We always have very busy Decembers between UPS being extra busy, church events, family get-togethers, and fun traditions. I already shared our Christmas tree buying tradition with you (and that usually happens at the end of November), but I wanted to share pictures from some of our other traditions. There are, of course, other traditions that we have that I'm not showing here.....because then this post would be ridiculously long if I did!! But I wanted to share a few of the highlights of our December:
- I always bake cookies with my mom, a tradition she has been doing with neighbors for as long as I can remember. It's usually 2 days of baking, with so many different kinds of cookies, lots of dishes, and many many balls of dough to roll. Mason also helps on the first day, too! (And Rylan helped this year by sticking his fingers into one of the pans of cookies before they were cut...) There are usually at least 3 people working on the cookies on our Friday baking day - usually neighbors or friends - but each year the number varies.
- The Stuarts Draft Christmas Parade is a pretty new tradition, but it's been fun to add to our December schedule. We rarely make it to the Staunton or Waynesboro parades, so it's fun that our little town has added its own Christmas parade to the mix.
- Christmas Eve used to always be the night to go to my Grandpa's house with all the cousins. After he died, we moved it to my parents' house. The amount of people who can come each year varies, like all family gatherings. We have subs, snacks, presents, and we read the Christmas story together. It's always a sweet reminder of family memories for me.
- Christmas day is always quite busy for our little family, and this year was no exception. We woke up to have our own family's Christmas at home; then we went to my parent's house to open presents there; then we Skyped with Heidi's family in Zimbabwe; then we went to Aunt Michele's house for Christmas dinner with all of the family who could make it; then Josh, the kids, and I drove to Pennsylvania to spend the rest of Christmas Day and weekend with his family.
That's all!! I hope you enjoyed peeking into our December. :)