our traditions: st. nicholas' day

Disclaimer:  Before you read this, you should know that I don't have any issues with Santa or the idea of people using Santa in their holiday traditions as a family.  This is just the way we do it at our house.  This is what works for us as a family, but whatever you do at your house and whatever works for you is FABULOUS!  

 

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Today is St. Nicholas' Day.  Don't know what St. Nicholas' Day is?  Go here.

We celebrate St. Nicholas' Day at our house for a variety of reasons:
1)  Our girls already know that Mommy and Daddy are the ones who give them their gifts at Christmas not Santa.  (Go ahead . . . you can call us party poopers if you want to.  ;)  I won't be offended.  I've heard it before.)

2)  We decided before we had children that we wanted to try to get away from the commercialism of Christmas as much as possible by giving only a few gifts and focusing more on traditions, family time and giving to others. 

3)  St. Nicholas is the real person who the fun of Santa Claus is based on, so we thought we would help them focus on what a real person did to help others.

4)  We aren't Roman Catholic, but the characteristics of St. Nicholas are ones we would love for our girls to embody.  And we try to incorporate a variety of traditions into our holiday celebration.

**I know lots of people who use the idea of Santa to do these same things . . . that's great too.  For example, my friend Jocelyn over at We Talk of Christ teaches her kids the importance of giving by enlisting her kids as Santa's secret helpers.  This is such a great idea!**

We celebrate St. Nicholas' Day at our house every year with a few simple traditions:
1) We put up our tree and other Christmas decorations.

2) The girls have St. Nick boxes that get filled with small and simple gifts as well as some chocolate gold-covered coins and a wooden shoe filled with carrots.  Read why here.

 

Remember these haircessory holders?

wooden shoe with carrots and coins

inside lid of St. Nick box

3) We think of one person or family we can give something special to this holiday season.  I love this idea that Leslie shared during twelve (plus) days of traditions.

I realize that most you don't celebrate St. Nicholas' Day, but the whole point of this traditions for us is getting our children to focus on giving not getting during this time of year . . . and that's something many of us do have in common.

What are some ways you try to teach your children the importance of giving to others?

Tradition on!

did you miss one?

If so, here's a recap of the absolutely fabulous traditions that each guest blogger shared with us over the course of the past three weeks.  I'm so thankful for each one of these ladies who was willing to share a bit of themselves with us during twelve (plus) days of traditions. 

If you missed one, go check it out by clicking on the big red-letter description.

Christmas Books with Coordinating Crafts

by Jocelyn @ We Talk of Christ

Gift Hide and Seek

by Fawnda @ Fireflies and Jellybeans

The Christmas Keys

by Jerri @ Simply Sweet Home

Iced Sugar Cookies

by Mandy @ Sugar Bee

Christmas Eve Traditions

 by Laura @ Along for the Ride

 Family Gift Giving

by Kim @ Seven Thirty Three

Santa's Gift Sack

by Jennifer Juniper @ Hope Studios

Films and Fondue

by Bev @ Flamingo Toes

Family Food Traditions

by Sarah @ Sweet Pea & JoJo 

Secretly Serving Others

by Leslie @ Nigh Owl Crafting

Personalized Ornaments

by Kim @ a girl and a glue gun

Family Baking & Snickerdoodle Recipe

by Jen @ Tatertots and Jello

Star Wars Anyone?

by Amy @ Mod Podge Rocks

A Christmas Day Treasure Hunt

by Holly @ 504 Main

Themed Ornaments for Each Family Member

by Tiffany @ Making the World Cuter

Check back throughout the next few weeks for a few features from the tradition linky and a few of my own family traditions as well.

In the mean time . . . 

tradition on!

twelve (plus) days of traditions: themed family ornaments

I admit it . . . I'm feeling a bit sad today that twelve (plus) days of traditions is over.  :(  I so enjoyed the sneak peak inside the homes and families of each on the bloggers who shared.  And I have an entire list of new traditions to start this year!  I am still going to be highlighting a few of our traditions as well as a few of the traditions that were linked up over the past three weeks. 

And if you have a tradition that you are interested in sharing, feel free to e-mail it to me.  I would love to post a few of those every now and then up until Christmas Day.

So without further ado, here's Tiffany - busy mom and blogger - from Making the World Cuter . . .

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Hello 12 Crafts fans! I love Elizabeth's blog and all of her ideas, I want to be just like her when I grow up...If I ever do such a thing! My name is Tiffany, my friends call me Tiff...among other things, so feel free to do the same. I blog over at a little place called Making the World Cuter.

I L.O.V.E Christmas and all the traditions that go along with it! I was always the first one up on Christmas morning waking up my siblings first and then my parents to get a move on so that we could see what Santa brought. That hasn't changed...I have to wake my kids up and bring them down all groggy with sleep still in their eyes because I just can't sleep on Christmas Eve. It makes my hubby a little crazy, but I'm sure it's one of the things he loves about me (wink!).

