Christmas Traditions

I wrote this little post so I could link up over at Kelly's Korner. Over there she is talking about Christmas traditions!

One of my favorite things about celebrating Christmas with family is the traditions! We had a lot of Christmas traditions growing up and Nick and I have tried to create some of our own too. I think the two important things to remember about traditions are; that it is okay to be a little flexible (each Christmas season has its own challenges) and you can start new ones at any time!

*we have a night sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas  where we go look at Christmas lights and go to a local drive-thru display

*we decorate for Chrismas together as a family while listening to Christmas music and then watch a Chrismtas movie together when we are done

*we have an Elf on the Shelf

*we fill shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child (yep, this year I failed at this one, thank goodness there is always next year!)

*we bake Christmas cookies, usually with my mom sometime before Christmas

*we watch Elf together as a family

*we give the kiddos new Christmas jammies to wear on Christmas Eve (this one comes from my childhood)

*we do a chocolate Advent calendar (new this year)
*we send out Christmas cards to our family and friends

*we dress up on Christmas Eve 

*Christmas day is spent at my parents house opening gifts and eating lots of food!

And we are always looking to add a few new traditions. This year we are going to take the kids to the Missouri Botanical Gardens to look around and check out the train display. If we enjoy it, it could become a great Christmas traditions!

If you need some other ideas head over to Kelly's Korner and see what other families do to create wonderful Christmas memories for their families!

Also, my friend Jenn is giving away a copy of the Child Training Bible. Head over to her blog for her review and to win a copy for yourself!