Christmas Traditions

I thought you all might be interested in some of our 

Christmas traditions...

... Setting out nativities (we have about 100)...

... Baking (there is always something delicious to eat!)...

... Decorating the tree (each child gets a new ornament every year, so our tree is full and packed with memories.)... 

... Adding handprints to the tree skirt (Every year all the kids add their handprints and it gives us a really awesome record for how we all have changed that year; we're on our second tree skirt)...

... The growing tree (James and David hit record heights this year.  For those of you who don't know what a growing tree is, it is a tree that we made out of felt.  Each year, each child get a felt ornament that has their height on it for that year that we then glue to the tree.  As you can imagine, at this point the tree is very full.  Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of the tree to share.)...

... Last but not least, we read the story of Jesus' birth throughout December.  This year we started reading through some of the prophesies about Jesus from the Old Testament.

We round out the season with lots of crafts (see previous post) and gifts for friends and relatives.  Trips to the zoo, holiday shows, family puzzles and lots of parties and shared meals always work their way into December as well, so it is a fun and busy time!