Traditions

I loved reading Kierste's and Andee's family traditions; it is fun to see how many are the same as ours. Here is a list of our family traditions during the holidays.

1. Putting up the decorations the day after Thanksgiving, or as soon as possible after Thanksgiving.

2. Planning and making handmade Christmas cards. Crazy, too much work, but I love it.

3. Taking 5 million pictures that look like this.

just to get one that looks like this and can be included in the Christmas card.

4. If we are in Utah, Christmas shopping the day after Thanksgiving with the girls to see how close we can get to being done in one day.

5. Visiting Santa. I love the horrible pictures we end up with most years. If at least one kid isn't crying, why bother. When we lived up North, we also took a yearly cruise to the North Pole to see Santa. It was a family favorite!

6. Advent calendars. We have a beaded tree ornament, and a felt Christmas tree that is as close to the one my Mom has that I could find. We also have a new one from my mom that has scriptures for each day.

7. Christmas books every night. If you need a fantastic book for Older kids and adults alike, check out my SIL's blog. The Red Ranger Came Calling is mine and Tyler's absolute favorite. Jack liked it this year too. We have a great collection, because my mom gives a new wonderful Christmas book every year. We love that!

8. On Christmas Eve, we open a new pair of PJs (Ballard tradition) and a new ornament for each of us every year. We also have all of the ornaments that Tyler got every year of his life with his parents. It has been a fun tradition to adopt from his family.

9. Christmas Morning, we have pull-aparts and juice. Yummy

10. After Christmas we go to Utah to visit our family. We always have a Ballard/Edwards party with my mom's sister's family. This party is full of traditions that have been going on since we were kids. Some we still do, and some we just remember. This party used to be the Whitney Party on Christmas day at my Grandparent's house. We always ate and opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa. Aunt Sandra used to make the girls night gowns and matching doll night gowns. They were amazing and now she does it for the little girls. I am as excited to see them open them as they are. Grandpa also gave us an envelope from the bank with a little money in it, and Grandma gave us each a box of orange sticks. We would wait for a call from my Aunts Barbara and Gayleen when they lived in Florida and we would pass around the phone and visit. When I was a little girl, this was my favorite part. I felt so grown up talking "long distance". Funny how cell phones have changed that concept. We would also get boxes from Barbara from Florida. One year we all got Florida t-shirts. They were our favorite shirts that year. Then we play the game where you wrap presents up really tight with lots of duct tape and newspapers and roll dice to get a chance to open them up fast before the next person rolls a double or seven or 11. At the end we have a few rounds where you are allowed to steal presents from each other. This game was fun when we were kids and still just as much fun. Our gifts are all $5 but there always seems to be something that everyone fights for. For fun, we have a separate game for the kids, so that they don't cry when Uncle Don or one of the other grown ups steal their gifts. We spend the rest of the night visiting. Our family has grown to include lots and lots of little grand kids. I like to imagine what Grandpa and Grandma Whitney would think to see how their family has grown so much. I am so grateful to my mom and Aunt Sandra for continuing this party. It is a really big part of my holiday memories. We are having this party in the church gym this year, because we have grown so much - we definitely would not fit in Grandma's living room anymore.

11. While we are in Utah, Tyler's family also has a family party with his brother, sister and their families. Luckily his brother has a few girls, because the rest of the grand kids are all boys. This party can get silly and loud. The favorite game for the kids is digging through a big bag full of newspaper and wrapping paper to get toys and treats. We are still changing this party around to find our favorite traditions. We went bowling last year and are going to try that again this year.

I love the holidays. Hope all is well with all of you. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all of that stuff!