Christmas Traditions

Amidst the craziness of this holiday months, we actually enjoy the family traditions we have established and share - some nightly and some occasionally throughout the month. Here are a few of the things we celebrate every year as a family!

Papa and Mimi got us this advent calender. Every day in the month of December you pull out one "brick" and Santa falls down the chimney.

This is our candy advent calendar. We open one door each night for a little chocolate-y treat!

This is our Jesse Tree that we added this year. Each night we add an ornament that depicts something from a story in the Old Testament. We read a bible verse and the reason for the ornament illustration each night. Right now they are just laminated computer print outs but maybe I'll invest in a set of real ornaments next year.

The children really love the basket of Christmas books and gravitate toward these books during our reading time each night before bed. The nice thing is that I only put these books out in December...so it's like having all new books each year!

We love to display our Christmas cards and this is my new display that I created this year. All it is is an old yard stick with clothespins hot glued on and then hung with a ribbon...super easy!

We also love our nativity...actually, we keep it out all year round!

And here is the kids' Fisher Price nativity that also only comes out in December. They love to play with it and it keeps their little paws off mine!

So, what are your family holiday traditions?

I'd love to hear about them!