Some ideas on Christmas Traditions...

With the Christmas Season approaching I found some of these great ideas from Babycenter Message Board. Thought I would post them :)

“The Jammie Elf: He comes Christmas Eve and drops off jammies at our door, rings the bell and leaves. He brings them to let the kids know that Santa will be here soon, so you had better get these soft new jammies on and hop into bed so that he can come to our house.”

“On Christmas Eve, we drink hot chocolate and read from several Christmas books that we have had since we were children (my Mom tracked them down for us and gave them to us as presents the year each of us were married) and then we read from Luke 2 right before bed. “

“We drive around and look at Christmas lights after they get their pj's on for the end of Christmas Eve. The kids always fell asleep really well in the car when they were little so we did that to get them to sleep early on Christmas Eve. We still do it, they just don't fall asleep now.”

“We make plates of goodies and take them around to our friends about 1 week before Christmas and sing Carols on their door. My kids love this and we have to take turns letting them decide who gets to choose the carol to sing. That person also gets to hand the plate to the family.”

“On Christmas morning the kids can't come down the stairs until mom and dad have come down. They have to wait on the stairs. I make an egg/sausage casserole the night before and I put it in the oven to bake. Then we let the kids run down the stairs while we video them. We have a family prayer and then let them tear into their stockings. By the time we are done opening presents and playing for a bit breakfast is done and we get a hot yummy breakfast to eat.”

“We open stockings first.”

“We always watch "A Christmas Carol" (1953 Alister Simm as Scrooge edition) while decorating the tree.”

“A newer tradition - I make Holiday french toast (made with apples and cinnamon and dried cranberries and baked in the oven) and a sausage and cheese strata on Christmas Eve so I can pop them in the oven Christmas morning as we open the presents.”

“We also sponsor a family for Christmas (along with a group of friends) that cannot afford Christmas. Normally it is a pretty big family.”

“Every year I buy a Christmas book to go along with the Christmas eve jammies. In the cover of that book each of our kids write a little message, anything they want. What they hope Santa brings, favorite memory of the year, a new accomplishment, or just some cute baby talk. For bedtime stories in December we read from those books from other years that I have been collecting and remember the fun things we have done over the years. They love to see how their writing has changed and what they wrote in the past. I think this year I might use the good idea I read of wrapping books for them to chose from for bedtime stories. “