1. Ornament exchange. Dane and I buy each other an ornament each year that has something to do with that year. We also decided that on our children's first Christmas they will receive a nativity ornament, so last year Boss got a beautiful Nativity ornament from Willow tree. This year we'll be buying each other our 4th ornaments! And Boston will be getting his 2nd. These are the ornaments we got for each year,
Year 1: Me- Tinkerbell, because Dane said he saw it and it just reminded him of me, and I watched and loved that movie with the girls I nannied for quite a bit too. Dane- Two bears reading books, because Dane discovered a love of reading during our 1st year together and we read lots of books together.
Year 2: We each got each other polar bears because of an inside joke between us. :) Great minds think alike!
Year 3: Me- A snowman and woman with their arms wrapped around each other. The snowwoman had a big belly and the word, baby printed on her tummy. I was pregnant most of that year. Dane- Jake Sully (in his avatar body). I got him this because we LOVED Avatar and saw it 4 times in theaters (pathetic I know) plus I wanted to get him a hero because he was my hero that year with the pregnancy, labor, and postpartum.
Year 4: Wait and see!
2. Attend a Christmas concert. Last year our church put on concerts every night for a week and we loved it.
3. See a Christmas play. Two years ago Dane and I saw The Forgotten carols. It's one of my favorites. I also love the Nutcracker, but have yet to go with Dane.
4. My Mom's chocolate candy clusters. They're amazing and simple.
1 bag chocolate chips. 1 bag butterscotch chips. 1 jar salted peanuts. Heat the butterscotch and chocolate chips in a big bowl in the microwave at 15 second intervals. Stir each time and once they are entirely melted mix in the peanuts. With a spoon scoop up the candies onto wax paper and freeze. That's it! They're also REALLY good with marshmallows. Follow the same steps, but when you mix in the peanuts, mix the marshmallows at the same time. Delish!
5. The Love Box. This is a Yancey family tradition that I love and will adopt into my own little family some day. Every Christmas we sit in a circle as a family and pass around a decorated box (that's been converted to a decorated box of tissues) and we pick one person in the family that we "love" and why.
I love it! Makes for good family bonding. :)
6. Watching The Nativity Story. I LOVE that movie. Dane and I started that tradition last year, but it will live on! It's my favorite version of Christ's story.
7. Christmas Elf pajamas. This is also a tradition in Dane's family that will be passed on for Boston. I have it on good authority that the Christmas Elves have already picked out Boston's pajamas and they look THESE. Haha! They're gonna be so cute on him. On Christmas Eve the kids take their baths and waiting for them on their beds are Christmas pjs. Boss is gonna look like a little man in his Pjs.
8. Gifts to the Savior. In December we choose our "gift" to the Savior. It's just something that we focus on that year to be more Christlike.
9. Service. We choose a service project to work on each year. We've picked different service projects every year, but one we did two years ago was donating treats and presents (contributions came from friends and family as well) to a Women and children's shelter for victims of domestic violence. I loved doing that one and I think we'll try that again this year.
10. Buy a family Christmas book. We want to collect enough Christmas books so that down the road we can wrap them all up and each night in December our kids can unwrap 1 Christmas book to read. And then we will put them all away the rest of the year, so that they're exciting just for Christmas. My sister does this and she got this tradition from someone in our old Ward.
I love this time of year to spend with family and loved ones. Today's been a very Christmasy day with a movie (Arthur's Christmas) to start us out and a concert to finish it off.
Merry Christmas!
Oh! And I suppose visiting Dane's family is a tradition...since every Christmas we spend with them! This will be our 4th one. :)
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| 4 Christmas' ago. |
