Traditions - or skip this unless you are really bored

We have several Christmas traditions in our family. So today I thought I would share them with you.

We do not look at Christmas lights until Christmas Eve. So on Christmas Eve, we piled into the Durango and drove around to look at lights. One neighborhood is built around a lake, and they set up Christmas trees in the lake, so we make a point of going there. Then we just choose a few others at random. One thing we noticed this year is that a lot of people did not do lights, ourselves included. I really did try to get out there and set them up, I just didn't. What was it about this year? Anyway, we still enjoyed ourselves, it was just a bit different.

After we look at lights we come home and eat. Our tradition is to eat a meal of appetizers/finger foods. For the kids, it's taquitos and mini-corn dogs, and for the grown ups it's usually spinach/artichoke dip and shrimp. We changed it up this year. We had crabcakes and bacon wrapped steak. We also had a vegetable tray, but I'm pretty sure the ranch dip negated any value the vegetables offered.

After dinner the kids open one present. For T. Willy it was a Thomas train, his first and just the start of his "very Thomas Christmas." He was delighted. MK opened a DVD so that she could watch it while she was trying to sleep.

















We then put the cookies and milk out for Santa, with celery for the reindeer. We use the same plate and mug every year. This was a big thing this year. MK really took the lead in a lot of things for T. Willy. This is the first year he really "got" a lot of it, and she loved helping him. We read the Christmas story from Luke 2, because we don't want them to lose sight of the real meaning of Christmas, then off to bed.














We eat the same thing for our Christmas breakfast, but this year we added hashbrown casserole. It's nice that the Big Man works in a restaurant and is able to purchase things like that. We also had mac and cheese with our ham, all from his restaurant!!!

One tradition started when the Big Man and I lived in Virginia and were still in college. We have never lived near our parents and brothers, so we often have quiet Christmases. After the presents are opened, there isn't a lot to do. So we head to the movies. If you don't do that, you would be amazed at how many people do! The theater was packed! We are quite thankful for the ability to buy tickets online. However, we haven't done that since 2003, because T. Willy wasn't able to sit through a movie. And this year he was! It was so much fun!

Our last tradition is a trip to Delaware for the kids and me. We are flying out tomorrow, so there is much to do today. We have a stop in Cincinnati on the way up, instead of Atlanta. We won't really see the city, but MK is excited to go to a new state.

So there are our Christmas traditions. I will include some pictures of yesterday. MK loves music in a way I never did. She loves being in the band at school, she listens to music all of the time, and her heart's desire this year was for a bass guitar. She was thrilled to get it, so here is a picture of it. T. Willy also got a wagon, which he immediately climbed into.