Santa?? I know him!!!

 

If you know me at all, whether we are new friends or old, you know that I love Christmas.  Love it love it love it!  I love how the weather changes (well is SUPPOSED to change, Texas doesn't always get that memo).  I love to see the twinkling of Christmas lights as I drive past people's homes or walk past stores.  I love the beautiful decorations that people adorn their homes with.  I love the spirit of giving that people catch and the way it feels to watch someone you love open a gift that you picked out just for them.  I love sipping on apple cider and hot chocolate and making cookies with my children.  I love visiting with friends and family and just enjoying being together.  Do you get it?  I love Christmas and everything about it!

I don't have a ton of memories of Christmas traditions from when I was little, but I have a few.  Like leaving cookies and milk for Santa every Christmas Eve.  Waking up early on Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought me.  Going around my dad's house and finding things he already owned and wrapping them up and putting them under the tree for him; hey, maybe he didn't notice?  Having a stocking full of goodies (never without an orange, apple, chocolate/peanut butter truffles--so THAT'S where my addiction comes from, thanks Dad--and crazy fun little trinkets).  Btw at my Dad's house I still have the same stocking I had as a child, and I love it.  I'm sure there were more things that my parents did, but those are the main things I remember.

Now that I have children of my own, I am trying really hard to start traditions with them at Christmas.  Watching the movie "Elf" is a must even though I have that movie on hand year round. We always bake cookies for Santa and leave him milk.  Because they go to their dad's on Christmas eve in order to celebrate with his family Christmas morning, we celebrate Christmas eve at our house on the eve of Christmas eve, got that?  They get to have two Christmas mornings, which I think is awesome and they never question it because who the hell would have a problem with Santa visiting you TWICE??  We always open our stockings first, and then the gifts.  This year, we started the "Elf on the Shelf" tradition.  They have really enjoyed it and I plan on continuing it for many years to come.  I have seen tons of ideas on Pinterest and although I haven't gotten to them all, I think I will throw new ones in each year.  If we're being honest though, I must say that I am glad tonight is the last night that damn elf will have to show up.  It gets tricky trying to get him into new shenanigans each night without them catching me (and having to stay up later than them some nights)!  It was very helpful in the behavior department though, I'll explain how when I post our elf pictures!

 

Since tonight is our Christmas Eve, I am planning for us to bake and decorate cookies for Santa and make sure we leave him and Jingles (our elf) a special letter.  I saw some cute ideas on Pinterest about leaving "Santa footprints" and "Reindeer food" and a bunch of other crap I will never get done, so if I have the right supplies I will attempt to do that for them this evening.  We will read, "The Night Before Christmas" before they go to bed tonight and I will try to hide my excitement, but truthfully I will be as giddy as them because I absolutely love Christmas eve and Christmas morning.  And hopefully they will pass out early tonight so we can all of the presents and goodies put out in a timely manner.

I hope everyone has the most amazing Christmas ever.  We will be going non-stop from this evening through Christmas day, so hopefully the kids behave and no one gets hurt enjoy every bit of it!  Much love and blessings to all of you!

Are there any traditions you remember from your childhood that you loved?

What kinds of traditions do you have with your family now?

Anything I didn't mention that you think I *must* do with my family?