Let's talk Christmas

What?  You are sick of Christmas talk already?  Well then, time for you to head to another blog (or scroll down in your reader). :)

I think that I take after my mother, in that I want to do things for a reason.  I mean really, just doing something to do it is a little silly, especially for holidays. 

I've written about a few of the Christmas traditions that I grew up with before.  But now that I am the master of my own domain mother of a small family, I find myself struggling with what I want to do. 

Let's begin with gifts.  I know that this is a pretty touchy subject and that every one's situations are different, I do.  That being said, these are the thoughts I have had about it.

• I read about a family where the parents give four gifts each year.  One you want, one you need, one you wear and one you read.  This really appeals to me.  I like that it has structure and gives parents an automatic "to-buy" list.  I also love that something to read is already built in (since I like to always give a book when I can).
• Don't get me wrong.  I love Santa, but I don't like to focus on him so much.  Also, if it comes down to who gives cooler presents, me or Santa--it better be me, because my kids get to see me every day and Santa just shows his face (figuratively) once a year.  Also, I think I want Santa to be pretty budget friendly at our house.  I think that explaining to the kids that daddy is out of a job and Christmas is going to be light (heaven forbid that happen) is a lot easier than trying to explain why Santa can't produce like he has in the past.
• Sibling gifts.  I love, love, love Design Mom's idea of doing homemade gifts for the siblings to give to each other and fully plan on implementing that in the future.  For this year, since my little crafters are a bit too, well, little, mama made the gifts (Easton did pick out the fabric for Kendree's and Kendree was a good girl while I sewed Easton's).  Pictures coming soon.

Now on to the things that you actually do over the holidays.  I find this one particularly hard.  There are soooo many fun ideas.  I also think that whether you live close to extended family plays a huge role in what you do as a family.  If you are also putting in time with extended family, you generally have to limit what you as a smaller family unit can do.  That being said, here are some traditions I'm fairly sure I want to implement.

• Wrap 24 Christmas books and have the kids open one a day until Christmas.  Between board books and actual books I am thisclose to having 24 already, but any that I need to add I'll get from the library.
• Eat what Jesus ate on Christmas Eve.  I love this tradition, and I'll admit part of that is because my family usually has halibut handy and eating fish is an incredibly enjoyable experience with halibut around.
• Act out the nativity.  I think this will be done with extended family while we live close, since it's more fun to actually fill all of the roles in the story. 

And that is it for the traditions that I know I want to carry on.  I'm still up in the air on whether my kids will open one gift on Christmas Eve.  Maybe I'll do the pajama tradition that so many do, but who knows. 

I'd love to hear what you do at Christmas time that you could never, ever give up in a million years.