Traditions

Over the past couple of years we have been trying to solidify our family's holiday traditions. 

Last year I saw a cute idea to wrap up a book each night and read it by the tree.  I liked that idea but this year tweaked it a bit and used this idea to help us remember the true meaning of Christmas a little more. 

Along with keeping the true meaning of Christmas, the Little Mister and I set out to do some random acts of kindness.  One day while running errands, I had him hand out candy canes to everyone who helped us...the grocery store checker, the guy who carried out our groceries, the postman, etc. etc.  It was fun but he was a little shy.  We also picked out an angel tree gift for a little boy his age.  He helped me pick out the gift and then take it to be dropped off.  I hope next year to be able to add some more ideas like this.

Also last year we decided to part with my family's tradition of doing a Christmas Eve party with appetizers and desserts and go ethnic for Christmas Eve.  This year we got fancy and went downtown for Indian food.  The kids were big fans of their mango lassis and rice and I think they even liked the naan.  Baby Sister got her first taste of chicken tikka masala and she loved it!  After dinner we walked around downtown to see the lights and the Festival of Trees in one of the nearby hotels.  Too bad there weren't any ice skaters to watch when we were there :(  

After our downtown excursion we loaded up in the car to look at more Christmas lights.  We weren't very successful this time around but saw a few close to home.  Then we headed back for everyone's favorite tradition of opening new jammies on Christmas Eve.

On Christmas night, the Little Mister and I had a slumber party by the tree.  I just love the glow of the Christmas lights and thought it would be fun to look at the lights and read stories and talk until we fell asleep.  Well, after a full (and I mean FULL) day of excitement, he decided right away it was time for lights out and to go to sleep.  I still think it was a fun idea and plan to continue it in the future.

My very favorite Christmas tradition of all, however, is buying our pre-made Christmas dinner.  At least while the kids are young it makes the day so much more enjoyable to be able to heat up our delicious dinner and not spend hours cooking, or shopping for ingredients for that matter. 

We ended the year with our second annual New Year's Eve Bash with great food and even better friends!  We ring in the New Year at 6pm and then hustle the kids off to bed at a reasonable hour :)