Christmas Traditions

The last few days have been great. We went out one night last week to just drive around and look at the Christmas lights, a tradition we've had since the kids were babies. We found ourselves high up in the hills above our town where some of our valley's biggest homes are located. It was amazing to see such gorgeous homes all decked out for Christmas, not to mention the view overlooking the town.

Another tradition we took care of this week was the making of the gingerbread house. There's not enough icing or candy to cover the house with the kit I bought, and I could have bought more candy and made more icing so the kids could cover the whole thing, but that never happened and honestly, the kids don't know the difference. They had a blast decorating it, even if it ended up looking more than a little disheveled and random.

The next day, Nate had to work at his mom's house, caring for his little sister while my mother in law worked, so I took the opportunity to spend some quality time with the kids. We stayed up late watching movies that included Veggie Tales: Saint Nicholas, a Tale of Joyful Giving, The First Nativity and Mickey Mouse Christmas Carol, which is one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time.

The biggest tradition is yet to come. We'll be spending Christmas Eve at my mother in law's house. Normally she makes dinner, but this year she has to work (she works at night), so she'll be sleeping all day. I'll be cooking Christmas dinner on Christmas eve while she sleeps and we'll open presents on Christmas morning when she gets home from work. It'll be a bit of a mixed up Christmas, but the most important part is that we'll be all together.