Traditions

My daughter turned five this month and it has become really important to the hubs and me that we establish memorable family traditions. I would LOVE to hear about traditions your family has!

These are some traditions/memories we made:

In December
-Decorated a Gingerbread house
-Made Sugar Cookies with Bree. I use almond extract instead of vanilla in the cookies and frosting. I LOVE almond extract.
-Made Baklava with my mom
-The kids get Christmas pjs. I want them to wear them the whole month.
-Watched White Christmas, Home Alone, Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th Street

Christmas Eve
-We served 2 cheese fondues and 1 chocolate dessert fondue for dinner. Recipes to come. The thing I loved about it was it was relatively easy, family members can bring a few chopped up veggies or something, we sat and ate and talked and ate and ate some more.
-We drove around looking at Christmas lights.
-We acted out the nativity while my dad read Luke 2. We had about 14 people over for Christmas Eve and they were good sports dressing up in bath robes and scarves.
-Eat the Gingerbread house (more like the kids eating the candy off of it!)
-Sprinkled Reindeer Food (oatmeal, white chocolate chips and sprinkles) in the yard.
-Put cookies out for Santa

Christmas Morning
-I made Coffee Cake. It was delish! Next year I want to make it the night before.
-Opened Gifts
-I made Lion House Rolls
-My dad made Potato Cheese Soup and Chicken Tortilla Soup. It was easy and we were able to relax and enjoy the day.
-This year we got to Skype with my brother who is on a church mission in Brazil. It was so good to see his face! (This won't be a yearly tradition, but something I want to remember).

Things I want to do next year
-Read 1 Christmas story each night. Melissa at 320 Sycamore wraps up 25 books and each night they opened one and would read one. They read there last book of Christmas Eve so it works as an advent. I love this idea!
-Have a special baking night with each person in my family. I read on Make It and Love It how Brittany's mom let her and her siblings pick one type of cookie and they would make them with their mom. She has changed the tradition up it a bit and not only lets each child and her husband pick a cookie, but they also make them together one-on-one.
-Do the 12 Days of Christmas for a family.

I am sure I am fogetting something. I have 8 Christmas books so I will be checking out Amazon all year to get up to 25. If you don't have that many you can just do the 8 days before Christmas for example and add to your collection each year.