Christmas Traditions

There are many things that I love about Christmas... The excitement and anticipation I see in the faces of young children. The delicious smells often coming from my kitchen as I bake goodies to share with friends and family. The beautiful decor that colors my home in red, green, and frosty white. The packages under the tree being handled by little fingers just hoping one has their name on it. The list really could go on and on. However, I do have to say that "traditions" are of my most favorite this time of year.
This year the "Christmas Vacation" at school was really late and the kiddos weren't out until two days before Christmas! This kind of  put a damper on our baking and making that we usually do the week before Christmas. We were able to fit in our annual cookie decorating day though. Every year my mom, who has the absolute best sugar cookie recipe, makes up a ton of  sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. We all, yep all of us: siblings, significant others, kiddos, foreigners, and of course my parents, sit down and decorate cookies.

 Gobs of frosting and loads of sprinkles coat delicious cookies and cover the table. As a rule, the kids always devour the first cookie they make. Usually there is way too much frosting, but for some reason that doesn't seem to bother them.

It's always a day full of fun, laughs, yummy treats, Christmas music, good family time, and at the end, a ton of sugar coated cookies.

Another super fun tradition we have is "Elf  on the Shelf." My parents got him for the boys last year at Christmastime.  Our elf's name is Fredrick, and for those who don't know, every night he flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa on the behavior of the children. Each morning when he returns, he is in a new location and the kids have to find him.

Ok, so the next two traditions are ones that I will most likely take over if my mom ever decides not to do them, because honestly I can't imagine ever having a Christmas without them.  As a child, we used to go to my grandma's on Christmas eve and as long as I can remember, no matter how late we got home, we'd always get to open 2 presents. I remember we would always be so excited, and I still can't quite remember when I finally figured it out that we got the same thing every Christmas eve.  One is an ornament, and the other, my favorite MATCHING JAMMIES!!!

 And though I am 28 now, I don't think one ever outgrows the joy of Christmas Magic. When we were little, we would have to wait until my mom had the hot cocoa made and ready before we could come down the stairs. It seemed to take FOREVER!! but always made it worth it.  When we came downstairs we would get our hot cocoa and head into the living room where the Christmas Magic filled the air.  There were pretty presents everywhere, but my very favorite are the stockings! and still to this day, stockings are my very favorite.... I feel bad for my folks, this year they had 9 stockings to fill!!!!

Merry Christmas!! Always keep traditions in the heart and in the family!