Tradition, Tradition (sung in the style of "Fiddler on the Roof")!!!

So one thing I can say about my family is that we love us a tradition, especially when it comes to the holidays! My mom always joked around Christmas that she was not going to do anything new because if she did it once, she would be doing it year after year. Here are some of of my family traditions growing up that still live on: putting up the Christmas tree at my parents house the Sunday after Thanksgiving (while listening to Kenny/Dolly Christmas CD), my dad reading the Christmas story out of the Bible and "The Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve, eating country ham on Christmas morning, eating popcorn out of the same wooden bowl (I know this is one thing that my brother and I will fight over!), mom making country ham biscuits for the beach trip and putting them in the same green container year after year, leaving super early for vacations even though the room will not be ready when we get there (this one drives Ceddy crazy!), going Christmas shopping with mymom super early on "Black Friday" (Ceddy goes with us now too which is fun), and the list goes on and on. We thrive on tradition and do many things "just because" we have done it that way for years. I am instilling some traditions of my own with my kiddos.

Growing up, my grandfather made a beautiful nativity stable for me. Each year, I received a piece of this nativity from my parents. This is something I treasure dearly and will pass on to Elizabeth one day:

Gabriel received a Fontan*ini shepherd "Gabriel" from Aunt Janie on his 1st Christmas in 2008. We decided to add to that collection each year, so that he will have a complete nativity of his own when he grows up! 2009 he got Mary/Josesph/Jesus and 2010 the 3 kings. This year he is getting one of the animals. This is a HUGE collection and even has villagers which I do not plan on getting. I just love this nativity set. It is SO detailed and looks so fragile, but it is actually made out of some material that is unbreakable! Perfect for kiddos who want to play with it. I looked around this year and decided to go with the same set for Elizabeth, she is getting Mary/Joseph/Jesus this year, here is a picture of it.

Another tradition involves books. Each year on Chrismtas Eve, the kids receive a Christmas book from us, a nice hard back one. I write a note in it about things that have happened over the course of the year, their development, etc. All our Christmas books are boxed away after Christmas, then right after Thanksgiving, we bring them out again for reading, so fun! This year, they are both getting "The Night Before Christmas" that is recordable, so that we can record ourselves reading it with them! These recordable books can be pricy at H@llmark, but I found theirs at ABC Distr@buting online for 12.95, much cheaper than I have seen anywhere else. I order from them all the time and have been very impressed with their stuff!

We do not have a set "day" that we put our tree up yet, but in the past it has usually been sometime before Thanksgiving. I am thinking that maybe our "day" should be the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I have added more Thanksgiving/fall decorations and really want to have them up through Thanksgiving and it looks kind of funny to have the tree up with all those pumpkins/turkeys/etc. So maybe our "day" to put the tree up with be the Saturday after Thanksgving from now on...if I can make it that long...writing this blog has me in the Christmas spirit, you know I start listening to my Christmas music the day after Halloween :)