Friday Favorites {Christmas Traditions}

I love Christmas traditions, especially the ones that include spending time with my family and reinforcing the real Reason for the Season.  These are some of our family's favorites from Christmases past.

Matching Christmas Pajamas

 

For the last two years, I have gotten matching Christmas pj's for my kiddos, and I continued the tradition this year.  Sometimes I wrap them up and give them as a gift, sometimes I just pull them out and surprise them with the jammies the night I want them to wear them.  We always wear them right after Thanksgiving up until Christmas when we wear them Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning.  I also take their pictures in the jammies in front of the tree to hang on my kitchen tree in an ornament frame.

Jesse Tree

The Jesse Tree is our daily advent activity.  You can find the details about it here.  We read a Bible verse and hang a new ornament that represents that verse every night from December 1 until Christmas Day. The kids love taking turns hanging the ornament and learning about how all of Scripture points to Jesus.

Yearly Keepsake Ornaments

I know I am not the only mama who does this, but I get my kids an ornament every year that represents something special for them that year.  For instance, the top picture is B's ornament from last year because he went to Disney World for the first time and completed his first season of t-ball.  The second picture shows both kids' ornaments from their second Christmas--B got the plane because he rode in an air plane for the first time and C got the bear because that was the year her daddy started calling her "Bear" or "Baby Bear" as I sometimes refer to her.  It's a sweet tradition, and I look forward to picking their new ornament each year.

Birthday Party for Jesus

Since the real reason we celebrate Christmas is the birth of Jesus after all, we like to have a birthday party for him.  I make a cookie cake (which we can leave a piece of for Santa later) and we have pizza.  It's casual and fun--just like a good birthday party.  We sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and just have a good time celebrating the birth of our Savior.  The kids loved the first one we did and asked for another one last year as well.  I look forward to doing it this year.

Mary and Joseph

I mentioned our Elf on the Shelf alternative last Friday, but it is worth mentioning again.  Mary and Joseph journey to Bethlehem throughout our house from shortly after Thanksgiving until Christmas morning when they can be found in the stable with baby Jesus in the manger.  You can read more about the how and why of this tradition here.

 So there you have it--my five favorite Christmas traditions.  What are your family's holiday traditions?