Christmas Traditions

One of my favorite Christmas traditions from when I was a kid was writing a letter to Santa Claus and putting it in my stocking on Dec. 5.  He would come pick it up (that's how he knew what I wanted for Christmas) and he would leave oranges and peanuts in the shell in my stocking.  This is a holiday known as St. Nicholas' Day.  I love that memory. 

Another favorite memory is that my brothers and I would all sleep in the same bed on Christmas Eve.  My brothers shared a bed anyway (a double) and the three of us would sleep cross-ways so we could all fit.  We would wake up on Christmas morning and my youngest brother, Jared, would sneak out to look at the tree because 'Santa' would always leave one gift unwrapped.  Then Jared would sneak back in and tell me and Shawn what the goods were that year.  We would have to wait for mom and dad to get up and turn all the lights on the tree before we were officially allowed to come out of the room.

This year I've started thinking more about traditions and memories that my kids are making.  They've already told me that we always have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning while we open gifts.  I honestly didn't know we started that tradition, but it makes me smile that they remember and want to do it again this year.  Cinnamon rolls it is!

An idea I got from a magazine this year was to wrap 25 Christmas books on Dec. 1st and then open one a day to read before Christmas.  So we went to the library on 12/1 and ended up checked about 32 books!  I think that's a record for us.  But, we got some Christmas books and some others to satisfy the kid's book appetite.  We've been opening one each day and having reading time.  The kids are really loving it and so am I.

We've been taking the wrapping paper from all those books and using it for another idea I read about this year.  I took a tootsie pop and started wrapping it.  The kids don't know what the 'prize' is.  Each day I add the paper from the book to the tootsie pop - it's getting really big!  On Christmas eve (or day, not sure which) we're going to use it to play a game.  Someone gets to start unwrapping the huge ball of paper.  The next person in line starts rolling dice.  When they roll a seven, they get a turn to start unwrapping.  And, so the line goes on until someone gets the prize.  We'll have to help the little ones roll and count, but I think it will be fun.  Tim says it's $4 worth of tape and $6 worth of wrapping paper for a 20cent sucker.  Oh well, I still think it will be fun :)

On Christmas Eve we go to my parent's house with my brothers to celebrate Christmas.  My mom's church doesn't have a service this year, so we're going with my dad to mass at 4pm.  Should be interesting since there is no nursery and we will have 8 kids under 9 with one due in two weeks!

On Christmas day we celebrate with Tim's family at his parent's house.  His mom's birthday is that day and we celebrate her in the evening with a nice dinner (that unfortunately she usually makes herself!).

I'm excited about this weekend and continuing to make memories with my kids.  What are some of your favorite memories from childhood Christmases?