- decorating the tree the last weekend in November - its funny because we realized this year that our tree is too short for the cathedral ceilings in our home - hopefully we'll be able to find a tree boxing day this year - and when we eventually finish the basement we can have a "kids tree" down there with all of the homemade ornaments (this is something that my parents when we were young). Here is our tree this year (not great, but festive!). The first pic is the tree in our new house (with 12 ft ceilings a 6.5 ft tree looks Charlie-Brownish)
- attending Midnight Mass at St. Anne's in Tecumseh with my parents and sister (the church where I grew up, where we got married in 2006, and where our children will be baptized) - Father Couture's rendition of "Oh Holy Night" is not to be missed...Ha
- having a fish dinner on Christmas Eve with the Valente clan (it is a traditional Italian Christmas thing) at Nonna Donna's house - J just loves that baccala!
- Clementines in our stockings! (A "Maurina" Christmas tradition")
- Boxing day at my in-laws - with all the hustle and bustle of Christmas day - this is a nice relaxing day, just to focus on fun for the kids (10 in total, #11 on the way!)
There are some traditions that we'd like to start on our own, as we are becoming our own family unit now... here's some we'd like to do:
- pick out a special ornament for each Christmas
- bake cookies together and give away as gifts (we've already started this one!)
- read "T'was The Night Before Christmas" and the Christmas Bible Story on Christmas Eve to our kids
J and I are excited to start new family traditions with our new family!
