Dec 12, 2007

Christmas Traditions ....

Someone recently asked me what our Christmas tradition was OR what would we like to start as tradition for MY family. My husband and I grew up with very different ways of celebrating Christmas and when we got married, we decided we would do something for our kids to remember and treasure.

We, I mean Me, (he, he) love to decorate my home for Christmas. I don't feel I have the skillz of decorating my home for everyday, but something about Christmas gets me inspired. We purchase a special ornament each year for the tree and all of them have a special meaning behind them. We usually stay in town, the two Christmas we tried visiting Hubby's parents, we got stuck an extra week because of weather, so no more of that. Before the house full of kids .. we would spend Christmas eve night at my parents home and stay with them all day Christmas (also my mother's b-day). The last two years we have stayed in our house, woke w/ the kids, spent time with each other and then went to my parents house for dinner. (Even though they are both in heaven). My brother, his wife and their 4 children, my two sisters and neice are there as well and we enjoy time with each other the whole uninteruupted day.

During the Christmas season: We read Christmas stories to our kids, play of LOT of Christmas music and bake a lot and talk about less fortunate families. We choose a child from the angel tree or someone at church to buy a gift for. I would say it has not been about a lot gifts for us at Christmas, because Hubby, Ethan and DeClan have November b-days and my anniversary is in December which has provided an opportunity to focus more on Jesus and what he would really want.

For the future: I want to start a tradition where we feed a family, go do something ON Christmas Day or Christmas Eve for someone else with the kids and make those the memories for Christmas' for years to come. My kids are terribly spoiled by their families and we want them to know while it is nice to get things, it feels good to give. The older I get, the more I see the need to impress upon my children how would you feel if we didn't celebrate you on your birthday .. I WANT to celebrate the birth our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

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