I'm curious to know what other families do to prepare or celebrate!

We usually have the kids bring home those little milk cartons from school for a few days in a row, thoroughly rinse/dry them, and make little graham cracker house villages with them. This can be gross if kids forget about the cartons in their backpacks for a day or two... YIKES!

We gather different greens from our woods to make a wreath for my mother - she loves this, since my dad used to do this, and when he passed away we took over the tradition.

Since one of my kids have a peanut allergy, I make our Advent calendars by placing peanut-free Hershey Kisses into the little drawers of a wooden jewelry-type box, and a little note about advent. They love coming downstairs each morning and starting the day with a chocolate kiss. I remind them to read the note out loud, also!

What about you? I love to hear what neat traditions survive for other families each year!

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"The errors of faith are better than the best thoughts of unbelief." - Thomas Russell

Devinsmom for our class we always make each year the little gingerbread houses from the milk cartons collected at lunch-time that are saved for us. We use vanilla frosting to hold it all together with the graham crackers and then with all the various candies to decorate and then placed on a plastic plate, and we add one small sugar cone to make like a christmas tree, we add some green dye and then decorate the tree. The kids love this craft parents will come in to help. I will share more later. Blessings in this holiday season. Catherine

We love to sleep late on christmas morning always did even when our children were small, they always slept late, we were lucky, we get up we all cook breakfest together, my husband puts the fireplace on and puts christmas music on, the shelties are running around. We all then go into the den in our p.j.s and sit on the rug and separate all the gifts by each other we take turns and open one gift at a time and go around and around no rush and just enjoy being together as a family. Now that the kids are older we all buy for each other and it is truly wonderful and we really truly enjoy being just us . The shelties all four of them are in the mix of the wrapping paper and gifts and of course they get gifts also, why not they are part of the family lol. Soon there will come a day when it will not be just the five of us so we treasure these precious moments forever.Blessings in this holiday season of 2010. Catherine.

The one we started this year: A real Christmas Tree!
Baking cookies (even if it's the slice and bake kind)
Christmas Carols while unwrapping presents

But, most of all, it's not what we do--but the people we share the activities with

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

We look for the most outrageous Christmas displays we can. Then, we take our friends on "the tour" and they take us on theirs. Who ever finds the most outrageous, wins.

We watch Christmas with Gumby.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

For the past 6 years, my grandson and I have made some kind of gingerbread house. Usually from one of those kits from the store. We also decorate break and bake cookies. He's ten now and I suspect this might be our last Christmas for either of these activities.

Ever since I was a child, we have had Santa come on Christmas Eve. My dad used to work nights and he left around 10 in the evening. So Santa would sneak in while we were occupied in the kitchen and that way daddy could come home from work and go to bed the next morning. It was one of the few days in a year that my mother did the cooking. She was in charge of any turkey dinners and any pies that got baked. Daddy did the all of the shopping and all the cooking for the rest of the time.

We continued the Santa visits on Christmas Eve when my kids were small and we do it now for our grandson.

Bake lots and lots of cookies, I make about 16 different varieties and my kitchen table 4'x4' is about 8" high when I am done. It is a long and tedious 2 full days of work, but I love every minute of it. My husband is so proud that I am the cookie lady
This is what I give as gifts every year. I no longer buy gifts.

I also made some travertine coasters for close friends and family in July. All I have to do is wrap them in ribbon

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-Kristi

Ok this is a little goofy but I sort of came up with it because my mom told me traditions are nice, but make something of your own.

On the night before Christmas Eve, I go to the bakery and buy six decorated over the top cupcakes and hide them. After dinner but before the boys go to bed, I put the cupcakes in the freezer for about 15 minutes, just enough to get a frost on them but not so they freeze. Then, as the boys are out of the kitchen, I take the cupcakes from the freezer and place them on the ledge of the dining room window. I knock loudly on the window and then sit down at the table while the fireplace is roaring with a holiday pitcher of milk ready. When the boys come running to see who is knocking, I tell them Mrs. Claus made a run of her own with homemade cupcakes, and when they pick them up I tell them they are still cold from coming from the North Pole! We sit at the table, fireplace making us all warm, have our cupcakes and milk and laugh.

It started out when they were just babies, but they are now 18, 15 and 13. And they still look forward to their cupcakes

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Catt
~ Mirror Mirror on the wall, I am my mother - after all! ~

We make tamales. Not usually before Christmas, but between then and New Year's.

We always make a ginger bread house too. I used to do it all from scratch, but lately I just buy a $7-10 kit -- it's the thought, right?

I'm jealous. I have a Guatemalan friend who makes tamales every Christmas Eve. They are sooooo good. She's tried to teach me how to do it, but the masa never comes out right. So I have to wait until Christmas Eve every year for my tamale.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

Catt-
I love your Christmas cupcake tradition. What fun!


I started a little Christmas Eve tradition about 15 years ago that everyone really looks forward to. Throughout the year, I pick up little gifts here and there; some gag gifts for the White elephant/Yankee Swap game. It's fun choosing a gift, just to have it stolen away by another family member. This game has been a big hit over the years.

A couple of years ago I met a woman who took the game to another level. In their family, they would seek out the most obnoxious gift they could find for the game. Whatever it was the recipient ended up with, had to be displayed or worn for the whole month of December the following year. She told me that her brother ended up with an Elvis painting on velvet that had to be hung up in his living room for a whole month! Definitely a family with a sense of humor.

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I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it!

Aw, jujubee, they are easier than you think. They're really just time intensive, and I let the crockpot and my food processor do most of the work.

I put a pork shoulder in the crockpot with a large can of green enchilada sauce and just let it fall apart. You may have to shred it by hand, or just let it be chunky. Then I take masa mix (comes in a bag, like flour) and put a few cups in the food processor with some Crisco and the juice from the pork. Mix with the blade until it forms a ball. I don't even measure anything. Add green olives to the meat mixture, and make the tamales, then steam. That's it!

That's what my friend says too! I don't know what I do wrong, but the masa never has the right texture. It's either too watery or too dense.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

We started this tradition when my kids were little. On Christmas eve, Santa creates a wall of wrapping paper to block the room where all the toys are. This prevents any peeking and gives me time to get the camera ready. When we say go, the boys bolt through the "wall" of wrapping paper and the gift giving begins.
Just remember to get the dog out of the room before you complete the wall of wrapping paper. This did happen one year. She's fine, but her feelings were hurt.

Awww. Poor pooch

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

We usually play this at our work party.......some of the gifts are great, some are duds, and some are plain hilarious.......1 tradition is a can of spam.....it gets brought back every year....and everyone knows it's there somewhere.........hoping they don't get it !

dl

Every year I make cookies,fudge, and mixed nut brittle. When thinking about this question I realized that everything I do is tradition. How I put the tree up, the decorations for the house (and tree) some of which are from my and my son's childhoods. I enjoy the sending of cards every year also.

We are starting a new tradition this year: we will be bbqing for Christmas dinner.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.