The Blanch Herd: Christmastime is Here {Traditions}

All month long we had fun things to do to get and keep us in the holiday spirit. From daily things like adding another piece to the advent calendar, to big events like decorating our Christmas tree, there was so much to look forward to during December. Here's what we did:

Christmas Story-a-Day Unwrapping Countdown: This is a tradition I saw sometime before I had kids and knew that I wanted to implement it into our yearly celebrations. We've been slowly collecting Christmas and winter-themed books each year to add to the stack, and for the rest that we need to fill in to 25 (you could also just do 24, but I always love to squeeze in as many books as possible) I just check out some books at the library (I wrap them up and keep them at the top of the stack to make sure we get them opened and read before they are due back at the library). Callie loved this tradition this year, but also had to learn how to take turns with her brother, who loved to open a present each time it was his turn, too. By the end of the month he had that unwrapping thing down - just in time for Christmas!

December 1st - we're ready!

Some of the early books we read (not all were wrapped because
there are just too many good Christmas books and not enough
days to wrap them for!). My favorite in this batch was
Christmas Day in the Morning.

Some of the snow/winter themed books we enjoyed. My fave
in this batch was Snow by Cynthia Rylant (and now I own it
thanks to a Christmas gift from Gregg).

My favorite in this batch is The Year of the Perfect Christmas
Tree, which Callie got for Christmas to add to our collection.

My favorite in this group is A Christmas Tree for Pyn.

Here are some that are for older readers. The Best Christmas
Pageant Ever is my particular favorite.

And just a few more to round off the month. I think Where is
Christmas, Jesse Bear? is cute.

Grandma's Gingerbread Building: This is a tradition fifty-something years running. My grandma started making them with my dad and his brothers when they were small. The tradition continued with her grandchildren (me and my siblings and cousins). And now, it's extending on to the next generation and Callie was totally into it this year. She went to town decorating her house with as much candy as she could fit on it. It's fun for me to love something that I grew up loving, as well. That's why I love traditions.

This girl was in candy heaven!

Christmas Tree Hunting and Decorating: We really miss being so close to Tigiwon Road in Colorado where we could drive a half hour, hike about a mile, and pick out and saw down a fresh Christmas tree for the price of a $10 tag. Last year we happened to be in Colorado visiting/working around tree-hunting time, so we kept up that tradition. This year we talked about going again to visit and get a tree, but in the end decided that a 9-hour drive with two young kids in questionable weather just to get a Christmas tree (and then to return back home on top of that!) probably wasn't the best use of our December hours. So we tried something else. We headed to Ogden one Monday evening with a "budget" of $30 in search of a Christmas tree lot. All we could find was a bunch of $36 trees piled up haphazardly in front of Smith's Marketplace. We hemmed and hawed for a few minutes and ultimately decided that they were just not the trees we were looking for. Not that we couldn't afford something $6 more than what we had arbitrarily picked as our limit, but it just wasn't what we wanted to spend our money on. We knew we'd be back in Logan for the gingerbread houses that weekend, and that there was a tree lot there that was more our style, so we waited. And I'm so glad we did. We found the perfect tree for our family (and at the perfect price of only $23! Bam!). We took it home and decorated it that night after Sam went to bed. Callie loved every second of hanging ornaments and candy canes. And that evening our Christmas-story-reading was even cozier in the glow of Christmas tree lights.

We had four strands of lights, but only half of a couple
strands worked when I took them out of the boxes.
(I think there was at least one that worked completely.)
By the end of the month, we were down to four strands
on the tree and only 1 strand working. We took the
decorations off on New Year's Eve and restrung the one
remaining good strand so we could keep the ambiance
for a bit longer. Currently (writing this into January)
the one remaining strand is half-lit.

Last year the Wihongis gave us some awesome
glasses that turn the lights into shapes when you
look through them. I attempted to take a pic
of what you see when you wear them.
These ones: gingerbread men.

And candy canes. It's not quite as blurry in
real life, but you get the idea.

Cookie Plates for the Neighbors: I wanted to make some Christmas cookies to take to our neighbors (so we wouldn't have dozens and dozens to eat by ourselves, just enough to enjoy and to share) and Cal and Sam were totally into helping me this year. We made sugar cookies - what an experience with a three-year-old! I also really wanted to make magic cookie bars and shortbread thumbprints (because I really wanted to eat those ones!). We made a mess and we made some memories and we (hopefully) made some neighbors and friends and visiting/home teaching families a little more cheery.

I had 12 plates in the cupboard, so we figured out 12 people we
could take them to.

The Nutcracker with Grandma: Grandma Blanchard invited Callie and me to come to South Jordan to watch a production of the Nutcracker - Callie's first ever ballet! (Which is a big deal to this ballet-loving Grandma.) We originally planned on Friday the 16th, but snowstorms caused us to postpone a day and I'm so glad we did. The roads were much better for traveling on Saturday, and we were able to make it down there in good time and without any incidents. We picked up Grandma at her house and then drove to Olive Garden for dinner. Then we traveled to Riverdale for the show. It was a small community ballet group putting it on, and Kim knew one of the girls in it from her ward. We were able to find seats sort of close to the front and Callie was mesmerized for the first half. Then she got tired and we decided to leave after the intermission. (Too bad the really fun stuff comes in the second half, but at least we did get to see dancing snowflakes and queen. And we can look forward to seeing the whole production next year!)

Holding the buzzer while we wait to be seated.

Coloring and stickering the menu was probably the highlight of
the restaurant for Callie.

Photo op by the giant nutcracker at the entrance.

What a fun memory to share with a fun Grandma!

Advent Calendars: Knowing how Cal loved the turkey-feather countdown so much, I knew that our daily advent nativities would be a hit with her, too. And I was right. She could do the felt one all by herself, so oftentimes I'd wake up and she had already added another piece to the scene. The button one in the hallway was a little trickier (and the pieces were stored up high on a counter) so I got to help her with that one, but she always picked where each character was placed. Someday we'll have a "perfect" manger scene depicted, I'm sure, but for now, these are totally perfect to me.

Laurel made this one for our family a few years
ago for Christmas. It's based on one that Gregg's
family grew up doing each year.

My mom made this one for me (and a similar one
for Heather) years ago for Christmas. I treasure it!

Christmas Song-a-Day Countdown on Facebook: One of my favorite things to do, I compiled yet another daily list of "favorite" Christmas songs to share on the blog and on my facebook page. This was my seventh year doing it, and every year I think I'll run out of unique songs (I've never repeated a song-artist combo in all my years doing it and I've never repeated an artist in the same year!) but somehow I find or remember more each time I try and by the end of the month I've got another list longer than I started with for next year.

Here is 2016's edition, in case you missed it.

Grandpa Gallagher's Family Christmas Lunch: Gregg's Grandpa Gallagher likes to host a family lunch around the holidays each year. This year we got to meet Gregg's uncle Craig and his wife Leslie who live in Texas and don't get up to Utah at Christmastime very often. We also enjoyed visiting with his Uncle Shawn and Aunt Ann and four of their boys, plus Aunt Lori and her daughter Sarah and her husband Travis. Plus Gregg's parents, of course, and Heather stopped by to say hi on her way to another meet-up, too. It was a fun party and yummy Olive Garden food. Cal and Sam may have been the highlight of the show. ;)