And The Holiday Begins...

... the tree went up on "African American" Friday (Thank you Whoopi Goldberg).  Grace heard Whoopi say it on television and that's her new favorite day to ask about... oye.
Each year since the girls were infants we have done their hand prints as ornaments... well last year our cat broke 2 (both from 2008) of the hand prints and then he threw up on the 2010 ones. :( I forgot about it until Friday and it makes me sad. So I have major regret and now will go to my mother and ask her for her hand print ornaments from those years so I can trace them and "remake" the ones that are forever gone. It won't be exactly the same but it will be close and that's all that matters.
  Our tree is made up of hodge podge of ornaments. All of them that we have received over the years. We have no ornaments on the tree that do not have a special meaning and (as you can see from the photo) we have many people who love us. Our girlies end up with 5 ornaments per year (1 from us that they pick out,  1 from each set of grand parents (2), and 1 they make and 1 of their handprint) that totals 5. Kailee is only 7 years old and she has 35 ornaments! Seriously a 7 year old should not have that many ornaments... By the time she's 10 she'll have 50 ornaments... I think I'll have to figure out a new method for these ornaments... but a tradition is a tradition... and we will always get them an ornaments. We will always make handprint ornaments and we will always make an ornament... so I guess by the time she graduates high school she will have 90 ornaments... enough to decorate an entire 6 foot tree alone. Wow... I think we need a 12 foot tree or another 7 1/2 footer... Jon's choice I guess.
  So, to add to the chaotic beauty that is our tree I bought more crafty items for the girls to decorate this year. I love Christmas!
  Tradition is very important to us; there are so many now...

• Ornaments (1 bought, 1 made, 1 handprint)
• Baking a cake Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus' birthday
• Elf on a Shelf (Diego Sparkle -- he has been with our family for 3 years now)
• 12 days of Christmas -- on December 12 Diego Sparkle brings little treats to the girls each day if they are well behaved the day before. 
• New pajamas that we open Christmas Eve
• Polish Sausage cooking in the crockpot
• Stocking traditions: new fun socks, pez, a card game, small boxes of chocolates, wooden game/toy (this year it is a small spinning top!) and a small doll or stuffed animal.

These traditions mean so much and I hope that if anything my daughters will carry these on or make their own. Tradition for me is part of what Christmas means...