December Daily : Days 18 + 19 + 20 + more traditions

When I was little my sisters and I would get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. Now that I'm married and have moved 15 hours from 'home', my husband and I do our Christmas together a week before since we are always visiting family the week of Christmas. One tradition my husband and I do that I did as a child is drive around and look at the beautiful Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.

Oops! I got carried away and forgot to post my holiday traditions! Christmas Eve is spent with my family first (pretty quiet there) and then we go to my in-laws' house for a festive and crazy get together. On X-mas morning, we get up early and have a really special gourmet breakfast with Spanish omelettes, pate, empanadas, and other international goodies. Then we get to open our presents. After every one of them is passed out, we start to open them all at once. We don't have kids yet, but I hope to add to these traditions when we have our little ones!

I have two things to share:
1. If you like Jon Krakauer, you should check out the Iconoclast series on the Sundance Channel (if your cable company provides it). I didn't really know who he was before I saw this show and the episode I watched featured Jon and Sean Penn - loved it!
2. I meant to share this during an earlier post when you asked for holiday traditions. My family does two things that are very unique and that I love. The first is that we have a manger with hay around it set up in the living room (my dad made it when I was young and now I have it to share with my family). Every day when someone in the family does something good or "Christ-like" he/she gets to add a small handful of hay to the manger. The idea is to be able to fill the manger with hay before Christmas so that the baby Jesus will have a warm and cozy place to be born.
The second unique tradition that my family has is that Santa Claus doesn't fill our stockings. Our stockings are filled by the three kings on the Epiphany (the 12th day of Christmas). When the three kings finally arrive to see the new baby, they bring gifts with them. And on the day that we celebrate their arrival, so we get gifts too.
I love both of these traditions and I think they are somewhat unique to my family. So I thought I'd share in case someone else would like to incorporate them into their celebrations too.

AEbleskivers and monkey bread Christmas morning after the kids open their presents. I use my grandmothers AEbleskivers pan. Merry Christmas Edwards family.

The thing that really makes it Christmas for me is to put cookies out for Santa, on a special plate that a friend of my mother's made for her the year I was born. Matty's favorite tradition is to sprinkle oatmeal with glitter mixed in, on the front lawn, to help Santa's reindeer find our house! This year I'm hoping Sofie can do it too, without eating the oatmeal and glitter :)
After we get the kids to bed, we watch "It's A Wonderful Life", and finish wrapping gifts
I just can't wait!!

I would like to add something new for us, too, but I'm not sure what. This is what we do already:
On Christmas Even we all open our wrapped PJs and put them on after our baths. We watch a Christmas movie, eat pizza, bake sugar cookies, and read the Christmas story (from the Bible), the Polar Express & 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. We put cookies & milk out for Santa & carrots out for the reindeer.
Christmas morning we will have breakfast (I'm hoping to find a good make-ahead casserole) and open gifts. Then we head out to visit & have a big Christmas lunch with my family. We STAY in our Christmas PJs ALL day! We're comfy, cozy and so relaxed. :)

Your card is just amazing! I enjoy reading your blog so much!

Every Christmas Eve we would have tacos for dinner. Then my dad would put on his Santa suit (it's beautiful like Miracle on 34th Street) and we'd drive around to our friends (or as we got older younger children's) houses and my dad would tell them to go to bed so he could come back with presents (he always checked with the parents ahead of time of course). Then we'd go home and watch A Christmas Story (with the "major award" *S*). Christmas morning my bother, sister and I would always wake up around 4am and have our stockings sitting at the end of our beds. We'd wake each other up and go through them together and then sneak down to check out what Santa had left us in front of the tree. My parents definitely always made Christmas magical for us!!

We live in Central Queensland, Australia. On Christmas morning our tradition is to go down the beach first thing early (say 6.30 am) for a swim. If DH is home early from work on Christmas eve we will also go for a swim (But this year the weather is not looking good for either - windy and overcast) This is always the best! Mid morning we ring all the relies (or they ring), because they are so far away. And we tell them how tough life is, because we have already been for a swim!
After lunch we will also email around photos from our Xmas morning.
This year I would also like to take a photo of the lights on our house at dusk (maybe with us in it). We talk about it every year, but never seem to get around to it.
Really loving your Daily December album now. You have sold me on the clear pages. I am going to try using StazOn ink on transparencies.
Have a lovely Xmas

Loving your album! It's looking so good. The things that really make Christmas for me are our tradition of prawns & oysters for breakfast, listening to Christmas music while we open presents, having a bbq lunch with all the family & going swimming in the afternoon. Last year we had our first ever beach Christmas which was a lot of fun. Summery Christmases are so much fun, but I would love to have a white Christmas one year.

