I was talking with a friend the other day about what we always did for Christmas when I was growing up. It's amazing how we think the way our family did things is the way it should be for everyone or it's just not Christmas!
With our family changing and growing each year, we decided we want to start some family traditions of our own to share with the boys. Things that they can talk about when they are older and telling people about what they always did.
So far, this is year 1 for a real tree (see previous post on this), year 2 for making sugar cookies and decorating them, and year 3 for getting hot chocolate and going to look at lights. They may not seem like a big deal to you but to a 5 and 8 yr.old, the lights thing has been huge! In fact, Ethan thinks we should only get hot chocolate when we look at lights- no other time of year!! (what a sacrifice for me:)
One tradition we have and ALWAYS WILL have is teaching them that Christmas is celebrated to honor Christ's birth! It's not about the presents or even the fun things I mentioned above but it's about our savior.
Did you do some fun things growing up? My mom bought us one ornament a year and put our names on it with the year. When we got married, we got all of our ornaments to start our tree with. I still use them and am carrying this tradition on with my kids.
So- what traditions does your family partake in? Any ones you are wanting to start? What makes Christmas special for you? Please share!