When I was little, my parents started a family tradition of a Christmas sleepover. On one night in the weeks preceding Christmas, we would all bring our sleeping bags into the living room and camp out around the tree. By the time we were in high school, Christmas Eve was the only night someone didn’t have a basketball game or some other activity, so that was our sleepover night. I think we only stopped doing them when my parents’ snoring became too loud for us to sleep through. My point is not to embarass them (sorry!) but to recognize that it was a pretty great tradition to have endured so many years.

As a married couple, the only holiday tradition that my husband and I seem to have established is severe procrastion in buying gifts. Now that our son is here, I hope we can do a little better than that…

My younger sister laid the pressure on thick, saying “this is Tate’s first Christmas, you have to start traditions NOW and have them for the rest of his life!” Yikes! Then coincidentally, while she was helping me decorate, we found one of those tiny books (the kind Barnes & Noble has out on the countertops, as if to say “would you like fries with that?”) called Life’s Little Treasure Book of Christmas Traditions.

One that totally cracked us up was “Create a gag gift that is passed on to different family members every Christmas. A complimentary hotel shower cap always brings lots of laughs.” What?! I’m all for gag gifts, but don’t they have to develop organically? I don’t think you can just throw in a random toiletry item and get laughs. But maybe that family is a little more wacky and fun than ours…

One that I definitely want to use as soon as Tate is old enough is “Let the youngest child in the family who’s old enough read the Christmas story on Christmas Eve. Record it on tape and save it for them when they are grown.”

Some other good ones:

• Volunteer as a family to work in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter during the holidays.
• Instead of the usual bedtime stories, read to your children about the Christmas customs in other countries.
• Display prominently the Christmas artwork your child brings home from school. (Wouldn’t it be fun to frame the best ones and replace some of your usual artwork over the holidays?)

What are your favorite family traditions?

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The original Christmas birth was announced by a chorus of angels, as this beautiful stained glass window commemorates. While you may not have quite such grand resources at your disposal, you’re certainly eager to share the news of your little one’s birth during this special season.

Maybe you’re waiting out the last few weeks of your pregnancy…why not pre-select a design or two now, and you’ll just need to drop in a great photo and baby’s stats after his/her arrival. If you’ve already brought baby home, there’s still time to choose a holiday-themed announcement to share with your loved ones.

You may choose to save a little postage by enclosing the announcement along with your regular family Christmas card or letter. Otherwise, envelopes are included with all birth announcements, whether you select magnets or linen cardstock.

Here are two of my favorite new designs. View the complete gallery of holiday birth announcements online. Happy Announcing!!

Photo Courtesy:
hoyasmeg

This weekend, after finishing the final cleanup from the Thanksgiving meal, it was time to pack up the fall decorations. Out with the orange and brown, in with the red and green!

As my sister and I hauled the boxes up from the basement, I began thinking about what would work for this year. Tate is crawling and pulling up on things, so my first decision was to nix the full-size tree. I knew it would be a constant battle to keep him from pulling ornaments off the low-hanging branches, not to mention pulling the whole tree over. Instead we’ve got a small artificial tree sitting on top of an end table, blockaded by two chairs.

I’m not fully convinced that he won’t find his way to that tree, however, so all the breakable ornaments are staying in their boxes. It’s really not very fair: pretty lights, bright red balls, but no, no, don’t touch it! What he does get to play with are the Santa Claus and snowman Beanie Babies, and a bucket full of plastic Christmas cookie cutters.

Overall, quite a few items were unwrapped, then re-wrapped and returned to the boxes and bins in the basement for another year. I’m sure before we know it, Tate will be helping me decorate the big tree, with ornaments he made himself. Time goes too fast- we’ll enjoy this “childproofed” Christmas while it’s here!

How are your holiday decorations different this year, if you’ve got a baby on the loose? Share your ideas, or things you remember that your parents did when you were young…