The Best Christmas Pageant Ever 
A Charlie Brown Christmas Soundtrack
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
A Treat for Friends & Neighbors (this year, I made these white chocolate-dipped pretzels)
An Ornament from Childhood (I have an ornament I made when I was three!)
The Story of Jesus’ Birth (for children)
A Family Christmas Tradition – We don’t have one yet, though we do buy an ornament every time we do something special; this way we can re-tell all those stories as we hang them every year. Growing up, we used to celebrate Christmas Eve as Jesus’ birthday – cake and present (usually an ornament).
So, I’m curious – what are your family traditions? Items on your "Christmas Essentials List"?
Other Links: The Christmas Story from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; National Christmas Tree Association; chocolate-dipped pretzel recipe
Crystal,
Lacey forgot to mention we listen to Alabama Christmas also. Don’t you just love the song “Thistlehair”? My boys have just started getting into that song and wants to hear it when we get in the car.
Lacey usually goes to church with Geoff’s family but this year we are going to a late service to hear our dad’s choir. So we are starting something a little new.
Holly
Forgot to mention one of the traditions we started when we were finally able to do so… every year we do something for someone in need, whether it’s buy extra toys for Toys for Tots while shopping for the granddaughters, dishing out salad at the community free dinner, or filling a shoebox for Samaritan’s Purse (www.samaritanspurse.org), to me this is the entire essence of Christmas in a nutshell. You girls always participated with me, and now your dad has joined in. We always pick something that involves “doing”, not just dropping a check in the mail, and for me, Christmas really starts when I do this… it never fails to “make” my holiday, even during difficult times.
I am excited to start Christmas traditions w/our girls. When my husband was young (and even now) his parents gave him an ornament every year. we put them on our tree now. So we have started getting ornaments for our girls too.
Also, since I was about 8 or 9, we have gone to a Christmas Brunch (one sunday before christmas) Everyone goes and now the grandkids have started to be “invited” and attend as well. Its fun!
Did you ever see the made-for-tv special of Best Christmas Pageant Ever? I remember watching it with my grandmother so many billions of years ago and actually recently ordered it off of Amazon for my kids. I read that book every year with my son, too.
The other tradition we have is that the kids get to buy a new ornament every year. I put their names and the dates on the bottoms and when they’re older and leave the house, they’ll get to take them with them to start their own tree.
Hope you’re having a great holiday season!
we go to christmas eve service together. then i must have White Christmas on while wrapping presents after the kids go to bed. when i’m done i turn off all the lights and arrange the presents under the tree…then i make my dh come up and look at the presents for a few minutes and then i just sit quietly and look at the presents and imagine how excited my boys will be in the a.m. 🙂 on christmas morning both my dh and i get the kids up and we all go upstairs together and we open presents for awhile…then i pop in a breakfast casserole and we eat and then back to presents. we just relax and play with toys all day 🙂
So far our Christmas traditions involve long flights home. Also, all the girls in our family (grandmom, aunts, and cousins) get together and have dinner and play dirty Santa. I actually started that tradition 2 years ago.
Nowadays I find I *have to* watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” at least once during the season. And of course your dad watches the copy you gave him of The Wizard of Oz (still don’t understand that one…except for maybe that’s what was on TV for Christmas in California???)
The other essential is to go to candlelight service at church on Christmas eve… not particular about which church, as long as the service is by candlelight and carols are sung.
Your dad’s other essential is that *I* must get up and make a HUGE breakfast the morning of Christmas Day. 🙂