Christmas traditions

This time of year is wonderful for so many reasons! A dear friend reminded me of describing this season as "joyful anticipation." It truly is. Awaiting the birth of a Savior - the only story of God humbling himself to become a human - One who will bring comfort to the hurting, peace to the despairing, justice to the rebellious, and mercy to all who come near to worship him.

There are many traditions our family has adopted and I'm excited to see which ones stick over the years. One is the Jesse Tree where we read a story each day throughout the month of December that relates back to the line of Christ. The girls get to put an "ornament" on the tree (banner) each day. Another one is to pray for the family whose card we received that day.

Of course, there are pictures taken by Christmas trees. This year we started to put a small fake tree in the kids' room with homemade ornaments from their great-grandmother.

Then, we also got a real tree. I'm thinking of starting a new tradition called "Santa mouse" that I heard of from my friend. Her family each had to find their tiny present from the Santa mouse hidden in the tree on Christmas morning. They would only know it was theirs by the color of the string it was wrapped in and they couldn't tell the others if they saw someone else's. Today I saw a book entitled Santa Mouse at Barnes and Nobles...it was a cute story.

A very fun tradition is always baking cookies. When I was little I used to love baking sugar cookies with my mom. We would cut out shapes with cookie cutters, brush cooled cookies with Karo Syrup and then coat with various sprinkles. I got a picture of the girls helping this year. We also added another recipe this year that I want to make each year at Christmas, Chocolate Snowball Cookies. They are delicious!

I've heard a lot about the Elf on the Shelf tradition and am wondering if there is a fun way we can do this without going all out and buying the box. It sounds fun just to hide him and have the kids find him every morning, make him mischievous, and prank the family. :) One thing we have been hiding is the cookie tin. Every day it's hidden and they have to find it before they can have a cookie. I borrowed that one from another sweet friend.

As far as presents and such, this year we are trying the Twelve Days of Christmas in our own style. Starting tomorrow, we'll do one thing each day to celebrate the season and coming of Christmas. It'll range from a family gift (like a game, movie, outing, looking at lights and getting hot cocoa, etc), to an individual gift, to especially making it about others, giving, and awareness of those who are in need (giving to Heiffer - this one is great because the kids can pick out chicks or something from the web page to order and send to a hungry family, giving away clothes and donations, buying breakfast for a homeless person, adopting a family or child to buy presents for, giving cookies to neighbors, etc). I'm excited to see how this one goes. Then, Christmas morning we'll each have letters in our stockings from every family member. This will be more meaningful when the kids are older, but it's meant for you to encourage and be encouraged by each person in your family. The letter will share what you appreciate about that person.

Any Christmas traditions worth sharing, please comment!