Oh how we love Christmas at the Peterson's! A fun time of year full of family fun and lots and lots of baking :). We have many traditions that include visiting the Christmas Tree farm the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas caroling, the 12 days of Christmas with a family, reading the Christmas story in the scriptures before opening gifts, driving to look at Christmas lights, lots of baking, our Christmas Carol book advent calendar, and more.
The hubby and I decided before we even had any children we wanted this time of year to be about celebrating family and the true meaning of Chrstmas...so Santa only brings our children 3 gifts, symbolic of the 3 gifts the wise men brought. Oh don't go feeling sorry for them just yet, between g-parents, stockings, and other family members, they do just fine. But we really don't want this season to be about gifts for them. We try hard to fill the time with special family moments so when they look back, they remember it as a special time with family and bringing the spirit of Christmas to others. I guess we're trying to grow memories instead of entitled children...we hope :) This season was a blast again and we are grateful for those who shared in this time with us. Merry Christmas from the Petersons!
At the Christmas Tree Farm
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| Taking a hayride with Daddy at the Tree Farm |
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| And there she is...our tree |
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| Seeing Santa at the Children's Museum |
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| Our snow Penguin daddy and Ethan built |
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| Baking treats to take to daddy and his coworkers at work since they work so hard during this season |
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| Helping daddy bake spritz cookies. Just some of the goodies we give out to the families we Christmas Carol to. |
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| Grinch Night! The book, then the original movie, then our "grinch" icecream...really just green sherbert :) |
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| Rudolph night...Rudolph pancakes for dinner then the movie. |
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| Christmas Carolling! A couple of my favorite carolers :) |
For some reason, this year was extra special caroling to us. Not only were our children really into it, but the families were sooo grateful! I'm not sure if we've felt that in years past. So while we may have brought Christmas cheer to them, and a plate of goodies, their profuse thank you's really brought the spirit to us! So THANK YOU caroling families!!!
Christmas Eve Traditions
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| Baking shortbread sandwich cookies for Santa |
Now, time to make our Carmel Pecan Sticky Buns so they're ready to bake Christmas morning.
Christmas Day
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| Oh our delicious sticky buns...we look forward to these each year...the best part of Christmas! |
Mimi and Gpa Leroy Came to visit and brought more presents!
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| This pretty much sums it up...Ethan doing legos ALL DAY and Claire putting on her new chapstick all day. |
Love reading about all of your traditions! Your kids will remember them and not let you forget them! :) We've been doing the three gifts at Christmas since Grace was small and we love it. Now as they are all getting older it is even better! It really helps simplify Christmas for me as the main gift buyer too! We do one surprise, one meaningful and one useful present. No worries as to who has more presents (because I hear that kids do count them!).
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas Petersons! We missed caroling with you!
Looks like you had a great month! Now you can use all of January and February to relax :)
ReplyDeleteYou really made our night when you came to carol. We loved it, but I have to confess I'm not sure what we loved more the caroling or the treats you brought. They were all SOOO good! Thanks again
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