Simplifying Christmas Day 6~ Share Some Simple Family Traditions

We are on day Six of the Simplifying Christmas Meme! Today's topic is "Simple Family Christmas Traditions"

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Well, first off, I gotta mention how I got some comments that I do more than a lot of other people do in the way of decorations. Really!? It seems like in every other house I have been in their decorations are waaaaay more than what I put out?

Then, I laughed when I got the pictures to share with you some of our favorite family Christmas traditions. It all has to do with food, LOL!

But that's OK. I guess. ;-)

There are some non-food traditions. But I'll start with the food ones first.

As soon as it comes out in the stores, my husband gets egg nogg. He loves to see the kids drinking it for some reason. I am not a big fan of egg nogg. I can tolerate a sip of it, but more than that it's way too rich for me. But the kid's like it.

The other day, I caught them sneaking a cupful. They thought it was "Daddy's Special Milk" and were raving about how good it was. Crazy Kids! LOL!

Another Tradition that we do, is make the cut out cookies. Some years I just buy Pillsbury and give them a jar of icing to frost them with. Last year, I made the dough and the icing. Frugal for sure. Maybe not very "simple", but it was a lot of fun. I had them up until midnight that night. They thought it was great that they could stay up that late making cookies.

And pictured above is Sweetie's MOST requested thing for us to do for Thanksgiving and Christmas morning. Homemade Cinnamon Rolls. These are so awesome! (if I do say so myself) My husband even asked me to make some for a special thing at his work. But alas, I don't have the time.

These extra "bad for you" cinnamon rolls, are partially made ahead, to cut down on the time. I make the dough the night before, and put on the cinnamon, and butter and sugar, roll it up, and place it in the fridge overnight.

The next morning I let it sit out for an hour and then slice the roll up and bake. While baking I make the icing.

Yeah it's a long process, but oh so delicious! I only make them for special occasions. Like Christmas and Thanksgiving. :)

OK. Now for some non-food Christmas traditions.

I let the kids help me decorate the tree with me. This can be a stressful time, because of the breakable ornaments. Usually, I give them a box full of plastic or unbreakable ornaments, let them hang the things, and come back later when they are in bed, and rearrange them if they are all clumped together in the same spot.

While we are decorating, I play some old timey Christmas music. ♥

Every year since we have lived here, a local church does a live reenactment of the Christmas Story. But instead of sitting and watching it on a stage, it is set outside at different "stations" and we walk to the different scenes, and watch it played out before our eyes.

It is held at night and the pathway is lite with hurricane lanterns, and they have live animals, and everything. At the end of the "journey" we get hot chocolate and cookies. And the kids get a little candy filled stocking.

My kids really enjoy doing this. They were supper duper excited when they knew we were going to do it "again" (The year before that, it was only a vague memory)

Another tradition we do, is make a Christmas ornament for the tree. I am not sure what we are going to make this year, but I have a few ideas up in my head.

Well, that's all I can think of for now. Be sure to comment or sign the MckLinky if you wrote on your blog. Remember there is a prize to be won! :)

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