Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, if not my favorite. There is a sort of magic that comes with this particular holiday that is infectious. I am really big on traditions; I think they help capture the Christmas magic. I liken Christmas to a wedding; you spend so much money and time preparing all for one day in the end that goes by really fast. It is for that reason we celebrate this holiday as long as possible starting the day after Thanksgiving.
Every year our ward does a Christmas Party and they have the Primary children participate in a program. This was the first year Aiden was old enough to participate and I absolutely loved watching him sing!! (I tired to load video but it was too big)
One of the first activities we did as a part of our Christmas festivities was making gingerbread houses. Any one that knows me knows that I have a tendency to be cheap or frugal. So instead of buying a kit I bought graham crackers, candy and some squeeze frosting. All and all it wasn’t too bad however we did have a challenge keeping the structures together as we waited for the frosting to dry. Michael kept a pretty good spirit about it even though he had to deal with the frustration of getting the structures to stick!
Since we have young kids it doesn’t make sense to invest in expensive Christmas tree decorations so this year we made some of our own. My siblings and I did this as kids more because we were poor but I had very fond memories of doing this. The ornaments are made from dough with equal parts flour, salt and a little water. You cut out the shapes you like put on a cookie sheet, make a whole to hang them with and slow bake them at 350 degrees – cooking time takes 1-2 hours.
For our neighbors every year we make Christmas candies and this year was no different. We went crazy in the kitchen baking caramel, English toffee, peanut brittle, and chocolate covered pretzels.
I have wanted to make our own stockings for the last couple years but this was the first year I felt Aiden was old enough to appreciate a stocking – we opted not to do them in prior years. We picked out some darling fabric and my AMAZING husband put them together! They turned out absolutely darling and no one could believe they were home made.
A new tradition Michael and I started this year was to purchase one new ornament together. We picked out a cute Santa with a bow on a soft tail Harley-Davidson. That is the motorcycle we would like to buy next.
On Christmas eve we had the family over for dinner. Grandma read a Christmas story and we tucked the kids into bed. Aiden was so excited and said he was going to stay awake so he could see Santa!
In the morning Aiden came running into our room exclaimed “Mom! Santa Came!!” he went running back into the living room and came running back and said “I got new gloves!” which were tucked in his stocking.
After opening presents we made our traditional Christmas breakfast then settled in on the couch to watch my favorite Christmas movie of all time “A Christmas Story!” We had a wonderful Christmas and are so grateful for the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our dear Lord and Savior.
1 comment:
Those boy's of yours are so darned cute! I loved your homemade Christmas decorations :D And my solution for the ginger bread houses is Hot glue it then put on the frosting. No one eats the house part of it anyway, at least we don't.
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