On the sixth day of writing...the nativity

The nativity is an important part of Christmas for us. This is because for us, it's what it is all about. We have 2 nativity scenes in our house. One is for the kids.

This Little People Nativity is one they can move around, act with and tell the story of Jesus' birth. They love making the Wise Men come when Jesus is born. The angel sings. The animals gather around. This nativity is played with on a daily basis!

This nativity is one that my mom gave us for Christmas one year. I love all of the pieces this has. It has moved around from place to place in our house, and this year it is on top of our piano. I like having it in a place where we can see it every day.

The one nativity I remember is this one.

It's at my mom and dad's house. I played with the Baby Jesus all the time, because it comes out of the manger.

I can "feel" it right now-the smoothness of the metal with details still on each piece.

Nativities really have a lot of meaning in our house. I can't imagine having a Christmas without them in our house.

On the fifth day of writing...ornaments!

I had good intentions this Christmas season of doing a "12 days of writing" sequence. I was inspired by the song, but, I fell a bit short-on time, motivation and...well, I guess that's it! There's always next year though. So here are 2 more I had written earlier, but had never taken the time to add pictures. Enjoy!

I love ornaments. Especially sparkly ones. And ornaments from when I was little. And ornaments from when the kids were babies. I love ornaments!

As we get the ornaments out to decorate the tree, I'm reminded of where we got the ornaments or what they stand for. Like these...

These are from Grandma and Grandpa Bandow from Christmas in 1995.

I love these because it feels like there's a little part of them with me at Christmas.

The fabric ones with sequins on them are from my Aunt Jean.

She made one every year for the first 4 years of my life (I think).

I love that she put my name and the year on the back. Those are my favorites. The kids were cute this year because they would look at them and say, "Mommy, this one is yours. You can put it on the tree."

These are my favorite newer ornaments.

I love these because they reflect the light coming from the tree.

Ornaments hold a special meaning for everyone. They mark special dates, special years, firsts and many other things. Every year I am reminded of these things as we decorate our tree. What special ornaments do you have on your tree?

On the fourth day of writing...cookies!

(If you missed day 1, 2 or 3, take a peek!)

Lots of cookies. Chocolate cookies. Sugar cookies. Cookies that look perfect. Cookies made with love. 7 layer bars. Kiss cookies. Lots and lots of cookies!

We love cookies around our house. As a kid I remember my mom making spritz cookies. I can even hear the Wrrrrr of the spritz maker, spouting out the cookies, one after another, and pretty quick at that! There were red, green and yellow ones we used to make. I also remember adding the decorations to the top of the cookies. My favorites to add were the little silver beads. I'm not sure why, but I think I liked the shiny look of them. Sprinkles and red hots were added to the spritz cookies too. I haven't made them with my mom in a while. Now it's for ease of what keeps the attention of 2 five year olds!

This year the kids and I have made cookies with both of the Mammas. The first round consisted of chocolate kiss cookies,

7 layer bars, some cocoa cookies covered in powdered sugar (I don't know the name of them), sugar cookies

and gingerbread cookies.

The second round

had cream cheese sugar cookies

and Oreo truffles.

Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is...I might just have to get some treats as I'm writing this!

I love baking this time of year. The smells and the traditions continued are some of my favorites. I hope it's a tradition we keep as our kids grow up. Now where are those cookies...

On the third day of writing...Holiday Specials!

Yes, as in TV holiday specials. We love them around our house. There are the classic standbys:

Charlie Brown Christmas

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Frosty the Snowman

But then there are some new ones that are turning out to be family favorites:

Shrek the Halls

Prep and Landing

Elf on the Shelf

Watching the holiday specials something we can do as often or as little as we want, thanks to the invention of the DVR. I remember, as a kid, always plotting out when the shows were going to be on and making sure we were either home to watch them or making sure the VCR was set to record. "Oh, how times have changed!" as we say (as we get older). I can almost recite some of the shows by heart because we've watched them so many times! We love sitting together, knowing the songs that are coming, laughing at the same jokes and knowing that things always turn out ok in the end. Holiday specials are always fun to enjoy as a family!

On the second day of writing...songs!

There were songs to sing! You sing, don't you? I do. Not when anyone is really around. Just my family. And in the car. I sing then too. My favorite songs to sing? Christmas songs. That's because they're not too long, you can understand them and there is a lot of repetition. Makes them easy!

Our kids got a chance to sing tonight. If you read this, then you know they're in choir at church. Tonight they had a chance to go to the nursing home that was very close to church. I went along to hear them because I have fond memories of singing there too.

They sang many of the ones we know-Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Joy to the World and Jingle Bells. The song they saved for the end-and the one all of the kids seemed to know the best-was Go Tell it on the Mountain. Loved it!

I like the not-so-classic classics too: Suzy Snowflake, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. Hearing the kids sing those are pretty funny! Christmas music is played through our house and in our car starting the day after Thanksgiving. We love listening to the carols and sing along all together. It really is "the most wonderful time of the year!"

On the first day of writing...Santa!

(If you read earlier in the week, you may have read this, to know that I am venturing on a "12 Days of Christmas" writing, inspired by the song. Here is day 1!)

There was Santa! Santa visits are a tradition for us. They were a tradition for me as a kid, too. I don't really remember specific visits, but I do remember sitting on Santa's lap. It was always something I did during the Christmas season and I loved it! Such is the tradition we have started with our kids. Today was our Santa visit for the year. We've found "The Santa" and we just love him! We get a few minutes of him interacting with the kids, asking questions, finding out what they want, giving hugs...all of those important things. They're much more comfortable with him than they were the first time we visited him. Just, well, take a look below...

Santa visit 2011-5 years old

 Santa visit 2010-4 years old

 Santa visit 2009-3 years old

 Santa visit 2008-2 years old...still a bit unsure but warming up slowly to Santa.

 Santa visit 2007-1 year old...this is when they placed the kids on the chair first, got them occupied with a book that played music and lit up. Then Santa came in from the front, talked with them a bit and snuggled up in front. A, always the one to study people, was VERY unsure at this visit. 

Santa visit 2006-5 months old...a visit after taking Christmas pictures that year. This Santa was very cranky and not super interactive. A cried and cried-red faced and shaking. Here she had calmed down a bit. And C, well, he looks as if he might jump out of Santa's arms at any moment!

Santa...the first day of the "12 Days of Christmas-writing style." Look for day 2 tomorrow!