Christmas Traditions

Our little family is still pretty new(just over three years), so we have a lot of opportunities to create our own holiday traditions.  Since our kids are also very young, we haven't done a lot of kid-friendly stuff in the past.  This year I got the Little People nativity set to keep little hands off the ornaments and other nativity sets.

 So far, it's been a big hit.  The angel sits on top of a button that plays "Away in a Manger" and lights the star up.  My daughter likes to switch the people up, and I have found the sheep on top of the stable more than once.  My grandma got us a fancy nativity set this year.  I keep it on top of the piano to keep it safe.

Christmas traditions that we already have are:

1. 
   Every year, we get a new Christmas storybook.  Last year we got Merry Christmas, Curious George, and this year we got How the Grinch Stole Christmas. 
2. On Christmas Eve, we go to my in-laws' house for dinner, presents, and a Christmas program with songs and the Christmas story.
3. On Christmas morning, we open our presents as a family, then we head to my parents' house for another gift exchange and lunch.
4. 
   The kids get new pajamas to wear to bed on Christmas Eve.  We got matching snowman jammies from a friend this year.  I am considering adding me and my husband to the pajama party next year.
5. 
   We make Icelandic pancakes(like crepes, but thinner) either for Christmas Eve or Christmas.  We fill them with cinnamon sugar, whipped cream and fruit, and nutella.  This is a carry-over tradition from my family, since my dad spent two years in Iceland as a young man.  Last year, we got our own Icelandic pancake pan for Christmas from my parents.  We are thinking of making these for my husband's family on Christmas Eve this year.

As our kids get older, I look forward to starting new traditions with them.  Some things I would like to do with them are:

• Make and decorate Christmas sugar cookies.  (This already happens almost every year anyway.)
• Make Christmas treats to give to our neighbors.  (This also happens almost every year).
• Go to Temple Square or Willard Bay to see the Christmas lights.
• Do some act of service for someone in our neighborhood.
• Light Christmas candles on Christmas Eve and watch them burn down until bedtime.
• Do a Christmas advent calendar.

I'm sure there are other things that I will be adding to the list over the years.  I look forward to when our kids get excited for holidays and can help me create our own family traditions.

Winter Wreath Chandelier

I mentioned wanting to do this project a few weeks ago, if anyone remembers, but I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out.  I think I'll call this one a success.  It's not huge, but it looks really great in my dining area.

 All I had to do was unwrap the ribbon and garland from my fall wreath and I had a great base for my faux chandelier.

 I grabbed the snowflake ornaments, silver tinsel garland, and glittery ribbon in the holiday section of Walmart.  All I had to do was wrap the tinsel, tie the snowflakes on, and string it up by the ribbon.  I installed a hook above the dining area (all by myself; go me!) and hung it above the table.

The best part is that I can still reuse the wreath again if I want to take it all apart.  I was also able to use the rest of the tinsel garland for the tree, so now we have a nice silver glitter theme going on.

I'd like to start some fun holiday traditions for our family, so I'll be showcasing some we already have and some I'd like to start.  Leave a comment or email me if you have any fun traditions you'd like to share.

 

Pennant Banner

The nursery wall decor is finally complete!  I made the pennant banner with our baby's name a couple of weeks ago, and I just barely got around to hanging it today.  I also hung four 8"x10" photos that we took and had printed.  You can see a couple of them in the photo above and in the last photo. 

For the pennants, I used fabric remnants from her quilt and car seat canopy.  Each piece was ironed onto fusible interfacing for sturdiness, both visual and physical.  I used heat-transfer vinyl with flocking for the letters.  It was my first experience using it, and it was super easy to cut the letters on my Silhouette and iron them onto the fabric.  The edges were trimmed with pinking shears, then all the pieces were sewn onto a long piece of brown satin ribbon.  I really love how it turned out, and it fills in that wall very nicely.

My mom found some flowers for the awesome yellow vase that I got at IKEA.  I finally feel like the little details are finished!

I've finished and hung a winter wreath chandelier above our dining area that I'll be sharing later in the week.



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