Christmas at our house

I just read another blog about Christmas traditions...I think we have many and I'm wondering when and where did we start them and how do I remember them every year...I feel like I have to remember them all because what if I forget one, but one of the kids remembers...

Of course we have the Elf on the Shelf - seems like so many people do.  We, however, did not read the book when we first got him, so we made up our own rules. We didn't name him right away - eventually he became Mr. Elf.  He arrives some time around Thanksgiving, he leaves at night of course, but when he returns he brings candy and puts it in the Christmas counter downer...quite frankly (I feel like I shouldn't be writing this - who is my audience after all and do I need to fear that my children will be privy to the information I'm about to share) we have a hard enough time remembering to move the elf and our creativity is low - we don't want to be over the top, dressing our elf, making clothes for him, soaking him in marshmallow baths - while I think these are all fabulous ideas, I don't really have time for this - we're lucky if we remember to move him....but now, the kids have come to expect their chocolate kiss to be in the counter downer...too much work if you ask me (by the way, a counter downer is an advent calendar).  But I hate disappointment (I'm such a wimp) so, I insist that he come back every year.

Decorating the house - J brings in the boxes, I unpack everything, put it where I want it and he takes the boxes back out...in 4 weeks, he'll bring those boxes back in and let me repack them...seems like a lot of work.  We decorate the tree (or trees) as a family.  If we have 2, I decorate my "pretty" one with the kids also...I have soft ornaments that I let them hang from the middle of the tree down so that my little kids can't reach the nice ornaments...then my little kiddos always take the ornaments back down - I usually have more laying on the floor under the tree then I do hanging on the tree.  This year, N put these snowman ornaments that I made years ago in his dump truck and drove them around the house...I put them back, he took them down and did it again..after so many times I told him he could have them - it was fun to watch...  when we have two trees, the second one is covered in ornaments that we've gotten for the kids, ornaments that others have gotten for the kids and ornaments that the kids have made.  Again, soft ones on the bottom - super special ones up high.  We buy an ornament for our angel, Gracie, every year.  We also buy one for each of our kids every year - they usually have a connection...this year I bought ornaments that the kids liked.  M got one with penguins, S wanted a snowman and an ornament with an S on it, Ny got ballet slippers, she is taking dance during preschool and hopes to be a ballerina someday, N got on with a 2 and a train on it, and C naturally got baby's first Christmas.

Note - I prefer live trees while John would love to go buy a fake one...I'm all about being green (ish) and I'm sure that getting a live (or what used to be live) tree every year isn't so friendly, I love it - the smell, cleaning the needles off the floor everyday!  Although I have to admit that a pre-lit fake tree sure is easier to deal with!

Cookies, we must make cookies and not just one kind and not just one batch of each.  It's sad, but we have no family close by and we just moved this year and don't have many friends to share our cookies with yet.  But we made enough to share...so what happens to all those cookies when you don't have anyone to share them with?  Well, most likely, you eat them!  There have been a few years when we would drive around the neighborhood (this started in N.C. and we actually really miss doing this) and shared our cookies with many of our neighbors.  We loved our neighbors.  I'm pretty sure we did that all four years that we lived there - if I remember correctly, one year it snowed, John drove the van and the kids sat on my lap...it was so festive and such a joyful feeling.  The first year in WA we ate all the cookies, the second year we shared with some neighbors, the third year we made deliveries to many friends.  Well, it's our first year in Texas - so, this year, we ate a lot of cookies...and it almost felt like work trying to find the time to get them made.

Gingerbread houses - J and I used to make one, but then Target started selling a kit with a gingerbread village - 5 little houses of sorts...well that's perfect for our family, cause J and each of the girls and I could make our own -this year, I let N make mine...it gives them a chance to learn to decorate and express their growing abilities on their own houses, they can do it their way - plus while they're eating the candy that supposed to go on their houses, they're sharing less germs : )  I love this project, but it's like carving pumpkins, it usually something J does with the kids - he'll take one kid aside at a time while I entertain the rest...this year, the kids did their small houses one day while J was really really sick and M had a friend over.  So, the friend decorated J's house.  But we still did a big house together - on the same day we made cookies...craziness.

