Holiday Traditions-Katie

It's been quite awhile since I've been on here. HI to all those I've not met yet. I liked reading everyone's traditions. Sorry if my post is so long. We have a lot of wonderful traditions, but these are a few of my favorites.

Each year the kids get an ornament and we also do a family one.

We put up our Christmas tree the weekend of Thanksgiving, though this year Bryce and I decorated the tree the monday prior to Thanksgiving, something I swore I'd never do.

Every year I hang up our Christmas lights outside and Bryce is the one that helps me.

Each year we as a family donate to various organizations who give to the needy. Usually money that we would "spend" on each other (Bryan and I) is put towards giving to others. We also get the kids involved. This is something I grew up doing and it's something that Bryce loves doing every year. We did this last week and Bryce was so excited to do this. Some organizations take gently used and new items and we also go through all the toys that haven't been played with and are in brand new condition and donate them. It's fun getting the kids involved, because even at 4 yrs old Bryce understands the meaning of giving and he enjoys it. Something we started last year was only giving the kids three gifts. Friends of ours do this w/ their kids and we liked the idea. They told their older kids that Jesus only gets three gifts, why should they get more than Jesus got. I liked the idea of doing three gifts, as the Savior received three gifts. Plus kids don't need that much stuff anyways. Mine at least don't. Limiting the gifts to three allows us to get some gifts they'll put to good use and actually play with. Plus they get spoiled by their Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles. It puts more joy in the season as we're not out trying to all these little gifts for them and making sure they get everything they want.

Every year we do PJs, which is something we've already done since I was little. We all get our new PJ's on Christmas Eve.

The year that Bryleigh was born we started doing a family gift centered around the Savior. We add something Christ like to our home each Christmas. One year it was a collage of Simon Dewey's pictures framed and matted, which now hangs above our mantle. Last year it was a wonderful book and CD with songs about the Savior and this year we added some pieces that go with the Willow Tree nativity pieces we have. It's fun adding Christ like gifts that we can leave have out around our home all year long.