In case I have not already mentioned it 2,968 times about how much I love the holidays - I do love me some holidays! That being said, I enjoy celebrating the holidays in the proper order of FIRST Thanksgiving and SECOND Christmas. I am not a big fan of the new holiday tradition of brown Thursday. Let's take the time to first give thanks and enjoy our family before we beginning running people over while throwing elbows to get "the next best thing."
Please do not get confused though. While we will not be trimming our tree until until the weekend after Thanksgiving, I have already begun making my lists and pinning like a mad woman on my Christmas time Pinterest board. Ever since getting married, I have loved establishing traditions for our family just as I had growing up. Those are things you remember most!
Every year ABC Family shows their 25 days of Christmas movies and it's great! To download the schedule for this year, Click Here.
Of course you can't have Christmas without the famous Elf on the Shelf. Our elf, Buddy, joined the family about 2 years ago. However, last year was the first year that Sophie was really able to understand what he was all about and enjoy the fun. Last year, I decided that more then anything else, I wanted to be sure to incorporate Jesus into Buddy the elf because why not?! Jesus should be all of our best friends....even Buddy the Elf and Santa Clause. We all recognize that he is our Lord and Savior and that even Santa would be lost without him!
Santa has the great capability of adding to the reason for the season by reminding us that Jesus is the best gift we will ever receive and by george, Buddy can certainly do the same thing! Luckily, I found a wonderful blog - A small Snippet where she shares the wonderful way of how her family incorporates Jesus into their elf.
She had some amazing tips and an especially wonderful letter from Santa that shared all about Jesus and arrived with their elf from the North Pole. Click Here to view her letter. I adjusted it so it would be a bit more age appropriate since my little one is younger than her children but overall, you get the picture. Somewhere along the way I also found Santa letterhead from the same blog I think?! I am having trouble uploading anything other then a picture so if you would like a copy of it, let me know and I will be more than happy to email it to you.
Another Christmas tradition we started last year is R.A.C.K. which stands for Random Acts of Kindness. To be very honest, it does make me feel a bit guilty as I sit here and think about it because these are things we should be incorporating all throughout the year, not just at the holidays but it is never too late to start! Sophie LOVED doing this and again it was showed her a servant's heart and what a wonderful way to share our love with others.
We made some cookies together which of course we both loved, packaged them together with cute bags from the Dollar Tree, and added our tag on the ribbon -
Then we deliverd these treasures to the police officers who direct traffic on Sunday at our church, the mail woman, and garbage men. We also bought hot chocolate for a stranger and the salvation army bell ringers. The possibilities for RACK are endless!
We also left a little note for Santa this year along with his yummy cookies -
Santa has the great capability of adding to the reason for the season by reminding us that Jesus is the best gift we will ever receive and by george, Buddy can certainly do the same thing! Luckily, I found a wonderful blog - A small Snippet where she shares the wonderful way of how her family incorporates Jesus into their elf.
She had some amazing tips and an especially wonderful letter from Santa that shared all about Jesus and arrived with their elf from the North Pole. Click Here to view her letter. I adjusted it so it would be a bit more age appropriate since my little one is younger than her children but overall, you get the picture. Somewhere along the way I also found Santa letterhead from the same blog I think?! I am having trouble uploading anything other then a picture so if you would like a copy of it, let me know and I will be more than happy to email it to you.
Another Christmas tradition we started last year is R.A.C.K. which stands for Random Acts of Kindness. To be very honest, it does make me feel a bit guilty as I sit here and think about it because these are things we should be incorporating all throughout the year, not just at the holidays but it is never too late to start! Sophie LOVED doing this and again it was showed her a servant's heart and what a wonderful way to share our love with others.
We made some cookies together which of course we both loved, packaged them together with cute bags from the Dollar Tree, and added our tag on the ribbon -
Romans 15:13
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Then we deliverd these treasures to the police officers who direct traffic on Sunday at our church, the mail woman, and garbage men. We also bought hot chocolate for a stranger and the salvation army bell ringers. The possibilities for RACK are endless!
We also left a little note for Santa this year along with his yummy cookies -
Dear Santa,
Please slide down our chimney and come on through. Thank you for coming to our house tonight. We are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Thank you Santa for the gifts you bring. Thank you Lord for everything!
Mommy, Daddy, and Sophie
Again, another neat way to merge Jesus and Santa!
Now, time to focus on that Thanksgiving menu!!!
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