holiday family traditions: part 1

so it's the last few days before Christmas and I am going to take it slow. wanting to make sure that my kiddies get to remember the little things that make this time of year so special. feeling that it is so important that i carry on the traditions i have made for our family during the holidays. we have made our own traditions, continued a few of my childhood traditions and a few of my husbands childhood traditions.

the first Christmas after i got married, my husband and i created a few new traditions that were new to both of us. feeling it would be important for us to have something new for our new family. once we started having children is when we made many more. and each year we add one or two new traditions. here are a couple things that we have been doing for the past couple years:

first of all, we start each year with an advent calendar. 3 years ago we got a Lego advent calendar, and have had to get one every year since. my boys absolutely love it, and actually don't fight over who gets the next turn. love it!

what would the holidays be without snow? and living in California, the snow doesn't just come to your house. you have to bring it to your house. and that is just what my husband does. he's a super sweetie and drives up to the mountains and brings a truck bed full of snow to our front yard. all the kiddies in the neighborhood love it. and so do i.

Christmas Eve is always the night where we go to my husbands parent's home and enjoy family, eat tamales and mexican food, sing the 12 days of Christmas and play a game to win white elephant gifts.

we then come home and leave out our cookies for Santa and reindeer food.

one of the most special times of the holidays for us is Christmas morning, right before the kiddies go down to see their Santa presents. we sit down as family and read the story about Christ's birth. we bring up our Fisher Price nativity set and let the boys play out the nativity story. it is a special time for them to remember that Christmas for us, is not all about presents and goodies and Santa. a tradition that our family will always share.

these are just a few of the traditions we do as a family. of course there's always the holiday baking, the family dinners, visiting Santa and drives to see holiday house lights. but all in all, it's the activities your family looks forward to doing year after year that makes this time special.

do you have some special traditions you'd like to share? this week i will be inviting some guest bloggers to share their favorite family traditions. it's always fun to learn about the different ways people celebrate this time of year...no matter what holiday they celebrate.

happy holidays,

jill, jack & kyle