25 Days of Christmas

We made it through November in a blink of an eye with a road trip to Florida and a bout of food poisoning, and today is the first day of December! Who doesn't love the holidays? I'm excited for chilly weather and a visit from my parents and sister later this month! Grace is still too young to really understand or enjoy the magic of the holidays, but I'm going to do my best to create traditions for our little family that will help us to celebrate Christmas and grow closer.

I remember when we were little our parents would drive us around at night so we could look at the Christmas lights. My sister and I would sing songs. We were probably pretty annoying and off key, now that I think about it. (We certainly weren't beautiful carol singers by any stretch of the imagination.)

We would also help my mom make huge plates of cookies to deliver to the trash men, mailman, gate guards and the bicycle shop. Our favorites were the Hello Dollies with chocolate graham crackers and coconut. My dad always loved the lemon bars.

We hardly ever got snow where we lived in California. However, it snowed more often up country from us, so my dad would bundle us up in snowsuits and take us to go sledding and to play in the snow. Apparently we don't get much snow where we live in North Carolina, but that's ok with me. I don't know if pushing a stroller in the snow is possible, and I certainly don't enjoy driving in it! #nervousdriver

I love traditions and thinking about ways to make Grace's childhood special. I've been seeing some wonderful ideas on Pinterest for celebrating 25 days of Christmas, and a friend also sent me a list. Thanks Meg! I decided to write up a list of my own, so we could check something off of the list each day as we count down the days to Christmas. I think most of the items on the list are pretty simple and relatively inexpensive, but it will give us the chance to truly focus on the activity each day. I also didn't want to add any stress to an already stressful time of year, so if we don't get something done one day, we'll just do a couple things on another day. No big deal.

Today is December 1st, and we are planning on setting up the Christmas tree- in the office where Grace can destroy it. it will be safe.

'Tis the season for spreading good cheer! Wishing you all a wonderful month of holiday fun!