My tradition is one we kind of started by accident, but has been so much fun! 

See in my Pottery Barn dreams, my Christmas tree is gorgeous-all matchy matchy with a theme and people gasp in pleasant surprise when they see it in my front window.

In real life, we usually end up cutting down a Charlie Brown tree that my daughter insists upon and the ornaments are not in any way related-and they are usually dispersed along the bottom 3 feet of the tree where the kids can reach. 

On my daughter's first Christmas (she is 6 now) my husband brought home a little snowman ornament for me to paint because he knew I would like that. So I painted it, wrote her name and the year on it and hung it on the tree. The next year we bought another ornament that just happened to be a snowman again and did the same thing.

The next year we figured out this would be a fun tradition since we now added a boy to the house-we decided to start buying him Santa Clause ornaments, and the tradition began! 

My 6 year old's snowman ornaments...

 

We buy an ornament for each of our children now in the theme we selected for them the year they were born and on Christmas Eve, they open the ornament with their new pj's and put it on the tree. 

My 4 year old's Santa ornaments....

We decided that when they left home that we would let them take their ornaments with them, and they would have everything for their own theme tree.

My 2 year old's Reindeer ornaments

I will be getting my new little guy a train ornament for his first Christmas, for my step son we get him a nutcracker, and my step daughter, we get her snow themed items-such as snowflakes, ice skates and sleds. 

We realized that the kids liked this tradition so much that my husband and I started our own. We each buy...or make...one another an ornament that represented that year to us. It has been in the past the only gift we get for each other when money has been tight, and we so look forward to see what the other comes up with. Here are a few that we have collected. 

Even after my Pottery Barn dreams come true and my Christmas tree is truly something to behold, we will still have a little Charlie Brown tree somewhere in the house with these special memories on it, and we will continue to add to it each year.

Thanks Elizabeth for letting me share our family tradition and for all the other great ideas! 

And a great big thanks to you Tiffany!  Another fabulous ornament tradition.  I love the idea of themed ornaments. 

Tradition on!

If reading through subscription, click over here to add your own tradition post.

twelve days of traditions: Christmas books with coordinating crafts

This is it . . . the moment we've all I've been waiting for . . . the first guest post of twelve (plus) days of traditions!  If you aren't sure what twelve (plus) days of traditions is all about, read more about it here and link up your own tradition ideas here.  

Hi!  I'm Jocelyn.  I blog over at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ, where I share the many ways that I teach my children about the happiness that comes from living according to the teachings of Jesus Christ.  I love how family traditions focus us on what is really important, but I also love how celebrating family traditions not only makes us feel that we belong together as a family, but that we belong to each other.

Growing up, my family celebrated with a lot of unique Christmas traditions--We always went Christmas caroling, we always opened our presents at midnight on Christmas Eve, and we always read a book called The Littlest Angel.  

Last year, to make the season special for my children, I decided to combine our love of crafting with our love for curling up together with a good book!  

I collected 24 of what I consider the best Christmas books for children and each day in December we unwrapped one book and made an ornament or a craft that corresponded to the story that we read.

Since not everyone has time to do a craft every day during Christmastime, I've put together a list of my top twelve books.  These stories really are special.  A few of them touch on the secular symbols of Christmas, but most of them testify of the real reason for the season.  

Whether you adapt this tradition with crafting galore, or if you merely read the books together, I am sharing this list with you so that hopefully you will find a few gems to add to your family's celebration of Christmas!  The list below has links to my original post with tutorials or links to how-to's for each craft as well as a link to where you can find each book online.  You can see my full book list here.  Enjoy!

And however you celebrate...Have a very Merry Christmas!!!

Book: We Were There: A Nativity Story

Craft: Wire Spiders

Book:  Who Is Coming To Our House

Craft:  Toothpick Ornaments

Book:  Santa Mouse

Craft:  Mouse

Book:  The Animals' Christmas Eve

Craft:  Manger

Book:  The Crippled Lamb

Craft:  Yarn Lamb

Book:  Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect

Craft: Craft Stick Christmas Tree

Book:  The Donkey's Dream

Craft:  Tea Bag Donkey

Book:  The Night Before Christmas

Craft: Sugarplum Ornaments

Book:  The Littlest Angel

Craft:  Paper Angels

Book:  The Gift of The Magi

Craft:  Felt Trees

Book:  Humphrey's First Christmas

Craft:  Camel

Book:  A Christmas Dress For Ellen

Craft:  Fabric Ball Ornament

Book:  The Polar Express

Craft: Bells

If you have your own favorite holiday book you read or craft you like to do during the holidays, link up here and let us in of the tradition fun!

Thanks Jocelyn! 

Jocelyn is hosting an amazing giveaway on her blog for $130 to CSN to spend on someone in need this holiday season.  Click here to hop over and find out more.  One of my favorite traditions as a child was giving a bag of toys to a family in need.  This can be one your holiday traditions too, and Jocelyn wants to help make that possible. 

Tradition on!