Christmas Traditions

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Each year I have my heart set on making some "Christmas Traditions" that my boys will always remember growing up with.  Yet each year I struggle to think of ideas.  This is the first year that both boys actually "get"  Christmas (well, semi-get).  They have been enjoying all the sights, sounds and smells of the season.  Each morning they have new wonder in their eyes wondering what is in store for today.  This Christmas just feels different, and I think it's because they are old enough now to really enjoy it.

Here are some fun things that we've done this year.  I'm not sure if they qualify as traditions yet, but we'll see which ones turn into traditions....

-We have a small collection of Christmas books that people have given the boys over the past few years.  We took the books out of a box in early December and we read one of them each night before bed.  They have about 6 Christmas books, and I'm hoping to buy them a new book each year to add to their collection.

-Martin starts every morning off with turning on KOST 103.5.  The boys love the Christmas music and Jaden says his favorite song is "Santa Baby."  He starts giggling and asks, "Why is she calling Santa a baby?!"  Micah loves every song that plays and always asks us to turn it up.

-We buy our tree from a lot and typically do that the weekend after Thanksgiving.  We all help pick the tree out and then eat dinner out somewhere.

-Each of the boys has an artificial small tree that they decorate themselves with a small string of lights and their own small ornaments.  (I got the ornaments at 75% off last year)  Each night we turn their trees on before bed and they go to sleep to the soft lights :)

-Near our house is a neighborhood that many call "Sleepy Hollow", and it is about 6-8 streets of houses that are all connected by lights, and they decorate extravagantly.  The line to get into the neighborhood is long and slow, but well worth it.  There are carolers, people selling hot chocolate and cookies, neighbors milling about, and groups of people sitting around campfires outside.  It is beautiful.  We've already gone 3 times this year and plan to go at least 2 more times.

-I bought both boys an Advent calendar for .99 cents from Trader Joe's, and each afternoon they open a box and get to eat a small chocolate inside.

-I also saved an Advent calendar that I got years ago from Starbucks, and it is in the shape of a Christmas tree with 25 small boxes.  In each box I wrote on a little slip of paper a fun activity we will do for that day.  Things such as: decorate cookies, go look at the lights, go to Mimi & Papa's house, etc... I basically take events that are already on our calendar, and put them in the boxes to make it more exciting for the kids.  They love opening these boxes.

-We are also reading the Christmas story to them from The Picture Bible, but any Bible would do.   Reading it in different versions is also fun.  You can also show them this great video from Igniter Media that re-tells the Christmas story with images.

I know this sounds like a lot, but these are just small and easy things that we do to make Christmas fun and special.  What traditions or special things does your family do this time of year?