I tried to cheat! I was going to copy and paste last years Official Christmas Post but I didn’t do one last year!! lol So much for cheating! lol
The Santa Thing
We started out having our kids believe in Santa. It’s what we believed when we were little. That lasted until Kenny and Melissa were 3 and 1. We did the whole thing. Cookies and milk (that were eaten by me lol) Visiting with Santa. Pics with Santa. Even if the kids were crying, I had their picture taken. If that was their reaction to S that year, I wanted it recorded. After the 3rd Christmas we talked, it just wasn’t working. We spent so much of our time talking about Santa, going to see Santa, checking the cookies to see if he had eaten them, etc. etc. We felt it took too much of our time away from the real meaning of Christmas. So that was the end of Santa in our house. We told the kids that we were just pretending, that Santa didn’t really exist. They took it fine.I guess being so young helped. There was no big dramatic scene, or anything. Now we tell the little kids that Santa is a pretend character, like Barney, Dora, etc.
And it really bugs me when my Mother tells the kids “Your Mom and Dad is Santa”. I had to explain it to her again this year. We are not Santa, We give our children gifts to celebrate Jesus’s birth. “Well, you still play the Santa part.” No, No we don’t! sigh sigh sigh Not sure why she can’t “get” it. But we go through this every year!
Just for fun, lol, I’ll list some of our family traditions for Christmas.
*Making (and eating lol) Gingerbread houses. Although, the 1st year, and other years, including this one we’ve used graham crackers.
*Making cookies together. About 3 years ago I found a set of Nativity Scene cookie cutters. So now the kids sugar cookie making and decorating is the Nativity Scene.
*This is our 3rd year for doing Advent. We have an Advent wreath with candles. And we read an Advent story book with just the candles and the Christmas lights on. Everydays story also has a devotional, too. There’s something really special about everyone sitting around, covered by afghans, reading Gods Word by candle light.
*Every year the kids get a new ornament for the tree. Sometimes more. This year, I got them each one, so did D, and so did my Mother. When they leave home, they take their ornaments with them. But it’s not just the “ornaments” it’s the family memories that go along with them that they get to take with them into their new homes. I had a hard time giving Kenn’s to him this year. But I sucked it up and handed them over. LOL I only kept one. lol So far he hasn’t missed it. lol
*Every Christmas, we have a Birthday Cake for Jesus. The kids usually have a hand in making it. We will have it tonight Christmas Eve for our snack. I tried last year to have the cake for breakfast Christmas morning, but it couldn’t compete with…
*The homemade cinnamon rolls we have for breakfast every Christmas morning. Often the only time I make them! So no more birthday cake for breakfast!
*We always decorate our house for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving. In a prominent place, is the Nativity Scene that I made in ceramics class when Kenn and Melissa were little like 2 and under 1. I posted a pic of it last week. I’ll post a pic of my other favorite Christmas decoration later.
*The year before Calen was diagnosed with leukemia, we made those shoeboxes full of stuff for kids in (mostly, I think ) other countries. Samatian’s Purse, that’s the name of the organization. We didn’t do it while Calen was on treatment. Just trying to get ourselves through. We remembered this year, like 3 days before we were to have them to the drop off center. But we are going to go back to doing that. I should put in on the calendar for next October, so I’ll remember. lol
*One year we went Christmas Carolling with the homeschool group at the nursing home. Since we’re not very good singers, lol, we decided that we wouldn’t torture the residents with our singing anymore. So we’re on the lookout for some service project that doesn’t involve singing. lol
*We always open presents on Christmas Morning. None of that opening one on Christmas Eve for Dad. lol We always opened one on Christmas Eve in my family, but D’s family didn’t. O well. When there’s not a lot of presents under the tree, it works out better to save them all for Christmas morning.
Ok, I think that’s about it. Although it does feel like I’m forgetting something. lol
I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!!!!!
