Tuesday Blog Hop...Christmas Traditions

Madison, Brandy, and MiMi--waiting for the nightime Christmas Parade

Christmas is the best time of the year to me, and I think my daughter, Brandy would agree. The older that she gets, the more like me she gets. We both LOVE Christmas! Hopefully, Madison will grow to love Christmas as much as we do.

One family tradition that we started with Madison is going to a Christmas Parade that is held at night. It is so pretty! There's just something about all of those pretty twinkling lights on the floats... We bundle up, take our chairs, and drive about 30 miles to where the parade is held. By the time the parade is over, we are frozen, but it's so fun! Following the parade, we go and get a bite to eat and warm up. It's supposed to be really cold this Friday night, so we may need to take some hot chocolate! If it's not too cold, Cade and his family are planning to join us for the parade this year. I hope in years to come, to be able to enjoy the night parade with both grandchildren.

Another tradition is going on an out-of-town shopping trip with Madison and her parents. We usually spend the day shopping somewhere, then look at Christmas lights on the trip home. I believe that we got stopped by a state patrolman last year on the way home because our tag light was burned out...then he began to fuss at us about the type of carseat that Madison was in...talk about putting a "damper" on a holiday trip!

This past weekend my husband took me to see a live performance of The Nutcracker. I thoroughly enjoyed it! The sets and the costumes were beautiful, and I've always loved the music. There were many mothers, daughters, and grandmothers there. Next year I'd like to take Madison and her mother and go to see it again. That would make a nice holiday tradition!

This year I decided to help start a new family tradition at Madison's house this year, so I ordered an "Elf on the Shelf" and had it sent to her. The package arrived marked From the North Pole and it had a note from Santa on top of the box. There was a little pixie elf in the package, along with a book telling about him. The story goes...the elf is sent-- by Santa to keep an eye on boys and girls from December 1 until Christmas. Each night the elf returns to the North Pole and gives his report to Santa. By the next morning the elf has returned, but has found a new spot from which to watch. Part of the fun is that children are not allowed to touch the elf or he will lose his magic, and each morning they have the pleasure of searching for him in his new resting place. I was so intrigued by all of this, and I had a great time playing on Santa's website, too. If you're interested, check it out at http://www.elfontheshelf.com/ It's fun just to check out the website.

Santa didn't send an elf to spy on Caden this year since he's so little, but I'm having mixed emotions about that. I just may have to have a talk with Santa!

I hope that you have enjoyed reading about my Christmas traditions with my grandchildren. Thanks for stopping by...