traditions

What can I say I'm a sucker for family traditions. I especially love Christmas traditions. Growing up we would always go around with my parents taking pizzelles to friends and family. I'm grateful that we were able to be a part of showing kindness to others and letting them know we were thinking of them during this busy time of year. Every year we would celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family. There are only 7 grandkids so it was always easy to get together. We would attend a candlelight service at the Baptist church and then come home and have our family gift exchange. I know most families draw names for Christmas but one thing I loved about our tradition was that there was always a theme with the exchange. For example...one year we had to buy gifts that began with that persons name. We've had to buy gifts that correlate to a Christmas song or scripture. We've done hands and feet gifts or homemade gifts. I think it's always fun to be creative and to see what everyone brought to the exchange. I can't help but feel sad that David was never a part of this tradition....no it's not that he had to sit in the corner while we had the exchange, the year we got married my grandfather died and as a family we each decided to celebrate Christmas with our immediate family.

Last year Santa forgot to fill my stocking. I (sadly) put them back in storage when a little elf realized Santa forgot me. David didn't know where the stockings were and so he hung a diaper and filled it with treats- that was probably the first time I was excited to see what was in a diaper! I still have the diaper and we've decided to continue to hang it each year. I'm sure Grant will love explaining that one to his friends!

I'm finding that traditions just happen naturally. Grant always seems to want to turn on the lights to our little Christmas houses first thing in the morning, and point to Santa on the roof right before bed. We've been trying to read some form of Christmas story each night and I think it will help get us more in the Christmas spirit. I want to help my kid(s) understand the true meaning of Christmas and to give service and love to others, I'm hoping we can continue to donate and help wherever possible.

What fun traditions do you have? Favorite meals, songs, movies?