Christmas is coming!

I love the holiday season! I love traditions. I love the music. I love the lights. I love the magic. I love the spirit. 

Trying to find the balance of all of the things I love, and not getting overwhelmed, is a challenge. I've tried to be very aware of could-be traditions, how much extra work is involved, and if I'll be willing to carry it on. Our kids are old enough to remember year to year. That is both a blessing and a trial. I'd like to share a few of our traditions. 

Our Gifts to Jesus

See the shiny red box under the tree? That box holds our gifts to Jesus. This tradition started before we had children, but we taught Sunday school to young children in our ward. A lady at church gave a lesson to the children about giving gifts to Jesus. She then gave us each a piece of paper to write our gift on, and a little stocking to put it in. We were to hang it on our tree to remind us of the gift we wanted to give to our Savior. After that first year, we had this pretty box and decided to place our gifts inside. The box is the only thing under the tree for most of the season, and is a great reminder. There are 8 years of Gifts to Jesus in our box now. 

A few weeks ago Bailee remembered this tradition and said it is one of her favorites. She couldn't wait to write down her gift. Maddox still doesn't quite understand. He wants to give Jesus a BYU football helmet. 

Petal the Elf

Petal is another tradition we've had going on 9 years. We had an elf before having an elf was the thing to do. Though her role in our holiday has evolved. This tradition started at Bailee's first Christmas. A friend of mine shared with me her families tradition of an elf bringing a family gift. They even had a name for their elf. I wanted to start the Christmas PJs tradition, and thought that was the perfect gift for our elf to bring. 

The first couple of years, that's all she brought. Then we added a movie to watch on Christmas Eve. 

Three years ago Petal showed up in miniature form with her field journal. She writes us little notes and we write back. Bailee loves to ask her questions. Answering requires some creativity. There's also a place to put a picture on each page. The idea is that we take pictures of our different activities and include Petal in the picture. It's just a fun way to document theholiday's, but I don't stress about it. 

Sometimes Petal will bring a little gift or a treat, but not often. She doesn't do crazy, naughty, messy things like some elves. This mom doesn't have the desire or the energy to keep up with that. Plus, if I wouldn't let my kids do those kinds of things, why would I let the elf?

Another tradition we picked up from a friend is Christmas pillowcases. They come out on December first (or second as was the case this year). The kids are excited to put them on and use them for the month. 

We always have some sort of countdown. We've done chains, advent calendars, and the cute little boxes from last year. This year, I wrapped up our Christmas and winter themed books. The kids will open one a day and we'll read it at bedtime. I added a new one they haven't seen, but the rest we've been collecting over the years. I put away the Christmas books and movies with the decorations, so they feel new each year. 

Because we are doing the countdown with the books and not an activity chain, we created a Bucket List of the fun things we like to do this time of year. It will be fun to choose an activity each day, rather than try and assign them ahead of time. 

 The kids loved decorating the tree tonight. It's so magical to them. I love it!

The final one I want to share tonight is The Christ Book. I found it on a blog called sew dang cute. It's a book with pictures of Christ, scripture, and songs. It takes 5-10 minutes each day, and you have a little devotional to keep you thinking if Him. My kids love this as well. 

So those are the main things we do each year. It's fun to hear other peoples traditions, and try out a few new ones. 

I'm super excited for the next month, and only pray to be well enough to enjoy it with the kiddos.