Holiday traditions are what make Christmas so much fun! We have several traditions that take place every year but most of them are focused on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. For a few more traditions that we do check out my post about our Advent calendar.
We travel to Peoria, IL to celebrate Christmas with Sam's family. We have present opening time with Sam's parents and then we all go to Grandma Betty's house for another Christmas present opening. We have yummy things to eat and then sometimes we drive through the Christmas light display that they have - which is amazing and so much fun!
We try to be back home for Christmas and Christmas Eve so we can go to the Christmas Eve service at our church. Then we go back home and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. The kids go to bed as soon as possible and then Sam and I have fun setting up all of the Christmas presents and toys and filled to the brim stockings. We don't put them out before it's time because fingers are tooooooo tempted to OPEN them! This year I have our spare bedroom nicknamed as our Christmas room so we can hide everything away from peeking eyes! It's working great!
Christmas morning Sam and I are usually the ones to wake up all excited so we go in and wake up the kids! Hee hee - I'm sure this will change someday to the kids waking US up but for now, it's fun! After mommy gets the Christmas lights and the camera all ready we all go running into the living room to see what Mommy and Daddy have given the kids. Sorry - no Santa in our house - it's just a fun story to us! We exchange gifts and then eat a breakfast casserole that was made the night before and was popped into the oven just before gifts. After we're done playing with our toys and ready for more gifts we bundle up and head "over the railroad tracks" to Grammy and Papa's house for another Christmas party! We ooh and ahh at the gifts they gave to each other and then we open more gifts between the two families. Usually we have to wait for Grandma and Grandpa Yarrington to arrive - which is ALWAYS SOOOO HARD!!! :0) But the anticipation is amazing! We read the Christmas story from Luke 2 again with them before presents and then dig in! We enjoy a yummy turkey dinner at their house and then it's off back home to crash in our little beds.
We love Christmas time, especially spending Christmas with family and focusing on the real reason of our giving - the very first Christmas gift - Jesus Christ!
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