Christmas At My House
We have developed quite a few holiday traditions over the years, like we always put up our tree and decorate the house for Christmas the day after Thanksgiving. I started this tradition years before I became a Mom when I was working at a retail portrait studio and the day after Thanksgiving was basically the ONLY day I had off from the beginning of November until Christmas day. I know, crazy, right? I am so grateful that is behind me and I am able to have my own studio with the best clients around! We also try to hit up the local, holiday light display, Overly's Country Christmas, we bake and decorate sugar cookies, and we decorate a gingerbread house.
Today I want to share with you our gingerbread house decorating and a new tradition that we started this year. This year, Brody wrapped the gifts that he purchased for everyone at school all by himself. I was super impressed with how well he did, and he never even lost the tape or scissors once! I am going to have to take notes next time because I always seem to lose one or the other in between each gift that I wrap.
Brody and I have been decorating gingerbread houses together since he was probably two years old. It's usually just a lot of him eating the icing and the candy decorations with some decorating. This year we decided to split the house in half and each decorate a side. It was a lot of fun teaching Brody how to make icing icicles and watching him try to do it. I think he really enjoyed that too because that ended up dripping tons of "extra" icing that he quickly scooped up and ate.
Decorating the gingerbread house is always so much fun. It really is one of my most favorite holiday activities to do with Brody. I love seeing his creativity and imagination come out.
I love how he has become so intentional in where he places the decorations and wants to try and do the icing on his own. In years past there was a lot of just random candies everywhere and icing every which way. I guess that is a sign of him growing up.
We still have some randomness, but that makes it special! haha It's just for fun and we did have lots of that!
Last year Brody started Kindergarten and it was the first time that he was able to shop for his family all by himself. At his school they do a holiday gift shop that the kids can purchase gifts for their friends and family on their own. I think it is so fun to see what he comes home with for each person on his list. We made a list of who he will shop for, Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, PapPap, Nunnie, and Pappy, and we gave him a set amount to spend. This year I gave him $30, or $5 per person. He did a great job selecting presents for everyone and he even brought home $10! Again, I am going to have to take notes from him because I am always OVER budget when shopping for gifts!
I asked him if he would like to wrap his gifts this year, and I would show him how. He immediately told me that he, "probably already knows how to wrap because he has always watched me." Okay...so I helped him cut some paper to the appropriate size for his gifts and let him at it. I was really impressed! He really was doing an awesome job for never having done it before. I joked and said, "I think you might be better than Daddy at wrapping!" With which he replied, "I probably am!" Always confident, this kid...always confident.
There was some slight frustration with the tape dispenser...but you can't win them all, right? Those pesky tape dispensers can really be a pain!
He really seemed to enjoy wrapping the gifts that he selected for his family all by himself. He kept saying how fun it was and he wanted to wrap more when he was finished. I am so glad that I thought to grab the camera and take a few photos of this moment. I love the determination on his face to try and get he paper folded just right, and I love seeing his little hand placing the tape and writing the names on the tags. I know next year that his hands won't be so little and maybe that look of determination will be different.
What are some of your holiday traditions? Do you build and decorate a gingerbread house, wrap presents together, or something else? I hope that you have enjoyed this little peek into my house at Christmastime! I want to wish you all a wonderful holiday season with your families and hope that you have tons of fun together!