What do you do that is EXTRA SPECIAL for the Holidays?

[RCT]

I am so in the Christmas mood...been listening to Christmas music all day, go all the Christmas cards done, it got me to thinking of what extra special things I can do this year to make our holiday special.

we make the Chirstmas Chain, red and green construction paper and hang them in thier rooms, they have been doing this since I can rememeber.

Anyone care to share thier special holiday routines?

[terrimce1]

Every year we go as a family to a tree farm and dig out a christmas tree roots and all we then bring it home and replant it in a large pot. We then have a family day that dinner is all appitizers like cheese sticks, chicken wings, pizza bites,breaded mushrooms etc. While we decorate the tree. After christmas we plant the tree here on our property. Even though most of kids are grown they come home so we can do this as a family and it is kinda neat when they walk around our property and say hey that was our christmas tree when I was 8. I think it will be really nice when they have children of there own to come back home and share memories of past christmas's with their own children.

[terrimce1]

When our children were younger they each had a small christmas tree of there own (artificial maybe 2 feet tall) in there rooms and there very own ornaments (when they were young all plastic) On this tree they could decoate anyway they wanted and redecorate as many times as they wanted.

[MaryL]

When our children were younger they each had a small christmas tree of there own (artificial maybe 2 feet tall) in there rooms and there very own ornaments (when they were young all plastic) On this tree they could decoate anyway they wanted and redecorate as many times as they wanted.

I love that idea....especially for the little ones (preschoolers).

[littlesista06]

When our children were younger they each had a small christmas tree of there own (artificial maybe 2 feet tall) in there rooms and there very own ornaments (when they were young all plastic) On this tree they could decoate anyway they wanted and redecorate as many times as they wanted.

I let my dd do this too (she's 10). It's gone from everything that would hang to the most sparkly, glittery, purple lighted thing I've ever seen.

[AnnW]

My kids have a tree in their rooms too. DD tends to light her whole room. This year she decided her tree was too small (and it was ) so she bought one of those lighted fiber optical ones..way cool!!! I have to watch her though cause she is known to take the decorations from the rest of the house and make them her own!
I have been racking my brain trying to think of special family traditions. Alot of our traditions seemed to die with my mom. A fun one was, my parents would come over Christmas morning. The kids couldn't come out of their rooms till they got there. (it usually wasn't a long wait for them, but enough to increase drama).
We still keep the hall door closed and make them wait to come out together.

[Amy]

Every year we go as a family to a tree farm and dig out a christmas tree roots and all we then bring it home and replant it in a large pot. We then have a family day that dinner is all appitizers like cheese sticks, chicken wings, pizza bites,breaded mushrooms etc. While we decorate the tree. After christmas we plant the tree here on our property. Even though most of kids are grown they come home so we can do this as a family and it is kinda neat when they walk around our property and say hey that was our christmas tree when I was 8. I think it will be really nice when they have children of there own to come back home and share memories of past christmas's with their own children.

We would love to do this with a live tree, but our local garden center says it is hard to do. He said the tree would go into shock by being dug up and being moved inside. Once there it would go active because of the heat difference and when you took it outside again in the cold it would be in shock again. Do you do anything special with it to help decrease the shock?

[RCT]

When I was a kid, my mother used to get "Snowballs" from 31 flavors, vanilla ice cream covered in coconut...she would serve them Christmas eve before we left the cookies and milk out for Santa.....

I haven't seen these in years....tried doing it myself once and the kids weren't into the coconut...LOL....

[vea29]

when we were kids my sister and I used to decorate our whole room with lights and garland...and we go out to the woods and hunt down the perfect charlie brown tree. It was rather silly buit fun.

Now I make a ceramic ornament for each family member or couple,....started late this year it's going to be tight. But they always look foward to it. Actually last year was a glass ball with thier names on it.

[Linda/NE]

As much as I would like to do special holiday things around here, dh is such a grinch it takes all the fun out of it.

When the kids were little making and decorating cookies and watching Christmas specials were big things.

About the only thing that I carried over from my childhood is the advent wreath. When I was little we knelt together as a family every night before supper and said the prayers of the Advent wreath. The prayers were long and I didn't really understand them until I got older but they bring back a lot of memories of the feeling of magic at Christmas. With my kids though we found a simple prayer we say while lighting the candles on the wreath. We don't do it every night, but just once a week.

The prayer actually could be used any time before Christmas:
Thank you God, for sending Jesus to be our Friend.
We love you Jesus, We want to be like you
Help us love each other as we get ready for your Birthday, Amen.

(I use this prayer at preschool)

[AnnW]

Sweet prayer Linda.

[Diane]

As much as I would like to do special holiday things around here, dh is such a grinch it takes all the fun out of it.

When the kids were little making and decorating cookies and watching Christmas specials were big things.

About the only thing that I carried over from my childhood is the advent wreath. When I was little we knelt together as a family every night before supper and said the prayers of the Advent wreath. The prayers were long and I didn't really understand them until I got older but they bring back a lot of memories of the feeling of magic at Christmas. With my kids though we found a simple prayer we say while lighting the candles on the wreath. We don't do it every night, but just once a week.

The prayer actually could be used any time before Christmas:
Thank you God, for sending Jesus to be our Friend.
We love you Jesus, We want to be like you
Help us love each other as we get ready for your Birthday, Amen.

(I use this prayer at preschool)

I love it, Linda. Very nice prayer.

[terrimce1]

We would love to do this with a live tree, but our local garden center says it is hard to do. He said the tree would go into shock by being dug up and being moved inside. Once there it would go active because of the heat difference and when you took it outside again in the cold it would be in shock again. Do you do anything special with it to help decrease the shock?

We make sure that as soon as we come home we replant the tree in dirt from where it will be planted. ( we dig the hole for the tree the same day we buy the tree)If you use soil from a garden center to replant you have to make sure there isn't fertilizer in it because you don't want to promote new growth this time of year. We only leave the tree up for about 2 weeks and before replanting we set in the garage for a day or two to get the tree used to the temperature change. I also make sure that the tree is watered everyday. We have been doing this for 15 yrs and so far we have only lost 1 tree after replanting.

[terrimce1]

Another Holiday tradition is we have always celebrated St. Nicholas Day. On the night of December 5th we all but out a boot or a stocking that contains our Christmas wish list and St Nicholas comes that night he takes our list and leaves small trinkets in our boot/stocking.Sometimes St Nicholas even leaves a note telling you if you have been naughty or nice lol. My parents did this when we where kids and it is something we have carried over it really seems to get us all in the Christmas spirit.