Traditions

I love this time of year because it is so rich in tradition. I love traditions! When Troy and I were about to get married we met with our stake president who counseled us to take a few of the traditions that we grew up with, but mostly to start our own traditions. We have done that a lot. We can incorporate a lot of our old family traditions, but at the point where those collide, and we have to choose, we make up our own. I love it. I love that our kids now expect us to do certain things, and remind us when we forget. I decided I would share some of my favorites from this time of year. One is that each year we open a present on Christmas Eve (taken from Troy's childhood) (always Jammies and slippers at our house) Another one that is not fun in the moment, but fun to laugh about later is taken from my childhood. Our Christmas Tree always falls over, at least once. Even though now we have an artificial tree, and you would think it would stay up better, it doesn't. Every year without fail it falls, and usually it is caused by one of the kids. Poor little squished babies, but it does let us know without a doubt who was the culprit:) And since we are on the subject of decorating we always decorate for Christmas as soon as we can after Thanksgiving dinner. And Every year Troy hangs lights on our house, and EVERY year he either falls off the ladder, or shocks himself (Sometimes both:)

Another tradition we have is to buy a new piece for our Christmas Village that represents what we did during the year. We started that tradition as a newlywed couple, buying a church, and a bride and groom. We have pieces representing purchasing our houses, getting kids, finalizing the adoption, moving, camping, anything that sums up the big events in our life. We love it and it helps us look back and see the things that were important. I also collect nativities, and so each year we buy a new one.

We also choose a family to do a sub for Santa for. This is a much bigger undertaking on the years we have money than it is in the poor years (like this one:) But we always make sure to give what we can to someone. I am really excited about this year because though we don't have quite as much to give, the kids are more involved this year, and it is really coming from our heart.

Many of our traditions start around food, and here are my two favorites. First, we have a Christmas Breakfast. This is a relatively new one as the first couple of years were spent with our families. But the last three Christmases we have made a special breakfast - gingerbread waffles, star shaped french toast, homemade hot chocolate, mulled syrup, my famous (in our house) omelets, and ham. We don't usually eat big breakfasts like that, so once a year is perfect for us. Our other food related tradition is old (starting with my family, and Grandma Fuller's Christmas eve party and evolving from there) but it just got a title a few years ago, stolen from a friend. It is our Annual Eberling Family Hog-fest! We get tons of junk food, and our favorite treats, and instead of a real dinner hog down on crap and watch Christmas movies until way into the morning. That is one of my personal favorites, and it is one of the only things that is more fun now that we moved away. I usually miss being "home" during this time of year, and doing things with our families, but this one is great with just the four of us.

And finally, new years eve. This came from boredom more than anything, but it stuck. When we were first married we had parties to go to, but after we moved to LaSal, and had kids there wasn't much of a party scene for us, so we gathered a ton of treats, and sat on the couch watching count down shows, and info-mercials. We laugh at all of the crazy things that are for sale late at night, make a "wish list" of our top five, and sometimes even call and ask crazy questions. I know, we are a riot aren't we:) It usually lasts way past midnight because we have so much fun!

So now it's your turn. What are some of your fun traditions?