better....LOL!!!! This is something that the kids actually look forward to every year. It's much more fun now since they're both big enough to fit into small adult sized pj's because I have a MUCH better selection to choose from! I know of several friends over the years that have picked this tradition up from me....LOL.

Another thing we've done the last few years is home made cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa for breakfast on Christmas morning. I make the cinnamon rolls night before and put them in the fridge, then I take them out when I first wake up to bring them to room temperature then stick them in the oven. I have done them 2 different ways, one way is to make the actual rolls like you purchase at stores, another is just "balls" of bread dough covered with cinnamon roll filling, which is REALLY good, but much messier....LOL. I'm seriously thinking about picking up one of those hot cocoa machines this year, have any of you ever used them? Are they worth the money? Or is it just as easy to put the kettle on the stove and make Swiss Miss?

Since we don't go anywhere on Christmas Day, the day is ours to do as we wish. For the 4 of us a "formal" dinner can be time consuming and sometimes a waste of food. So we opt for something we all enjoy. Some years we have tacos, other years we have this baked sandwich thingy that I make. We've also had subs, which goes over very well.

Our biggest tradition is taking the kids to the movies on Christmas Day evening. This is something we've done for probably 7 or 8 years now, and the kids really look forward to it.

So, now it's your turn! Share some of your Christmas traditions with me, or tell me what you think of mine!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm thinking I don't like the banner reminding me of how little time I have left.

I'm feeling rather...grinchettey

:-)

Anonymous said...

I'll admit, I've adopted the Christmas Eve pajama gift idea from you. Merry Christmas!