Our Christmas traditions

I can't believe it's December!! We had quite a fun filled weekend to start of the festive season. Saturday was the schools Christmas fair and the kids visited Santa's grotto...the first of many no doubt.  

  Sunday we went to a garden centre to pick up some bits and bobs and we were planning to put our tree up in the afternoon, but instead we found ourselves rearranging all the furniture in the living room, which took about two hours longer than I had hoped, so the tree will be put up today after school, the kiddies are quite excited. In the meantime let me tell you about some of our Christmas traditions .   1. Every year we buy the kids a new ornament to hang in the tree, they love this. It also means that when they are older they will have a whole load of ornaments to take to their own house and hopefully have some good memories.   2. We always put our tree up together. Even though I'm quite the perfectionist about this I do find it fun to watch how excited the kids get.    3. The day we put up the tree is the first day we watch a Christmas movie together...preferably with homemade cookies and hot chocolate.   4. Advent calendars! So much fun.   5. The kids get a special present on Christmas eve...new Christmas pyjamas and a Christmas book. This makes for an exciting bedtime, filled with snuggles and lovely stories.   6. On Christmas eve the kids leave some sparkly reindeer food out, this makes it so much easier for them to find our house...we don't want them to fly past after all!   7. Homemade mince pies and homemade truffles are a must!!   8. Each year the kids write a lovely letter to Santa, they always enjoy this and a few days later they always get a video message from Santa himself thanks to the Portable North pole. This is possibly their highlight of the run up to Christmas. If you have little ones I would definitely recommend this!   9. We always Elf ourselves on JibJab, soooo much fun! I will post it here once we make one!   10. We spend Christmas with family and loved ones and have an amazing time, make wonderful memories and be merry.   What are your Christmas traditions?