Christmas Traditions

As I mentioned before Thanksgiving, I've been trying to be more purposeful in establishing some traditions for our family for birthdays and holidays. It was easier to think about Thanksgiving traditions because it's a holiday that is focused on one day whereas Christmas lasts about a month. Christmas celebrations include decorating the house, listening to Christmas music, reading Christmas books, watching Christmas dvds, sending Christmas cards, making cookies, giving and receiving gifts, making crafts (for example on Friday night the kids glued mini marshmallows to a paper to make snowmen), and spending time with extended family. I had planned to do the Truth in the Tinsel crafts every day (Dec 1-24), but I've decided to wait until next year. Just as we had a special breakfast on Thanksgiving this year, I want to have a special breakfast on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day this year. I think one morning I'll serve cinnamon rolls and do pancakes and eggs the other morning. Since we'll be with our extended family on Christmas Day, we're going to do our gift exchange here at home in the morning on Christmas Eve so the kids will have a day to play with their new toys before we drive to Paul's parents' house and then to Maryland.

 

Last year we went to Hershey Park's Christmas Candylane, and we went again yesterday. As long as we live within a reasonable drive of Hershey, I think we'll make this another one of our Christmas traditions. The weather was pretty nice yesterday for December (high of 48). We stayed at the park for 4 hours. We would have stayed longer, but I had a concert last night (flute gig). The kids enjoyed riding rides, seeing real reindeer, spending time with Grandma and Pop Pop, and watching a Christmas show. Ian was laughing his head off on the "Dizzy Drums" ride. We didn't stay long enough to enjoy the many Christmas lights. The cashier was nice and let Ian in for free even though he turned 3 on Wednesday. I was concerned that Oliver was not going to sleep well last night because he slept a bit more than usual during the day yesterday (in the van and a little at Hershey Park), but he did well last night and slept from 9pm to 6:45am. At four months old he's actually sleeping better than Ian is at 3 years old. He was up a few times last night and was in our bed from 5:15 onward.