Christmas Traditions

This was the first Christmas that we spent at our own home with just our little family....and we LOVED it. I'm not sure we'll ever be convinced to travel again (well, maybe not NEVER). So this year we got to mix and match traditions from the Sorensen and the Dick family as well as starting some of our own. Here are some Christmas time traditions that we have:

*Putting up the Christmas decoration (sometime during the week after Thanksgiving)
*Making fudge and taking it to friends and neighbors (we delivered bunches this year)
*Watching the First Presidency Christmas devotional
*Going somewhere to see Christmas lights (sometimes this is just around neighborhoods and sometimes this is to temple grounds or to some other community display)
*Making and decorating sugar cookies
*Watching Christmas movies throughout the month (these are the ones we watch every December: Home Alone (1 and 2), How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, Charlie Brown Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story, Muppet Christmas Carol, The Polar Express)
*Read Christmas stories at night (not necessarily every night, but quite a few throughout the month)
*We try to enjoy other holiday activities throughout the month: Christmas parties, Christmas parades, creche displays, holiday music performances, etc.
*And of course Christmas music on throughout the entire month (in the house and car)

On Christmas Eve:
*Open one gift (the same gift) - matching PJs for the whole family (my sewing machine was on the fritz this year, so I purchased them. Usually I make fun PJ pants for everyone)
*Have a Family Home Evening where we sing carols and read from the scriptures about the birth of the Savior. Last year the kids dressed up and acted out the nativity. This year they used our crocheted nativity dolls and used them to play out the scene.
*Eat a candle-lit dinner (pretty fun for the kids) of ham, hashbrown potato casserole, homemade rolls, a vegetable and fizzy drink.
*Watch "Muppet Christmas Carol" right before bed (and more times than not the kids fall asleep to this).

Christmas Day:
*The kids have to wait to go into the main room until they hear music playing (Sean played the Hallelujah Chorus this year).
*Santa leaves balloons all over the floor along with the gifts. When the kids are young, this excited them more than almost anything else.
*Everyone can open the little things surrounding their stockings that are wrapped as well as the unwrapped bigger things.
(This year Santa left Caelan and Megan a three story doll house, Ben a series of Star Wars characters and Nathan a construction truck.)
*One person plays "Santa" and passes out the gifts from under to the tree to their recipients.
*We open presents one by one starting with the youngest.
*The traditional food on Christmas day is still be tested. This year I made homemade tamales and we ate those with homemade beans and salad and tortilla soup on Christmas (pretty traditional for New Mexico, actually).