Day 1 of Blog Challenge: Christmas/ Holiday Traditions

I love LOVE love having traditions. I am trying to think of more to have with the boys. We have to make several family visits for the holidays to incooperate both my moms side, dads side, and Brian's family. Brian and I have gotten pretty good at getting to spend a lot of time with both sides.

THANKSGIVING:

For thanksgiving we always go to his parent's house first around noon and stay there until around 4pm (unless my dad's side has something then we add their house for about a hour during this time). My dad will go to Brian's parents house as well so that we can spend time with him. We leave his parents and go to my mom's house for dinner (usually it is just my immediate family and uncle Phil and cousin Brittany but this year my Uncle Chris and his family are coming as well YAY!). After turkey dinner at mom's we sit and go through the Black Friday ads and decide our plan of attack for our shopping! Then the shopping begins... more about that on the Black Friday blog challenge post.

CHRISTMAS:

We always get a family ornament made and now the boys will get a new one each year. We now have 3 Christmas trees, a 12ft green one for the living room, a 6 foot white one to look girly, and a skinny green one for UL decorations.

A new tradition I want to start is one I saw the other day called Elf on a Shelf! LOL. It looks so cute. Here is the discription of the tradition: "How does Santa really know whether a child has been naughty or nice? The elf answers the age old question in "The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition."The Elf on the Shelf: A Christmas Tradition is an activity the entire family will enjoy - and one that is sure to come back year after year. This cleverly rhymed children's book explains that Santa knows who is naughty and/or nice because he sends a scout elf to every home. During the holiday season, the elf watches children by day and reports to Santa each night. When children awake, the elf has returned from the North Pole and can be found hiding in a different location (yup - that's where you come in as a parent - you get to find a new spot each night!). This activity allows The Elf on the Shelf to become a delightful hide-and-seek game each and every morning." You buy the book and it comes with the cute little elf you can hide! How fun is that?

For my mom's extended family we always pick a weekend that works for everyone's schedules within a few weeks before Christmas to celebrate together. This is always done at my mom's house. We have a big dinner and exchange presents.

I want to start the tradition of reading the the Christmas story in the Bible to the boys after breakfast on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is spent with my dad's side of the family. We always go to someones house (used to be my Aunts but the past couple of years has changed, once at our house and then at another relatives, not sure where it is this year). There are always several little ones running around and Brian and I always love playing with them, and this year we get to add our own! We have several appetizers and snacks that everyone brings and eats on all night and the actual "meal" is eatten at mednight. We have had this tradition as long as I can remember. The family always plays games together at the kitchen table. Makes for a late night.

We are starting the tradition to give the boys Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve to wear. We will set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for his reindeer. We will put presents under tree after boys are asleep. In the morning we will wake up with the boys and open presents with them. Once we have done that we will head over to my mom's house (we only live 12 houses away from her now!) to open presents with them when they wake up (so likely by 10:30ish) and have some breakfast. After that we will head to Brian's family's house for lunch and presents. We will stay their until about 5:30pm and then head back to my mom's for dinner. My dad will come to Brian's parents house too so that we can see him on Christmas day too. At mom's we will have Christmas dinner. I want to start the tradition of having a Birthday cake for Jesus and singing (I think the boys will like this and it will emphasize Jesus's birthday to them). Every Christmas night we go to the movies (even last year when we were leaving for Ethiopia the very next morning we went! We left early due to my mind not able to concentrate very well on the movie lol but we still went!)...this year we are hoping to find a good kids movie to attempt to take the boys to.

WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR TRADITIONS???? I AM LOOKING FOR FUN THINGS TO DO WITH THE BOYS. ESPECIALLY THINGS TO INCORPORATE CHRISTS BIRTH INTO OUR HOLIDAYS!