Friday, December 5, 2008

Setting up Christmas 2008

One of our family holiday traditions is setting up the Christmas tree. We like to purchase the tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and then decorate it the next day. When Jeremy was a kid his mom made a big deal out of this event. She would make a special dinner. They would dine by candlelight. Christmas music would fill their house as they worked together to make a beautiful tree. That tradition has continued with our family.

I crafted a lovely centerpiece.

I set out a tablecloth. (That's when you know it is fancy at our house.)

Cook a delicious meal. We had dinner in a pumpkin, cheddar garlic biscuits, apple dippers and sparkling cider.

After dinner we watched a short Christmas DVD together then decorated the tree with all the kids' homemade ornaments, ornaments from my childhood and some new ones.

We give the kids their first gift of Christmas on this night - an ornament of their own to add to their collection. The kids love getting a gift at the beginning of the season. We were actually thinking ahead when we started this tradition. We plan to give them a box of their own ornaments when they finally move out and are on their own. Then they'll be able to decorate their own tree with memories on that first Christmas away from home.

6 comments:

Kristin said...

That is so nice! Pretty tree, too.

rebecca @ older and wisor said...

So pretty! That was our family home evening..setting up/ decorating the tree. Kids idea. And they lasted about 10 minutes before the boys completely lost interest and began a light saber battle, and Sierra got distracted trying to find all the christmas cd's. So much for that great idea. Maybe next year...

Anonymous said...

i love that ornament idea. i may have to steal it someday!

Whittaker Woman said...

shoot... can i do a redo and have a fancy dinner. i love it. One question do you get all the lights on first? My kids would not have enough patience to wait for that tedious part. I also have a box for each of them and ornaments, but I love giving them one on the first day... Love it. H

jennifer said...

so we always make the evening as easy as possible for the kids and their short attention spans. everything is ready to go so they don't have to wait for long periods of time. the tree is already strung with lights and ribbon before we begin. all the kids have to do is hang their ornaments and fight over who puts on the tree topper. from dinner to bedtime it's about 1 hour. including 40 minutes for the dvd time.

Elizabeth said...

Aimee has been promising me that pumpkin dinner recipe. Will you send it to me? It looks great! A creative genius at work. It is really hard to have you 3 (J, K & A) as friends, but I love the benefits I get of gleaning ideas! Love you guys! B