Friday, December 23, 2011

Christmas Traditions

With Christmas just a few days away I have been thinking about Christmas traditions.  Luci Rae is 14 months now and starting to really have some fun.  This year is technically her second Christmas but last year she was only 2 months old so we didn't really do a whole lot for it.  I am very torn on how to shape our Christmas this year and thus future Christmas' to come.  I love giving presents and decorating our house and all of the fun things you get to do in the holiday season, however I really want to teach Luci that this time of year is about more then just presents.  So, here are some of my ideas for what our Christmas traditions will look like.

This year I got Luci Elf on a Shelf as one of her presents.  She doesn't understand it this year but next year we will be able to have a ton of fun with it!  That tradition should be a really fun and silly one that I think we can all get into.

Now for the real traditions.  I have decided that on Christmas morning we will have four presents under the tree plus her stocking.  One present and her stocking from Santa of course and the other three will be from us.  I want to read her the story of Jesus' birth and talk about why that is so special.  Then we will open our three presents, just like the three gifts Jesus got.  I feel that this will give her a sense of what this holiday is really about and she will still get some fun presents at the same time.  At some point during December I would also like to volunteer somewhere with her.  This can be her choice.  We can bring presents to The Children's Hospital, or donate to Toys for Tots, or really anything she chooses.  This way we can talk about giving and not just receiving.

Anyway, these are just some random thoughts I have been having.  I would love to hear about some of your Christmas traditions too!  I am always looking for fun ideas to bring teachable moments to my little girls life:)

Hope you all have a very merry Christmas.

On a side note, I went ahead and started a facebook page for The Dented Lampshade.  I would love it if you liked my page!  The Dented Lampshade 


5 comments:

  1. These are really great ideas. Our family is so large and they shower the kids with presents, and we don't really feel like we NEED to do anything because they are already getting so much and we are basically overrun with toys and things. BUT we want to have Santa and presents from us, so we do small things- one or two from him, one or two from us. We "recycle" toys given to us previously that he never saw or didn't know we had and regift them. I've done some small trades on Etsy for gifts.

    I found on Pinterest (of course): one thing you need, one thing you want, one thing to read, one thing to wear. I kind of like that and might try and follow it. If we start small, we may be able to stay small. Have a great Christmas!!

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  2. You are starting wonderful traditions with little Luci! Merry Christmas!

    (I liked The Dented Lampshade, too. I'm hoping to get to Castle Rock sometime after tax season is over.) The Castle Rock grandkids are in Lincoln this Christmas, visiting both sets of grandparents. Yay!

    LeAnn

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  3. Hello sweet wonderful friend! I am so blessed to have you as a blogland friend this year!

    I just wanted to say Merry Merry Christmas!

    blessings,

    karianne

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  4. i love the idea of teaching her about the giving in Christmas and volunteering. Have a merry rest of the Christmas and a Happy New Year

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  5. I love the idea of the three presents, what a great tradition to try and start.

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

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