Christmas Traditions

 It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

Really though, it is. Like. For real.

Merry CHRISTMAS!!

From Thanksgiving till Christmas, I am on a high like none other, at least since last year. It’s like I’m on speed, or crack, (what I heard it's like to be on those things, of course). I don‘t sleep much, but I don’t feel tired at all, and I just don’t care! I've probably aged myself about 2 years more than I need to, and I've also gained back all the weight that I lost last year...but I'll figure that out in the new year because IT'S CHRISTMAS!!!

I have a checklist of things to go through every night before bed. Tsum-tsum calendar, countdown pillow, move the pickle ornament on the tree, add chocolate to the advent calendar, and set up the "elf on a shelf" 

Phew...some nights this takes 5 minutes, some nights it takes me 20-30 depending on what I'm doing with Buddy. 

Here are the things we do each morning when Natalie wakes up:

Tsum-Tsum Advent Calendar: 

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I bought this for Natalie's birthday on a whim in Costco. It's a lot of little collectors toys knick-knacks...but I'll be darned if she doesn't look forward to opening this up every morning. I plan to pack each of these toys away with all the Christmas stuff at the end of the season, and use them again next year in my other advent calendar that I fill myself. That way, these are special toys she gets at Christmas, and I can re-use them every year!

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Countdown Pillow

We don’t really make it a point to look at this, and most of the time I forget to redo the number but we have this pillow to count down the days (for when I remember):

Advent Calendar (from my childhood)

Without a doubt, the one thing I really wanted to carry on at Christmas was the advent calendar from my childhood. I have very, very vivid memories of this advent calendar. I always loved it, and thought it was super unique and cute. It hung on the doorknob of our brown closet door in our kitchen, and is something that I sincerely hope is cared for and passed down through the generations in my family:

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I've been filling it with two pieces of chocolate for each kid, each day. Unfortunately, we've gotten to a point where some days I have to hide the calendar, or at least the chocolate...because Christopher gets so upset if he doesn't get the chocolate first thing in the morning, and it's all he can focus on...so it's caused a bit of a problem in the mornings, lol.

Find the pickle:

We have a book that goes with this ornament, that explains the story behind the pickle, but I think it actually stems from some old-fashioned German tradition (or that might be a total myth as explained here). I also think you technically only have to "hide the pickle" on Christmas Eve (then the first person to find it on the tree on Christmas morning, gets to be the first person to open a gift). But the kids have so much fun trying to find it's new place each day, I just do it every day. Even Christopher walks around that tree looking for the pickle and points it out once he's found it. 

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Buddy the Elf: 

I have a whole separate post to write about this, but this has definitely been the defining year of "elf on a shelf" for us. I love how easily Natalie accepts that this elf just lives with us and gets into Shenanigans each night. She doesn't question a thing, just finds him in the morning and goes "Oh silly buddy...." 

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So that's our daily check-list of Christmas traditions! Am I crazy? (don't answer that....that was rhetorical...) What traditions do you do?