Family Christmas Traditions

Most families have strong traditions at Christmastime. Mine is one of them. Christmas is HUGE for us.

The biggest tradition in my family is our Christmas Eve breakfast and our Christmas Eve night gift exchange. On Christmas Eve morning, we always gather together (not an easy task with 25 people, most all of them children.) and eat a very big breakfast. We have my grandmother's homemade buttermilk biscuits. We have ham, bacon, sausage and, sometimes, fried chicken! We have eggs. We have grits. We have gravy and red-eye gravy. True to our Irish heritage, we have salmon and fried cheese. We have coffee, hot chocolate, and juice. Yes, it's big. :) We open one, small gift at the table and then dig in! After the kitchen is cleaned, all the grandchildren open a basket of small gifts from my grandparents.

That night, we get decked out and come together again. We take a bunch of pictures. We laugh. We eat a little. We sing a lot. Then we exchange gifts and empty our stockings.

So it has been my entire life.

Last year was my first Christmas as a wife and I was introduced to my husband's family Christmas traditions, complete with a breakfast, a lunch, and a dinner! I loved it and I'm excited for this year now that I know the swing the things. :)

This year I am a mommy and I have been dwelling on Christmas traditions for weeks. Christmas Eve is with my family. Christmas Day is with Grant's family. Somewhere in between in "our time." :) My thoughts?

What are some Christmas traditions that I can begin for my children?
 

Here are some of my ideas:

• Open new PJs on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
 
• Buy one new ornament each year with the year's highlight (i.e. Last year, a "couple" ornament for our marriage. This year, a "baby" ornament for Nathan.)
 
• Help Mommy bake Christmas cookies.

• Go see the Christmas lights in our area.
  
• Pick out one possession that you choose to give to someone else (i.e.  For Nathan: a toy for another child; for Mommy: donate to Goodwill or the like)
 
• Make apple cider with cinnamon sticks.
 
• Buy one new outfit for Christmas Eve.
 
• Watch Christmas movies; The Nativity Story, being the most important.
 
• Decorate the tree together.
 
• Read the Christmas story on Christmas Day.
 
• Go to a Christmas symphony/production every year.
 
• Make cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. --- Don't know when I'll begin this, but I hope to soon. Maaaaaybe this year.
 
• Sing Happy Birthday, Jesus every year.
 

Got any more ideas? What are YOUR Christmas traditions?