Christmas Traditions

There is something special about the Christmas season that makes me all happy and full of energy!  It must be because Christmas reminds me of  the joy from my childhood, the fun snow scenery and the warmth of my home.

My family had a Christmas tradition to meet with every relatives and exchange gifts.  Each year we held the big Christmas dinner at somebody' house and we would spend the whole day at that house playing games, singing songs and making snowmen in the yard.

Even when times were hard, or when people didn't get along, all the parents still got together and tried to work past their differences and make it a fun and memorable time for the whole family to enjoy.

Now that I have a family of my own, I want to create Christmas traditions for my children to cherish as well because they probably won't remember the presents they received throughout the years but they will remember the way we have lived and celebrated this season.

Here below are some of the things I want to do with my family during this holiday season:

• Read books about Christmas or winter
• Create a Christmas advent calendar
• Create a Christmas village 
• Bake cookies (not just for Santa Claus!)
• Watch Christmas movies
• Sing Christmas carols
• Donate food and toys
• Write Christmas cards

If you have read my blog last month, you probably know I have already started a few of those things.  I hope you won't mind reading my posts in December because it will be filled with Christmassy topics!!!

Now that my boy is a little bit older and slightly more interested in books, I have started a Christmas Book Advent.  I was not an easy task to gather all the books I wanted on my list which you can see in my previous post.  Some of them I already have but I had to buy the others without breaking my budget!  I was lucky to find many of them at a good price in second-hand bookshops and some on Ebay!  Concerning Ebay, my advice would be to look for a used lot so you can get many books in one single purchase and not have to pay so much in shipping fees.  Another option would be to borrow them from the library.

But the hardest part was yet to come: the WRAPPING!   I am a terrible wrapper!  And I had to do it in the utmost secrecy so my boy wouldn't see the books beforehand!  The occasion finally came when baby took a nap and my boy was outside playing with his cousins after a Thanksgiving lunch.  It took me about an hour to wrap everything up and I must say I was very happy once it was finally done!

Above is my little table in the living room dedicated to Christmas!  On the left is the stack of books. The center piece is a musical animated Santa sculpture.  It rotates slowly and every figure moves, including the train and the jack-in-the box!  In the back is a Sing Along Christmas Carols Board Book with a CD.   My boy has requested this book because his cousin has one and he loves these songs!  That tiny tree is Charlie Brown's Christmas Tree which came with one single ornament, Linus blue blanket, and the book you see on top of the book stack.  You can see our Christmas Advent Tree is now painted but not yet complete (the star needs to be painted and a few of the boxes still need to be decorated).

We have started reading the first book yesterday and if you have not seen them on my INSTAGRAM account, here below are the pictures I have posted so far!

I absolutely adore Mary Engelbreit's illustrations so I had to get her version of The Night Before Christmas for my children to enjoy but also for my own guilty pleasure!  I will blog about the other books as soon as I can have some time to take pictures!

Do you have Christmas Holiday traditions?