Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Christmas House, Traditions, & Gifts

My Christmas house pretty much looks the same as last year so I won't bore you with all the details of that.  

The one change is the mantel and I do love it so I will share...


The Christmas tree is also different this year because I let go of my "themes" and own ideas.  I let the kids decorate it completely this year.  This means it has random ornaments all hung on the same branches.  My idea of the perfect Christmas tree has completely changed.  This is it.  Now if only I had read Erin's post before taking this picture, it may have turned out much better.


I changed up the frames again with Christmasy stuff printed off the computer.


We started the tradition of opening a Christmas book a day beginning on December 1st.  I first saw the idea on Pinterest and it came from HERE and I love it!  It has been so fun and now all our Christmas books have a chance and don't get overlooked.


We also eat dinner by candlelight every night that we are home in December.  What kid (or adult for that matter) doesn't love that?  Then to make it even more exciting and to make it work for us, the big kid that stays in their seat and refrains from screaming at dinner time gets to blow out the candle at the end.  It really works.  Blowing out candles is apparently a very cool thing.


My sister gets the kids Christmas jammies every year.  She sends them our way and we give them out on December 1st.  We surprise them right before bed and then call Aunt Beth to thank her!  : )  They are practically worn out by Christmas from so much wear!  


We have cinnamon rolls for Jesus on Christmas morning.  We light a candle and sing Happy Birthday to Him.  The kids LOVE this tradition.


As far as presents go, we made a lot of ornaments in our home this year.  I made about 24 of these mini pillow ornaments for friends, family, and teachers.  


Then the kids got a chance to make their own ornaments.  We made salt dough ones this year.  So easy and so much fun!  They went to town painting them and loved every minute.  Then they had fun choosing who would receive them as gifts.  The recipe I found HERE made so many that my oldest chose one for each of her classmates too.


I love everything about Christmas.  

What do you love about Christmas?  Do you have any of these same traditions in your home? Or do you have new ones to share with us? 

Only 5 days to go, my friends!  Merry Christmas!!!


7 comments:

VK December 20, 2011 at 6:22 AM  

Everything is so beautiful! I love this blog. Merry christmas!

love Valua Kuvasa from Finland

Sandy December 20, 2011 at 6:54 AM  

I love that you do so many neat things with your kids at Christmastime. They will have awesome memories to treasure when they are older!

TBonesMom December 20, 2011 at 8:41 AM  

I LOVE THIS POST! Everything is so merry & bright. :) I really want that sign on your mantel. And my favorite ornaments are the row of green trees & the nativity. Wow. It's all so beautiful. And I sure do love baby toes & sleepers. Also, I found out that candle "coolness" with my own daughter too when she was little. LOL.

Merry Christmas Lemon Tree Creations!

Jill@Barnes Yard December 20, 2011 at 4:58 PM  

Love the little pillow ornaments...I might just have to copy those for next year!

Petunia Pill December 21, 2011 at 11:24 AM  

I just blog hopped on over here from Kate's blog at The Garden Bell! How fun to find you. I'm IN LOVE with that photo of your little one in the red and white skirt! That is beeee-yond precious! Very clever Mommy you are with your book reading and candle blowing! My daughter is now 23, but when she was 4, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. I didn't know how many years I would be around and I started buying her a Christmas book each year and writing a long letter in the front of that book. Each letter commemorated her life throughout that year...who her friends were, what she liked to do, music she liked, etc. To this day, she still looks for her annual Christmas book and I'm in TROUBLE if I don't do it! She gets them out on Christmas Eve each year and reads through all the letters...reliving every moment as though it was new. Merry Christmas to you! Hugs, Annette

monster cakes December 21, 2011 at 6:20 PM  

My mom reads the Christmas story out of the Bible before we open gifts to get us focused on the real reason for the season, but when I have kids I want to bake a birthday cake for Jesus too. I love that you do that!

Punky Prep January 1, 2012 at 1:07 PM  

Love the pillow ornaments! Just found your site, fun!
www.craftingrebellion.com

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