Love your album. As usual. :) There's never a page that I am not inspired by. Great Christmas picture, by the way. I'm trying to keep up as well. I am behind but that's okay. I'll get caught up. :) It's been too much fun. Some pages I get a little carried away but I'm having fun so I don't really care.
http://jennifermartinovici.typepad.com
I'm loving the Xmas Season this year. It seems to have snuck up on me. It's amazing because I say that every year. :)

Love your album. As usual. :) There's never a page that I am not inspired by. Great Christmas picture, by the way. I'm trying to keep up as well. I am behind but that's okay. I'll get caught up. :) It's been too much fun. Some pages I get a little carried away but I'm having fun so I don't really care.
http://jennifermartinovici.typepad.com
I'm loving the Xmas Season this year. It seems to have snuck up on me. It's amazing because I say that every year. :)

it was so much fun reading every bodies traditions! my daughter is 17 this year and very busy with school and her job so i guess we won't do most of our traditions from when she was little (and that makes me sad) but with growing up comes a new blessing. usually we wake up and open presents and then i hurry around and clean up and start dinner cause my parents arrive around 1:00 but now our daughter has a boyfriend and is going to his family's house for lunch and then back home for supper which means i can relax all morning not even start cooking until hours later then normal! a much more peaceful Christmas! i am really looking forward to that part! julie

TFS that beautiful creative but 'quiet' album; love every page of it! Don't get me wrong but when I read "3ofUS right now" I expect there's more to come... is it? ; )
Well, Dutch Christmasses doesn't have many traditions yet besides visit church and have brunch or diner with the whole family. That makes it so weird we're having 2 Christmas days. At ours we take it very very easy in the morning... pj breakfast... pj coffee.... and then get dressed to cook till the guests are coming (both 25 & 26 december)... Wish you and your famiy lovely warm holidays!

Lots of holiday traditions in the Conyers' household. Christmas Eve is a very casual time to slow down, relax and just simply enjoy the moments with family. We have a living room picnic by candlelight (many many candles which is my favorite part). We sit on the floor and enjoy an all appetizer-type menu followed by dessert. We open one gift and end the evening with one person reading Twas the Night Before Christmas. For the past few years it has been my son who reads. He loves that part :) The evening is about being together!
Happy holidays to you and your family.

I love the candles and the pic of the three of you right now. I love all of your page entries and you (and Simon and Chris) will treasure this book for years to come.
I need to kick myself and get going with some things! Thanks for the inspiration!
Paula

My family is all about the food :) On Christmas Eve, when we have dinner with our neighbors, my mom always made something red and something green as part of the meal. A few years we had chicken with two sauces - a pesto and a tomato; red and green! We also have eggs benedict for breakfast with my parents on Christmas day. Another tradition is piling the wrapping paper up on the dogs and taking a picture. We also get together with family on Christmas night and have desserts and play games. Merry Christmas, Ali!

Your book is just mindblowing...I love how things look great from every album despite the clear see through feature...i have tried it and things seem to be not falling in place as well as yours do...
Thank you for being oh so inspiring. Can't wait to keep playing and get the knack for it. if you have any tips on placement ease, please share!
Thank you and Merry Christmas

A tradition that started when my youngest (now almost 13) was about 6 mths old, and would only take a nap in a moving car is that we take an evening as close to C.mas Eve as we can manage, and we drive around looking at the lights and decorations in nearby neighborhoods. We do this for about an hour or so, and then we stop at Starbucks for a special drink and dessert. That's were we're heading tonight. I love seeing how people do up their homes.

Hey Al! Been thinking of you lately!
Our Christmas traditions are rarely strayed from. Christmas Eve we go to Jeff's parents house to celebrate. We eat chili for dinner, watch A Christmas Carol and open presents. Once we leave, we drive by the same house every year because they have a life size mechanical Santa in the window every year and we tell the kids we need to hurry because he is almost to our house. Oldest son figured this one out a few years ago and so he just plays along. We then get home to get the kids in bed so Santa can come. Christmas day, once coffee is made:), the kids come downstairs and we open presents as a family. Later in the day, my brother and his family come over and we have a huge meal of prime rib and all the stuff that goes with it.
It's pretty much the same every year. This year, I bought everyone new pj's to open on Christmas Eve. I'm thinking about those morning photos!:)
Dawn