Christmas Traditions

The whole reason that holidays are so fun and we look forward to them is because of traditions.

This year I'll admit that I have been feeling to sick to care (plus Kyle has worked every holiday), but I will save all the excitement and fun planning for next year when I will care even more!

I have been thinking about why I love Christmas so much and it is because I have amazing parents that have always tried to make it so special :)

These are some Christmas' that I remember:

1991

In Australia I got an awesome rainbow bike with training wheels! And if you look closely in the bottom picture, my first camera! lol

1992

My mom made that doll house for me.  I mean"Santa's elves" made that doll house for me AND my little mermaid blanket that I still have, but all the silk on the edges was rubbed off during the days that I sucked my thumb.

1998

I believe this is the beginning of the tradition to make gingerbread houses with my moms side of the family.  We even started making homemade gingerbread parts for them.

1999

Our first Christmas with Ben and Josh and the beginning of getting matching Christmas pajamas to open on Christmas Eve! Josh was a stud dancing with the cowboy Santa you see there.

2001

Matching pajama dog pile! (we also started doing pyramids this year too)

I remember we all got tubes that year and on Christmas day we all went sledding! It was so much fun!

2003

Matching footie pajamas!

Mom and dad always made us go into the family room to see our presents one by one so that mom could film each of us.  After a few years I finally convinced them to let me go first.

 2003

Still making gingerbread houses with the cousins.  The family also started making scrapbook calendars every year to give to each family for Christmas.

That year at moms house I got my first ever digital camera AND it recorded videos!  The first videos I made were of all of us sledding in Ogden.

2004

I got a convertible that year! So spoiled! Mom said I didn't have a heart cause I didn't seem excited enough, but I promise I was! lol

2007

Jake and I got snowboards and I tried to learn how to snowboard that year! I let Kyle try mine out and he picked it up a lot faster because he isn't as scared as I am to get hurt.  That was the time that Jake broke his collar bone on the mountain.

2008

This was the last Christmas that our family was all together.  We have had missionaries out ever since so our 7 year tradition will be talking to missionaries on Christmas!

Mom usually reads a Christmas book that night and we watch Christmas oranges and all get an orange to eat during the movie.  In the morning we read the Christmas story in the bible before we go downstairs to see our presents.

The other tradition we have is writing a note in a stocking we have for Jesus telling him what gift we will give him for that year.

That year on Christmas Eve we all played Rock Band together and Kyle was there with us.

2011

Our Christmas present from mom and dad that year was a trip to Disneyland and we left the day after Christmas! I love presents that are fun things to do :) and I love road trips! We all got to ride down in the Suburban and were driving back together on New Year's Eve.

2012

Our Christmas present from mom was a snowmobiling trip up in Park City! Kyle thought we just had to follow the guide the whole time, but when we got to the top there was a big bowl that we got to go play in! So fun!

Besides Christmas Day there are family Christmas parties we go to each year a couple times we even went and rode on the Polar Express!  With my dads side of the family Santa comes and we have usually played chimes and sang carols together.

Kyle's family goes to Temple Square every year to see the lights.

We have also started going to see Savior of the World for the past few years and have a big family sleepover.  I love sleepovers! Especially when Stephanie spills her hot chocolate in my sleeping bag.

Every year we would always get a new ornament for the Christmas tree to represent something we had done that year, it makes decorating the Christmas tree SO much fun when we remember all the things we have done over the years!

And of course it's not Christmas unless I have watched Elf, The Grinch and The Santa Claus sometime in December! My three favorite Christmas movies :)