Sunday, December 7, 2008
Holiday Traditions
Now that Matthew is old enough to understand what Christmas is about and who Santa Claus is, I was trying to think of some fun Christmas traditions to start with the kids to get them excited about Christmas. I want to do something inexpensive, yet memorable but I also don't want it to be too time-consuming since I do have a newborn to attend to, not to mention the Christmas shopping I didn't get to before Nora was born and all the other church activities we need to fit into our schedule, etc. I was hoping that maybe some of you have some great ideas that you could share, if you don't mind me copying your ideas. I just watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and that made me want to start traditions of service and of remembering the Savior. I particularly enjoyed President Eyring's family rendition of a Christmas pageant complete with stone-throwing at Samuel. Feel free to share ideas that you and your children enjoy!
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We started doing an advent calendar this year. If you get the Friend (or you can look it up online) they have a page with 25 scriptures about Jesus, one for every day in december. I bought an advent calendar with little doors for every day that I can stick the scripture and some little candies in. We've been doing it for a week now and the kids are really loving it. At first I thought it would just be the candy that would hold their attention but they are really listening to the scriptures and asking questions and such.
I didn't get to see the Devotional yet, but I'll try to watch a recording. We were able to go to the Riverview stores and see a free Santa. Will liked that. Dave's mom does "gingerbread" (actually, I think they're made from graham crackers) houses with the grandkids and then frost and decorate them. We also like to see Christmas lights at the temple and there's a neighborhood we always visit that goes all out with decorations. I know those aren't super spiritual, but they do give us family bonding time, which I really like. And there's always the Strong tradition of giving plates of cookies to your parents' friends...:) I'll have to check back to see if there are any other bright ideas...especially with little ones!
I just posted about an idea today in fact! What good timing! You could be really simple in your goody bags though. I wouldn't imagine that I could do it all with a newborn. But the secret service is SO much fun.
Were trying to figure out our own! It aint easy!! It is already past this but I love to put up decorations the day after Thanksgiving. That will be one of our traditions!!
Carrie, Nora is so cute! I cannot believe you had her natural....ugh....that story is my worst nightmare!! I'm glad that all went well though!!
This year we were given a book called, "The Elf on the Shelf" with a little elf (like the ones mom has). The book tells about how you adopt the elf and how he visits Santa and his friends at the North Pole every night, tells St. Nick if you've been naughty or nice, then comes back before you wake up. Every morning he comes and finds a new place to sit and keep an eye on you, but if you touch him, the magic disappears.
Then on Christmas Eve, he goes to the North Pole to play with his other elf friends until next holiday season.
Tommy loves waking up every morning and finding Buddy the Elf's new place. I think it's adorable, but I'm afraid that one night I'm going to forget to move him!!
We just started a tradition of each making a christmas ornament for that year. We made photo frame ornaments out of craft foam this year and put in a picture from our family trip this summer. Cheap and fun!
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