Christmas pjs is another favorite of mine...I love the kids in matching pjs on Christmas Eve.  We set Santa's plate on the couch and sit the kids around it to take pictures...well, thanks to the postal service, my kids pjs didn't match this year.  It's ok, they still looked good, everyone was in red and green...it wasn't as hard to deal with as I thought it might be.

Wrapping paper - each of our children and each of us for that matter, gets our own wrapping paper - I usually let the kids pick out their own, this year I ran across some paper I really liked and I bought it- then I thought I better use it for the kids so that my husband wouldn't get mad about me buying so much paper.  Anyway, we wrap each persons gifts in one paper and then we don't even have to write their names on them.  We also put each kids gifts in a pile and they sit by their pile and open away...Santa puts his gifts (which are all wrapped in Santa paper) in each child's pile.  Santa and I share the job of filling the stockings.  Most years there is an orange in each stocking - this year I kinda forgot...that kind of made me sad.

Pictures with Santa - I think we've made it to a mall or some location where we can take pictures with Santa.  The honest reason I like to do this is NOT so that the kids can see Santa, but so that I can remember how they felt about seeing him each year and watching their feelings develop and change over the years.  S's reactions have been my favorite!  I think for 2 years or so she stood as far away from Santa as she could.  She was excited on the way to see him, but absolutely freaked out when we'd get there...this year she wanted to sit on his lap (I have to admit, I was a little upset with Santa's helper, she was not going to let me put my kids where I wanted them - she saw us coming and had a plan before I could blink my eye...S was not on Santa's lap - we were both just a little sad about that...N ended up on his lap - he was NOT thrilled, but handled it fine.  And of course Santa held baby C in his other arm - that made me smile)

Christmas day dinner - well, I normally have spaghetti - it's not Christmas without it.  A few years ago we made prime rib and I loved it (actually asked for it for mother's day!)  This year - bean dip...no, seriously.  With green and red tortilla chips...I decided to justify it by claiming that we were celebrating our move to the deep south...a little "Tex Mex" for Christmas dinner.  Oh ya, and we always have cinnamon rolls for breakfast - just so happens that daddy served them 2 days before Christmas...so, I made him make homemade donuts this year.

Gifts for teachers and therapists...not my favorite thing to deal with either - don't get me wrong, I want to give them something, but I honestly want them to like it.  Last year and this year we gave the women that take care of my children festive Christmas necklaces (from Target)  Last year the receivers ooohed and awwwed over their gifts - this year, no one seemed thrilled...and M decided to give her teacher Extreme sour patch kids because she saw him eating some one day - he was soooo impressed!

I have a feeling I"m forgetting a lot!  This year was particularly difficult for me.  On a daily basis, I had to remind myself that it's Christmas even though it's 70+ degrees outside...it's Christmas even though I have a new baby and no energy and don't feel like doing anything...it's Christmas even though we won't be with family this year...(well, not on Christmas day - so thankful my mom and dad are coming soon!)  I've had a hard time getting motivated this year.  I wanted to do a lot - had a lot of good intentions and hopes and ideas...and then I would tell myself, there's always next year.  Maybe we have too many traditions, too many things we feel like we have to make sure we get done.

I have NEVER made a new year's resolution, but I may do it this year...my goal for 2012 - to slow down, smell the roses, make new traditions that are special and meaningful to MY family and maybe not the ones that the rest of the world is doing...so, we'll see a year from now, if I take the time, when I take the time, if I remember to take the time - to reflect on Christmas at our house, if our traditions are new, exciting, meaningful - or if the ones we have stick and if they do stick, why?  Maybe they are now our traditions.............