Countdown to Christmas

The Christmas season is my absolute favorite time of the year.  As I've grown in my faith, I've come to love that we celebrate the birth of our Savior.  The other stuff- presents, Santa, time with family- is all fun too, but everything is underscored by Jesus!  Especially in 2011 and 2013 when I was pregnant, I felt a tiny bit like I could understand Mary and the joy and expectancy of pregnancy.  And of course, having babies makes me understand even more just how much Christ humbled Himself to be born a helpless babe.

And having a baby and toddler at Christmas makes everything seem new and even more exciting. We bought Noelle a car she could ride in last year and I remember how much fun Luke and I had putting it together the night before, and then watching her get excited about it when she saw it on Christmas morning.  This year I didn't get anything big for Noelle, but I'm pretty sure based on her obsession with Care Bear, that she'll be super excited about the Care Bear sheets I picked up at a Tot Swap, as well as the puzzles we got for her.

Christmas 2013

I also think traditions are really important and since we've been married we've been starting some of our own.  Eating cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, watching the movie Stardust, and spending Christmas morning with just us are a few.  For our kids, I wanted to give them a special keepsake gift on their first Christmas.  For Noelle we got her a locket engraved with her name, and for Jonah we got a pocketknife engraved with his name.  I hope that these are things they can keep, and maybe even pass down to their kids.

Another tradition I started this year was a countdown to Christmas with 25 books about the holiday.  I purchased most of the books at Goodwill and yard sales, and then wrapped all of them.  Each night starting on December 1st, Noelle picks out one of the books and opens it for us to read.  I have to say I've enjoyed it because it gives us new reading material, even if she does request that I read the book to her three times in a row before bed.

reading Christmas books with Daddy

She's liked all the books, except last night after she opened the book "Here Comes Santa Claus", she kept saying "not dis one" and wanted to open another one.  Luke gave her the option of reading it or going to bed, which she reluctantly agreed to reading the book.  And on the third time through, she had fallen fast asleep. Gotta love toddlers!

I love this girl and starting new traditions with my kids.  I can only imagine how much fun it will be when Jonah is old enough to fight over whose turn it is to open a book.  And of course coming up with fun new traditions as they get older!