Christmas Traditions

.Christmas Traditions.

I have been wanting to start this traditions post for a few weeks. I had not started it as I kept seeing all of these gorgeous posts from other bloggers about their decorations and traditions that seemed WAYYY better than mine. So I kept procrastinating...thinking sooner or later I would come up with some AMAZING way to show how our traditions were just as COOL as theirs. The last few days, I started thinking about it a little bit more.... I listened to a webinar with  Emily Ley & Lara Casey  about having a Joyful 2016. They spoke again about how "Comparison is the Thief of Joy". This really resonated with me this week. I need to remind myself to stop waiting to create a new post until it is perfect or meets the expectations in my head of what a beautiful post should look like. I really hope to meet these two incredible women at a Make Things Happen conference someday, but for now I will be reminded by their powerful words of "letting go of perfection". 

On to our Christmas Traditions!  People always ask what our Christmas traditions are and I think to myself, "What traditions do we have?" But when I put pencil to paper, I realize that we have a lot of traditions that we do every single year.  Today, I am sharing some of our highlights that have happened so far this December! I love the Christmas season & I hope you enjoy creating Christmas traditions with your family.

Cutting down our Christmas Tree as a family - Every year we go to Pleasant Valley Tree farm to cut down our tree as a family! {More photos}

Decorating the Tree - Our kids love hanging ornaments on the tree! I usually hang all of the fragile ornaments on the top of the tree and let them decorate the bottom as they see fit! Seeing their faces light up as we open up boxes of special ornaments is priceless. 

Visiting Santa Claus - This year we visited Santa Claus at my husband's work. They have a Children's Christmas party every year with a pizza party, kids activities and treats! They enjoyed writing letters to Santa & visiting with him. 

Family Day at the local Winery - Every year we head to our local winery for a visit with visit Santa, sleigh rides, decorating cookies and mom's favorite nachos!  Santa had not arrived yet when we stopped at the winery, but we still enjoyed our favorite nachos & cookie decorating. We were not able to ride the sleigh this year, as the ground was a muddy mess. We are ready for snow!

Christmas Crafting - My kids LOVE to craft! It must be a family trait! ha  This was just one of the crafts that they made. We used old toilet paper rolls dipped in red & green paint! 

Mailing Christmas Cards - I love mailing & receiving Christmas cards from our friends and family. I love seeing how they have changed over the past year, especially for the people we do not see very often! 

Making Homemade Gifts for friends & family - For the last few years, I have been making homemade gifts for my friends and family. I love creating something new with my hands. I also love the look on their face when they realize I made it myself! This year's craft was ornaments made out of a birch tree & a little paint! I love how they turned out!

Decorating outside of our home -  The outside of our home gets a little dressy too for the holidays. I used the remnants from our Christmas Tree to decorate this old hanging basket from this past summer. I save the decorations each year for my wreaths & baskets to create something new for the next year. 

Baking & Decorating Cookies - My kids had a blast making & decorating cookies this year.  We made Poppyseed Twinks (my husbands favorite), pretzels with kisses and M&M's, shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate and also gingerbread men dipped in chocolate. The kids were eating them faster than I could put them in the container! I had to hide them in the freezer to save them for the holidays!!

...and last but not least, watching our FAVORITE Christmas movies!

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Elf, Rudloph and Frosty the Snowman are just a few of our favorites! 

What are your favorite Christmas Traditions in your home? 

Remember that Comparison is the Thief of Joy...your traditions are just as wonderful as those you see on social media! 

Oh Christmas Tree

oh Christmas Tree, oh Christmas Tree...

how lovely are your branches...

This past Sunday, we went on our annual trek to cut down our Christmas tree! We were lucky enough to have my mother in law & father in law join us. We took my husband's old car to bring our tree home Griswold style!  The kids were visiting in the back seat and I heard my daughter tell her big brother that she loved him and gave him a big kiss. The crazy, exhausting moments are all worth it for little moments like this. 

Time for our sleigh ride out to the tree farm! We have been going to the same tree farm for the last 10 plus years! 

It is an annual tradition for my husbands family.

