At the end of November during Family Home Evening I asked my children, “Which of our Christmas holiday traditions are most important to you?” It was interesting. All THEY really cared about was decorating the house for Christmas, making treats together, and going to the Mesa Temple to see the Christmas lights.
So. Those are the things I decided to focus on this year with an EMPHASIS on Christ’s birth and the reason we actually celebrate this holiday. I didn’t mail out Christmas cards..sorry but please send me yours..(I am sorry so one sided!) I do love getting them! I didn’t over do it on presents. There are literally 5 presents under our tree total. FIVE. Two of those presents are….you guessed it, Christmas Eve PJ’s. I am not running around like a chicken with my head cut off. The nights that we are together we have enjoyed our favorite Christmas movies and a big bowl of popcorn made fresh on the stove.
Our Family Favorite Christmas Movies:
- Elf
- White Christmas…swoon I just love the dancing and costumes in that movie!
- A Christmas Story
- Polar Express
- The Grinch (Jim Carrey version)
I also have a set of Living Scripture movies and we watched the Luke 2 version one evening. We also set out our Nativity set that night and talked about each person in the nativity and their roles in that precious night our Savior was born.
A few traditions that are important to me are: (besides the ones listed)
- Each year I get my children an ornament for the tree
- We read Luke 2 Christmas Eve
- Every year I put my children’s picture in a little frame ornament, so when they take all of their ornaments I will have a picture of what they looked like each Christmas. Those and the ornaments they have made over the years are my favorite!
- I love to bake…but it seems so overwhelming!
- I love to give presents
- 1/2 box Corn Chex cereal 14 oz. box
- 1/2 box Golden Grahams cereal 12 oz. box
- 1 cup coconut
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup corn syrup