There is still time to enter my current giveaway in previous post.
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Last year one of my blogging friends shared a sweet tradition in their family where they wrap up Christmas books and then open and read one every evening until Christmas.
We won't be doing all our traditional things this year including having our usual 45 Day Fruitcake but, I think we will all enjoy this new one. As an added bonus the basket filled with those books looks so cheerful that I have to smile every time I see it.
What are some of the fun things you do each year for Christmas?
What a wonderful idea! I am not a real creative person, but thanks to the internet and folks like you who are willing to share, I have been able to incorporate some fun & creative activities into our family life.
ReplyDeleteMrs.B
I like your book basket idea. We are real book-lovers around here, and it looks cute, too.
ReplyDeleteOne of our traditions is decorating a gingerbread house for one of our December family fun night activities each year. We take a picture of our family with our gingerbread house when we're finished. It is a good time.
I make a white chocolate party mix and give to family and friends. It is expensive to make so I put it in small tins or small Christmas bags. Everyone enjoys it and I have given something they look forward to each year.
ReplyDeleteI used to bring out all the Christmas picture books when the kids were little. There was one we would read out of every evening after supper. Many years we've also made a gingerbread house, then we have fun smashing it at midnight on New Years Eve.
ReplyDeleteWe nearly always travel over the holiday, so our traditions need to be portable! We may open our main gifts on a day before or after Christmas, but our stockings are saved for Christmas morning.
My sister-in-law bakes hundreds of dozens of cookies and gives near all of them away; it's her special thing for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteMy mother used to bake about 20 pies and freeze them - apple, pumpkin, and at least one raisin pie just for Dad.
My thing is decorating. The tree is loaded with decorations. There's garland on the mantle and the collection of old soft Santa dolls my mother and I collected together fill the rarely-used chairs and benches. And wreaths - on the doors inside and out.
Our idea seems to be that Christmas ought to be a visual celebration and a taste feast to remind us of our multitude of blessings.
I have always loved to decorate my living room with greenery and focus on decorating around Baby Jesus. I don't like Santa anywhere. It's not about a fantasy. It's about Our Lord.
ReplyDeleteWe have an Open House every year on the third Sunday in Advent. Every one from church is invited, as well as lots of friends from when the Lord of the Manor used to work, and anyone else we can think of. Usually about 50 people will come and go between 2 and 6, and then we collapse on the sofa, listen to Christmas music on the radio and watch the fire die down. We've been doing this since about the third year we were married.
ReplyDeleteI'm doing the same thing, though I have yet to wrap the books. I have all the Christmas books set aside and we read one each day. I'm not sure if I have 25, but that's what the library is for :)
ReplyDeleteCutting a real tree and baking Christmas goodies!
ReplyDeleteEvery year since I had my son we have gone and picked an angel off the Salvation Army Angel Tree. As he has grown to understand it more, he has started to help me pick toys and clothes for the "angel" (which is always a boy the same age as he is). This year I have enjoyed watching him pray for the angel also!
ReplyDeleteOur family traditions have changed since the children have grown up. But for several years, now, we help "adopt" a family from the neighborhood around our church. We don't know who they are but use the school district to help us choose them. There is a small tree in our church's foyer decorated with paper ornaments with something the family would like for Christmas. We buy a present or two, wrap them and put the special coded gift tag on it. Nice to make someone smile on Christmas morning :-)
ReplyDeleteWe also cut down our Christmas tree on Dec. 12 in memory of my mom. That was her birthday and she just loved Christmas time. I have fond memories of trudging along with her looking for that special tree. We didn't go to a tree farm, either ... but through the fields of a neighbor's farm; one time in snow over our knees. Even the sled was having a problem!