Today I am sharing some our families traditions when it comes to Christmas. Being in the military, every year seems to throw a different wrench in our plans for Christmas. Some years we have spent it in our own home and some years we have spent it at my parents house in SC. Some years Brandon has been there for all the festivities, some years he has flown in just for a few weeks from wherever he was training, and one year we didn't have him at all. But nonetheless we try to adopt some traditions to call our own and try to keep up with them.
One of my favorite traditions is that we do not put any of the presents out until Christmas morning. I feel it helps keep the spirit of Santa Claus alive. I am so happy that all the kiddos believe even P. I know there isn't too many years left that she will continue to believe. There is just something special about no presents under the tree and then suddenly on Christmas morning everything is out. So much fun!!! It never fails in our house with three kiddos that it always looks like Christmas exploded under the tree :) I love it though... I love seeing their faces when they walk into the living room and see Santa has come!
I love giving gifts. It is one of my love languages. I love how a gift can make a person feel. I love seeing the kids' faces when they open up a gift and its what they have been asking for. Brandon and I had so much fun on a date night back in October picking out the kids' Christmas presents. We spent hours there and it was a blast. I love buying the kids stuff and Christmastime is no exception. I enjoy picking out Brandon's presents too! Some years we haven't done presents for each other so I always try to come up with something great the years we do. I like to up the surprise factor and give gifts he wouldn't think of for himself. I even like picking out the wrapping paper each year and sitting down and wrapping all the presents. It's just fun to me :)
We love decorating for Christmas. Brandon's domain is outside and he always goes above & beyond each year. He is like a kid :) That is the fun part of being in the military, every couple of years we have a new house to decorate. All of us love seeing Christmas lights and other houses decorated. We drive around other neighborhoods with Christmas music playing in the car and look at all the decorated houses. The kids love seeing all the different lights and decorations. Its so much fun!
Everyone in our family likes to read and we have a whole collection of Christmas books that I will get out and we will read a few each night. We have the classics but have added some fun ones to the mix like A Soldier's Night Before Christmas, Mickey Saves Santa and Elmo's 12 Days of Christmas. I also enjoy reading The Christmas Story and The Animals' Christmas Eve. It's important for us all to remember that Christmas is also about the birth of Jesus. We also love watching all the Christmas shows and movies. We look forward to ABC's Family Countdown to Christmas. They show all the favorites over and over again :) We love watching the Christmas classics and of course Charlie Brown.
One of favorite new traditions that we have just started in the past few years is Santa's elves leave all of us new PJ's under the tree on Christmas Eve. We usually go driving around the neighborhood and look at lights and then when we come back the elves have visited and left the PJ's behind. It's so fun and it keeps the spirit alive. It also reminds the kiddos that Santa will be coming soon too!
Love celebrating the Christmas season and partaking in so many fun, joyous celebrations!!!
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