Continued...

Buffet lunch- We have always been home on Christmas, which means Josh is always preparing a big meal on Christmas. To keep breakfast and lunch easy, we do cinnamon and orange rolls for breakfast (and the only other time we do that is on Thanksgiving) and we do a “buffet” lunch, where we put out crackers, cheeses, meats, chips, dip, veggies, fruit, etc. We let the kids make their own plates and eat what they want, and they LOVE this. (And we love the little to no prep and the easy clean up).

Christmas Eve games- This is an awesome tradition that my aunt started. We moved from NY out here to WY seven years ago, which created a lot of “shipping” for my family at Christmas. One of the ways my aunt has made her gifts special, and given us something really fun to do as a family, is her “Christmas Eve games”. Instead of just having the kids open the presents from her, she has some sort of game involved.

One year there were clues on the presents as to who they belonged to, and everyone had to guess whose gift it was. She has also done lots of family gifts coordinated with a game of “musical chairs”, with the person who is “out” each round getting to open the next family gift, and the last person standing getting to open a bonus family gift. This year I’ve been told that there is a combo of musical chairs and a treasure hunt…I am sure it will be a blast.

We play our Christmas Eve games after we open the gifts from the kids, and then we read our scriptures of the nativity story and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. It makes for a very fun and special Christmas Eve routine.

Our Christmas train- My Dad sent out the Christmas train quite a few years ago. It is not a big detailed set…it is just a single, oval track, with a large, four-car train on it. The train is all decked out in Christmas decorations and has a Santa on it that waves. It also has a box you can hold to “drive” the train…you can make it go forwards, backwards, stop, go faster or slower and make several different noises, including a “Ho! Ho! Ho!”

Every year I think that the older kids will have outgrown it, but Mercy and Nate have both asked for turns driving the train this year. They all love it, and even when it isn’t their turn, the kids will lie around the Christmas tree and watch it go by.

There are just a few of the things we do each year. There are lots of other little things that make our Christmas "ours". This year we are celebrating our multicultural family and others and we are going to talk about Christmas in Ethiopia, Vietnam and Korea, and talk some about Hanukah and Kwanza. Our two first graders, Shane and Ben, made books in school about “Christmas Around the World”, and we will talk about how Christmas is celebrated in other countries too.

Merry Christmas!