five days of christmas traditions

I've talked before about how important traditions are to me.  Besides being fun and creating memories, I think they can provide our children with a strong sense of security and stability, and can really help to unite our families together.  Christmas time is such a wonderful time to implement some really great traditions because there are so many opportunities for them!

That being said, Christmas time is also extremely hectic - there's just no way around it!  I do my best to be fairly selective in the things we do that take us away from home, but I have come to accept the fact that life in December is still going to be busy and full.  So I want our traditions to be fairly easy, fun, and meaningful.  There are so many great ideas out there, and while part of me wants to go and do them all, I also realize that you can have too much of a good thing.  If a tradition takes a lot of prep work from me, or if it becomes something we feel like we have to do instead of something we get to do, then it's probably not going to be a good fit for us.  I know that as the mom, I'm the one who is mainly setting the tone for our home and for our family.  And while that is important every day, I feel the responsibility of it even more so during the Christmas season.

Through all the hustle and bustle of the season, my hope is that we can slow down enough to remember what it is we are truly celebrating.

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In an effort to document how our family celebrates, I will be spending the next few days talking about some of our favorite holiday traditions.  Tomorrow is all about Christmas music!