Here are a few traditions, old and new.
Tree: We usually cut down a tree at one of the tree farms around here: it's cheaper, and you have more of a sense that this tree was actually growing somewhere before you decided to decorate your house with it. We were getting sick on and off, so we decided to send the girls and daddy out to buy a tree. They got a nice small one (so they could decorate more of it, they said). My mom used to buy a new ornament for each of the kids when we were growing up and then gave them to us when we got our own houses. We used those as well as a few the kids made and some I have gotten for them. We don't have a garland, but we have some fancy red and gold ribbon. We don't have a tree topper---nothing can hold a candle to the fiber-optic star my family had when we were growing up, in my opinion. This year we cut stars out of yellow tag board and let the girls decorate them with glitter glue. It is very festive!
Gingerbread house: So we didn't use real gingerbread, and we didn't use royal icing. We did manage to have an allergy free sugar cookie house (from the Kids with Food Allergies newsletter) with icing from a tub (no egg or butter, just partially hydrogenated oil and sugar =) and skittles, smarties, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, gummi bears, and so on. There were a few fish oil balls mixed in with the skittles (don't ask me why) so we used those too. In my family, we used to eat one piece of candy each day after new years. This year we ate the whole thing (including much of the house) in the two days after Christmas: I think we had a smaller house than I did growing up.
Stockings: We have decided not to do Santa whole-heartedly, so we just have a few presents in stockings for Christmas morning. The presents always include socks and candy. This year we told Eleanor that it is the kids' job to fill the parents' stockings, so I gave a friend $20 and sent them loose in Target. Eleanor did a good job of picking out things we like. For example, Daddy had to have some coffee (Folger's best!), Mama got some bath gel and a notebook. I think she had fun being Santa.
Presents: We used the girls' old paintings from school for wrapping paper this year. I still have many many many paintings left, but I thought this was a good use of the ones I couldn't keep. Luke stole the show by playing with the wrapping paper and stealing the bows off presents that weren't his.
We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Tree: We usually cut down a tree at one of the tree farms around here: it's cheaper, and you have more of a sense that this tree was actually growing somewhere before you decided to decorate your house with it. We were getting sick on and off, so we decided to send the girls and daddy out to buy a tree. They got a nice small one (so they could decorate more of it, they said). My mom used to buy a new ornament for each of the kids when we were growing up and then gave them to us when we got our own houses. We used those as well as a few the kids made and some I have gotten for them. We don't have a garland, but we have some fancy red and gold ribbon. We don't have a tree topper---nothing can hold a candle to the fiber-optic star my family had when we were growing up, in my opinion. This year we cut stars out of yellow tag board and let the girls decorate them with glitter glue. It is very festive!
Gingerbread house: So we didn't use real gingerbread, and we didn't use royal icing. We did manage to have an allergy free sugar cookie house (from the Kids with Food Allergies newsletter) with icing from a tub (no egg or butter, just partially hydrogenated oil and sugar =) and skittles, smarties, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, gummi bears, and so on. There were a few fish oil balls mixed in with the skittles (don't ask me why) so we used those too. In my family, we used to eat one piece of candy each day after new years. This year we ate the whole thing (including much of the house) in the two days after Christmas: I think we had a smaller house than I did growing up.
Stockings: We have decided not to do Santa whole-heartedly, so we just have a few presents in stockings for Christmas morning. The presents always include socks and candy. This year we told Eleanor that it is the kids' job to fill the parents' stockings, so I gave a friend $20 and sent them loose in Target. Eleanor did a good job of picking out things we like. For example, Daddy had to have some coffee (Folger's best!), Mama got some bath gel and a notebook. I think she had fun being Santa.
Presents: We used the girls' old paintings from school for wrapping paper this year. I still have many many many paintings left, but I thought this was a good use of the ones I couldn't keep. Luke stole the show by playing with the wrapping paper and stealing the bows off presents that weren't his.
We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Comments
Miss you.
Love,
Steph