I’m over on Every Day Cheer today sharing some of my favorite Christmas music! Head over there to see more!
I can’t wait to share about our weekend trip to the North Pole on the Polar Express. Come back tomorrow!
A few weeks ago, I did a round up of my favorite holiday card designs from Minted. But today I’m sharing what our family’s photo looks like in some of those designs. I’m getting close to making the decision about which card we’ll use for 2014. I love the design process on Minted and that I can play around with colors and see a little bit of what our family’s card would look like.
Okay, so the designs are absolutely fantastic. They’re just so beautiful and clever, and the paper quality is amazing. But the very best thing about this post is that Minted is giving away a $200 credit to one lucky reader! Think of all the Christmas cards you can send!
And all you have to do to enter, is go to this link right here and enter. Easy peasy!
So a lot of times I blog for me and other times I blog for you and me. When I’m blogging for you and me I’m craving the community and so appreciate the community.
Today’s post is a post for me. Because while I know that not everyone wants to see pictures of our memories, I absolutely love being able to go back every year and see things we did. But maybe you like seeing pictures of my boys, too?
On Friday night, we went to the Junior League of Columbia’s Holiday Market PJs with Santa event. I was actually the vice chair for this event this year, and it’s one of my favorite things to do with the boys every year.
The kids get to meet Santa, watch a movie, listen to Christmas books, decorate cookies, do a craft, and run all over the Holiday Market.
The boys love it, and now that they’re officially no longer afraid of Jolly Old St. Nick, it’s a lot more fun!
We dressed them in their finest Christmas pajamas and took them to meet Santa.
Hudson and Hayes are wearing these pajamas.
And it went really well. I still can’t believe it.
I am a really big fan of the Santa photos with the screaming kiddo. I can’t help it. (We’ve had our share of Easter Bunny and Santa photos with a screaming Hudson.) I also laugh when people slip and fall… which is okay because I’m always the one who slips and falls and I expect that people will laugh at me.
When Santa (who is the very best Santa ever) asked the boys what they wanted, Hudson froze and couldn’t answer him. And Hayes said, “Toys.” Of course.
Today, my friends Jenny, Ashley, and Darci are hosting a PJ Party link up and I’m linking up with them!
In October, I was on a mission to create white space in my life. And in that experience I started to think about Christmas. It comes once a year. We try to cram so much into it, and most of those things aren’t family-oriented and they’re not life-giving.
They are full of obligation and commitment and end-of-the-year work functions, and often at the end of December, I’ve wondered where the time went and what we did with it.
So I was on another mission to create a White Space Christmas full of intentionality and fun family togetherness.
Two years ago, Nina and I were brainstorming this very thing and between the two of us, we came up with a list of 25 Christmas traditions. We posted it back in 2011, and decided to post it again this year.
We certainly don’t even attempt to do them all each year, but it’s fun to decide which ones will work for our family and to see some of the fun ways we can be intentional. Driving around looking at Christmas lights, decorating the tree, hosting a cookie exchange, and giving matching pajamas on Christmas Eve before watching a movie together.
It could be as simple as what you eat for breakfast on Christmas morning or your Christmas Eve tradition. My family eats my mom’s breakfast casserole every year on Christmas morning, and on Christmas Eve we have seafood gumbo because we’re form Louisiana and we love it!
The one that has become the most special to me is attending the candlelight Christmas Eve service at church together as a family. It’s full of wonder and reflection as we remember the miracle of Jesus’ birth.
Download the printable PDF here: 25 Christmas Traditions for Your Family
What are your family’s favorite Christmas traditions?
