Christmas Traditions D-fam Style

I swear Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year because of all the great family traditions. We have so many and we keep adding on! Like some of you have mentioned when J and I first got married we traveled (and still do) a lot. And that was one of our biggest conversation topics while on the road...family traditions. We pulled a lot of traditions from what we both had done as kids (after all, isn't that where we get a majority of our traditions...from our predecessors?) So here are some things we do:

Each year each member of our family gets a new Christmas tree ornament. It is uaually specific to something significant that year (ie, a family trip, a favorite character, etc.) This has been a tradition since my parents were married. After each child got married they got to take all their ornaments with them and I decided to keep that tradition in our family.

Since we have families in 2 different states, we do the every other year thing. On the years we travel to Arizona our Christmas usually gets bumped up a day. We wake up early Christmas Eve morning and open presents...then after breakfast we jump in the car for a 12 hour road trip.

We get new pajamas every year that we are given the night before Christmas to sleep in. I try hard to make them match, but it is really hard to match adult and baby pajamas! So we do our best.

On my side of the family, my mom started a tradition that along with each gift we write a note to each family member following this starter "If it were in my power, my gift to you would be..." It can get really funny and very thoughtful.

We make it a point to get to the temple to see the Christmas lights each year. It's such a great atmosphere walking on temple grounds, hearing the Christmas story, and feeling the wonderful spirit that is there! (The last 2 years it has been on T-Rex's birthday!!)

These are only a few of so many I could list!

I realize that as the kids get older and more in number things have to change, bend, stretch...and I am flexible. But it is exciting to have a family of my own to have our own traditions that they can remember from their childhood and even take to their new families.

Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy New Year!!