Christmas Traditions

When Samantha was a baby, I really didn't give much thought to Christmas traditions.  The only thing that I knew for sure was that we were pretty fortunate to be able to begin celebrating with Steve's family on Christmas Eve (something that began when I joined the family) and celebrate with my family on Christmas Day.  Other than that, I figured that I would just "wing it" until she was old enough to really understand traditions.

Once she became a toddler, I started to realize how special the little things that we began doing at Christmas-time were to her.  And so the traditions have developed ...

**  Making a Christmas countdown chain to hang on the girls' bedroom door.  The girls each make one of their own (and to distinguish them this year, Steve did a different repeating pattern on them).  Then, they tear off a link to the chain each night before going to bed.

**  Putting a Christmas magnet on the countdown on the refrigerator.  The girls take turns each night, choosing which magnet they would like to put on the magnetic board.

**  Visiting Santa at the mall each year.  This began the year that Samantha was born (when she was 2 weeks old).  Ever since then, I make sure to go to the same mall (and the same Santa!) and get a picture of my kids with him.  I couldn't believe how much Samantha begged to be able to do this this year.

Jack did pretty well with the bearded man in the red suit.  I contribute this mostly to the forethought that I had to make sure that he sat with Santa AND his sisters first.  THEN ... the girls jumped off and we were able to snap a picture of just Jack and Santa.  (The picture quality of these pictures is not great because they are pictures of pictures.  I took my camera with me and snapped a couple of pictures myself but they were a little farther away and therefore, not as easily seen.  These are the two obligatory pictures that I purchased -- and I am truly pleased with them). 

As I was taking Jack off Santa's lap, I turned around and saw this ... Sophia just laid down right in Santa's court with her coloring book and crayons (a gift from Santa) and set to work designing a masterpiece.

Pausing for a moment to color some more:

**  Making reindeer food.  We did this for the first time a couple of years ago and it is definitely something that we will continue as long as we can.  On Christmas Eve, the kids sprinkle the reindeer food out on the front lawn so that the deer have a little something special to snack on while Santa is dropping off presents inside our house.  This year, we added some marshmallows and chocolate chips to the mix!  And of course, there was glitter -- this is used to help the reindeer find our house as it is illuminated by the moon on Christmas Eve.

We did this with a couple of our friends, and they enjoyed it just as much as my girls!

Total concentration:

**  Meeting Christmas Catherine.  Our elf has made quite the impression on the girls and has managed to pull off some really cute antics this year.  Many of the situations that Catherine has found herself getting into have been a direct result of Steve.   He just has such an way to think of all the fun things to do with her.   We have problems getting the girls to sleep in as they rise so early with the anticipation of finding the latest antics that our elf has found to do!  


A beach scene:

Christmas Catherine made an igloo out of marshmallows!

One morning, the girls found CC camped out watching a movie with some popcorn:

CC was coloring a picture under the Christmas tree:

We have done quite a few other things this holiday season, as well.

**  Samantha wrote a letter to Santa and then mailed it to the North Pole.  It was Steve's idea; I wasn't sure that it was going to work ... but I was pleasantly surprised that she received a reply back in the mail!

(I can't seem to get this picture to turn right-side up, no matter what I do.  But, I wanted to be sure to include it here; her writing is improving so much -- even if she did spell the word, "to" incorrectly!)


**  We've been doing a lot of wrapping!  I have a table set up in the basement and the girls like to help me down there as much as they can.

**  We made Christmas crayons as a gift for Samantha's friends at school.  The girls helped me peel a bunch of crayons ...

Then, they chose random colors to fill silicon molds in the shapes of gingerbread boys and snowflakes.  We baked them in the oven and then let them cool. 

They turned out great!

The next day, Sam helped me assemble the gift bags for her friends.

She carefully counted everything out and lined them up in a row.

She strategically chose a little memo pad (there were three different designs that I had picked up at the dollar store) for each friend, along with a candy cane and four of the crayons.

 

Each friend received two snowflakes and two gingerbread boy crayons.

All ready to go!

 

**  Samantha's Christmas Program was last night and it was such a wonderful performance.  I wasn't sure how Jack would do because the program was at 7 pm (the time that he begins to wind down for bed), but he surprised me and did really well.

 

 

Posing for a quick picture before we left for the program:

 

(I let Samantha wear one of my special necklaces -- it is her birthstone, given to me by Steve on my first real Mother's Day.  She felt SO special ...).

Noticing us sitting in the auditorium as she filed in with her class:

This picture just makes me smile.  Every. single. time.  Sophia clapped the loudest of anyone there!

Singing with her school:

 

And we still have a few more things to do!  We will be baking cookies with Aunt Minnie on the 23rd and then preparing to celebrate the holiday with both of our families here at our house this year.  The kids will receive their traditional NEW pajamas on Christmas Eve and I can't wait to see them wearing them ...!