This Is What It Is All About

The shopping, the busyness, the baking, the caroling, the traditions....it is all part of it, but really this picture makes me want to slow down and cherish the meaning of Christmas. It is my goal this year to soak in as much Christmas as possible this year. My children are still young enough to really enjoy all of the traditions (and we have so many) of this time of year! So we decided to add a few new traditions. Like reading a Christmas story every night before bed. Believe it or not I have 16 Christmas books (a couple of them are very long so they take up two nights) and we will end with The Night Before Christmas of course! We are also trying to watch as many Christmas movies as we can...last night we snuggled up for the Alister Sims version (old version) of A Christmas Carol. So here are just a few more things we have done so far and it is only December 5th today!

Here we are making a Christmas chain to count down the days until December 25th! Each day a different person gets to rip the chain and also push the button on our musical advent calendar.

The finished product!

Decorating the Christmas tree is laden with tradition. Each and every one of our ornaments have a story to tell. My husband had a new ornament every year as a child so we continue the tradition and tell the stories of each one every year. It is a great way to pass the memories down from generation to generation.

Here we are at our homeschool Christmas party. The children were able to make their own cookies and decorate them. Twenty seven children play games, singing songs and learning to sign "Silent Night"....what a sweet way to start off the month.

Then we had our annual tree trimming at the New Smyrna Beach Sheriff's office. What a fun time for the kids. They look forward to this every year! This year one of the officers took pictures of them with a Polaroid camera...they thought it was magic! Remember Polaroids!

I pray you enjoy your traditions and remember the humble beginning of our Savior's birth!