Christmas Traditions

I am sure most of us have traditions we normally do for Christmas. We usually put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving. For our Christmas cards we put in the picture of the kids with Santa, or just use the picture as a card. Our favorite place to go to get pictures with Santa is Bass Pro. The pictures are free, the Santa is amazing so friendly and great with the kids, and they always have fun activities to do.

One of our favorite things to do is take one night, drive around and look at all the lights. Some are lightly decorated and beautiful and others are very extravagant It reminds me of when I was younger and the one year we went to Florida for Christmas. We had family there that we went to visit and with the nicer weather they could really decorate. There was one street where all the houses were majorly decorated. They had lights, blow-ups, villages, some even had the garages and backyards decorated where you could walk through and look. It was truly amazing. I have been told they don't decorate like they used to, which I know seems to be true here in Ohio as well. Sadly we don't have a lot of yard to go crazy decorating, but we do have decorations and our tree.

Now for Christmas Eve we normally go to my one grandma on my dads side and celebrate with them. We also sometimes go to hubby's grandparents house. With all the craziness we try to squeeze in a church service as well. Then we gotta get home and get the kids in bed so that I can finish wrapping everything and get it all under the tree and fill the stockings. This year I was smart and each kid has their own character wrapping paper so I am not looking at each gift and name trying to figure out who's is who's. I like to separate each kids gifts into their own piles under and around the tree.

Now on Christmas morning we wake up, everyone gets showers and stuff first. The we open stockings first and then open all the gifts. Once everything is opened, they normally have a little time to check out everything they just got. After a few we head to my grandma's on my moms side to celebrate with them. We open all the gifts which there is usually a TON and we have a delicious Christmas dinner.

I love getting to spend so much time with family and love seeing the smiles on my kids faces. This really is the best time of the year. What traditions do you and your family have? Are there any you don't do that you wish you did or would like to start?