Holiday Traditions

Every year, my Gran purchased ornaments for each grandkid. She sent mine to me when I grew up and had a family of my own. Looking at all the old ornaments was so much fun that I decided to keep the tradition going with my kiddos.

Every year around this time the kids get to pick an ornament from Target or somewhere. This year we decided to do something a little more meaningful. We went to The Mad Potter where the kids got to choose an ornament and paint it. That was my first Mad Potter experience and it rocked. We will definitely be going back, most likely without an uber tired two year old (talk about a bull in a china shop).


In addition to the special ornaments, we typically make quite a few. This year we're working on lots of felt trees. The idea came from these cute, but ridiculously overpriced garlands.


We also love advent calendars. The kids have been getting the Playmobil advent calendars for the last fiveish years. This year we grabbed the Pirate version, which contains many, many small parts that hopefully don't find their way into Luke's grubby little hands. And now that I think about it, I'm not sure what relevance pirates have to Christmas, but I'm not going to spend much time worrying about it.

I happen to fancy the Starbucks version. Last year I bought all the remaining advent calendars on super clearance and since it wouldn't be good for those yummy chocolates to sit for an entire year, we ate them. In about an hour. This year my advent calendar is full of Dove chocolates.

What traditions do you guys have?