We found our tree after searching and searching the aisles of trees! Some little, some big, some huge! My husband likes to pick LARGE trees!

The kids wanted to try to pull the tree back to the trimming station... Well, they attempted! They got about 2 feet! ha Mom attempted too, I got about 25 feet! It was heavy!

Time for a little hot cider and fresh popcorn back at the tree farm store!

We brought our tree home and let it sit for the day to let it's limbs settle. We poured in a bottle of mountain dew (for reason's I do not understand, but apparently a family tradition.. my husband believes it helps the tree when you first put it in your stand)...old wives tale??? haha

Time for tree trimming... The kids LOVE to help decorate the tree. Mom gets a tad bit nervous with some of the special and fragile ornaments...so she takes care of these!

Big Helpers!

It's perfect! I absolutely love it!

I hope you have a joyous holiday season! 
Eat, Drink and Be Merry!

Easter Recap

I hope you had a blessed Easter! I am having a hard time believing Easter is over, as I can't quit writing March in my checkbook. Time is just flying by lately. 

Today, I am sharing some of my favorite pictures from our Easter weekend. We started our Easter weekend on Friday evening at my in-laws home for dinner & an Easter egg hunt with all the grandkids! Saturday morning, we attended another egg hunt & Easter bunny breakfast in my hometown with my mom.

Sunday morning, I didn't end up taking photos of the kids with their Easter baskets, as we were rushing to eat breakfast & get dressed to church. They were in their underwear finding their baskets! ha 

Sunday morning, we attended an amazing church service before heading to our family Easter festivities.  This photo of our family is one of my favorite's from Easter. We are all looking & smiling =WIN!

My adorable kiddos, they are getting big so fast! This year, I bought their outfits at Carters. They had great deals the week before Easter!

Top Left: Me & hubby relaxing on the couch and enjoying conversation with family  Top Right: Me & My Daddy   
Bottom Left: Me & My Grandpa. He is one of the most amazing men I know  Bottom Right: My two cuties

Fun with cousins & Great Grandma

It's hard to beat a picture of Daddy & his kiddos, I love these three more than anything!  Collin had so much fun during the egg hunt. My aunt & uncle have a big yard with plenty of space for the kids to run & play. After the egg hunt, the kids played football for the remainder of the afternoon! We are blessed to have such wonderful cousins & family!

This is we all felt at the end of the day, but Amelia was the only one to show it! We were all exhausted by the time we arrived at home on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, we had a difficult time rousing ourselves out of bed for school & work!

What was the highlight of your Easter?

A Day of Love

Valentine's Day isn't about a big bouquet of roses, sparkly jewelry or a fancy dinner. Valentine's Day is a "Day of Love" and this year we did just that. Spending the day with those you love and letting them know now much you care. This year,  we showed our grandparents/ our kids great grandparents how much we love them by giving them the gift of time and a few sweet treats! 

Our first visit started at my Grandpa's house. We brought fresh danish, donuts, fruit & orange juice to enjoy breakfast with him for Valentine's Day. We looked at old photos, laughed about old stories and watched a movie.  The kids enjoyed taking turns riding in his walker/scooter!

Our next visit was to my Grandma & Grandpa's house. My grandpa's birthday was on Sunday, so we brought Dairy Queen ice cream sundaes to celebrate his special birthday a day early. We visited in the living room together while the kids played and danced around. 

A little conversation and cuddles on the couch together.

Our last great grandparent stop was at my husband's grandparents. We had not been to their house in a very long time, so this was extra special. The kids enjoyed looking at old photos of their grandma and her siblings throughout the house. I am always amazed that they raised 16 children, Grma C is a saint!

Our last quick stop ended at my husband's parents for our kids to get their Valentine's from their grandparents- delicious heart cookies on a stick with frosting! Mmmm


We are so blessed to have so many grandparents &  great grandparents in our children's lives. What an amazing day we had showing our grandparents and great grandparents that we love them & appreciate all they have done for us. I am pretty sure they loved it too... their smiles were enough for me!

How did you show the ones you love that you loved them this Valentine's?