Birthday Traditions We Have

Birthdays have always been a big deal to me and I've always felt so loved and special on my birthday.  I have wanted to do the same with my kids as they grow up. We have had five years to figure out our birthday traditions and we like what we have so far! I have noticed that a lot of our traditions end up covering some of the love languages, which I think is great. We've really tried to balance simplicity with making the day special.

Special breakfast 
We start off the morning with a special breakfast. I'll make whatever the kids want, but so far, they always want homemade donuts. I wake up early, but we take our time with eating it.

This fills the acts of service love language.

Birthday Date 
We find a babysitter for the other kids and take the birthday child on a special date with mom and dad (we don't do this for their first birthday, but for each subsequent). For Ashtyn's birthdays, we've taken her to the dinosaur museum, taken her to the pet store to look at the animals (and McDonald's), helped her find materials and make a fairy house (and a Wendy's Frosty), and let her pick treats and had a special movie date watching Spirit. For Parker, we've done the pet store (plus candy from Wal Mart) and a four wheeler ride (and McDonald's).

We try to think of something that is interesting to them at that age. We have other ideas for the future, including taking them to Salt Lake or Provo as they get older if they want. I also want to take them on a special trip of their choice at certain ages.

This fills the quality time love language.

Decorations 
Every year, I choose a theme of something they love for their birthday. For Ashtyn, we've done pumpkins, Elmo, dinosaurs, fairies, and blocks. For Parker, we've done flowers, bears, and Ariel.  We'll make or buy decorations themed that way and make their cake along with the theme somehow. They've loved it, especially Ashtyn, and I've been learning how to not go overboard with it.

This fills acts of service.

Party 
We have family come over for dessert (we will let them do a friends party for select ages). They usually bring some presents for the birthday girl and we always have one gift. We open gifts, I make cake (or a dessert) with ice cream, sing to them with candles, and all enjoy the treats together. It's simple, but really fun. The birthday girl always loves getting presents, being sung to, and being the center of attention.

This fills words of affirmations, quality time, and gift

Measure 
Once we moved into the house, we started keeping track of how tall the kids are on their birthday. Now that we've been in the house a couple years, it's starting to get fun, since the kids can see how much they've grown.

Letters
I write a letter to each of them on their birthday, which I save with their invitation (themed) and a blog post of how they've grown that year. When they turn 18, I'll give them all the envelopes.

Those are our main traditions. It's been a fun ride. I love my kids and I love celebrating them!

24 Days of Christmas - Activity/Book Advent

I recently got really excited that Christmas is coming up! It got me thinking about an idea I've seen (and loved!) before but never tried.

The idea is to wrap a Christmas book for each day of December leading up to Christmas. The kids get to unwrap one each day. I decided I wanted to do a special holiday activity with each book they unwrap. This is my plan for our Christmas advent this year. 

*A lot of these books we already had, so they might be a bit of a stretch for the activity. My plan is to slowly accumulate new books that better match the activities I want to do as the years go on. Most of the activities are ones that I wanted to do with the girls anyways/are already family traditions for us. I also plan on watching a Christmas movie each day; if possible, it goes along with the theme, but sometimes it's a little random. Some days have two movies, one for the kids and one for me that I'm not sure the kids will appreciate yet. As they get older, I'll simply replace kid movies with ones older kids and adults enjoy together. 

Sunday, December 1

Book to unwrap: Little Blue Truck's Christmas 

Activity: Decorate the tree as a family
Movie: Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer 

We love the original Little Blue Truck book and the Christmas one is really cute too. Little Blue Truck's Christmas is about Little Blue Truck going around dropping off trees to all his friends, saving the last one for himself. At the end, the lights on the tree light up in the book. We also have a little tradition of watching Rudolph the day we decorate our  tree.

Monday, December 2

Book to unwrap: My First Story of Christmas 

Activity: Make a countdown chain 

Movie: The Nativity, Miracle on 34th Street (older edition) 

This book tells the story of the nativity, as well as what happened in the America's (from The Book of Mormon) at the time of Christ's birth. I thought as the kids make their paper countdown chain, it would be the perfect time to emphasize the true meaning of Christmas and why it's such an important and beloved holiday. 

Tuesday, December 3

Book to unwrap: C is for Christmas 

Activity: Kids make paper ornaments
Movie: Frosty the Snowman, A Christmas Carol  

We have a mini artificial tree that I am planning on letting the girls decorate this year. I'm going to have them make their own ornaments on Tuesday. This book is more of a generic Christmas book, but it's cute and the illustrations are gorgeous. 

Wednesday, December 4

Book to unwrap: Clifford's Christmas Presents 

Activity: Decorate kids' tree
Movie: Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, Christmas in Connecticut  

I don't even know where we got this book, but it's one of the kids' favorites. It's a lift and flap book, so that part is really fun. During one part of the book, Clifford and Emily Elizabeth decorate their tree, so I thought it would fit well with them decorating their own tree. 

Thursday, December 5

Book to unwrap: The Mismatched Nativity 

Activity: Set up Nativity
Movie: A Charlie Brown Christmas 

This is a heartwarming story about service and Christlike love, with a nativity as a running thread through the book. My mom gave this book to us last year with the matching nativity and the kids love getting it out. 

Friday, December 6

Book to unwrap: The Polar Express 

Activity: PJ's and Hot Chocolate Party 

Movie: The Polar Express 

I don't need to say much about this famous book. We do a movie night each Friday, so I plan on watching the movie for our movie night in our pajamas and having hot chocolate while we watch. 

Saturday, December 7

Book to unwrap: Corduroy's Christmas Surprise 

Activity: Write to Santa 

Movie: The Year Without a Santa Claus 

I honestly don't love this book, but the girls love it. Corduroy does a lot of Christmas activities throughout the book, but the main story line revolves around his Christmas list and writing to Santa. 

Sunday, December 8

Book to unwrap: The Broken Ornament 

Activity: Make tree ornaments as a family
Movie: Beauty and the Beast Enchanted Christmas 

This is a new book we're planning on getting this year that we haven't read yet, but it looks like a cute story with a good lesson. Making a new ornament for our tree is a tradition Ben and I have had since our first Christmas together (we have only homemade ornaments on our tree) and it gets more fun every year that we do it.  

Monday, December 9

Book to unwrap: One Baby Jesus 

Activity: Make Christmas Cards
Movie: The Muppet Christmas Carol 

This is a board book we have, a nativity version of The 12 Days of Christmas song. It has cute illustrations and isn't too bad to read as long as you only read it once a year (kids, of course, love the repetition, but it can get old really fast as the parent reading it). I paired this with making Christmas cards because I want to do a nativity themed card this year. These cards are the ones we give out with our neighbor gifts and are separate from our Christmas newsletter that we send out each year. 

Tuesday, December 10

Book to unwrap: Mouse's Christmas Gift 

Activity: Make cookies for neighbor gift
Movie: Elf 

This is a darling story about a little mouse serving others in small ways to help bring the Christmas spirit to his town. I want to talk with the girls about small ways they can serve others, including making Christmas cookies for neighbors. 

Wednesday, December 11

Book to unwrap: The Gingerbread Man 

Activity: Make Gingerbread Cookies

Movie: The Gingerbread Man (on YouTube), Miracle on 34th street (newer edition) 

Our kids love this book and the reading of it on YouTube as well. We have a great recipe for gingerbread cookies with icing. We'll make some and decorate them together, then give away some with the other neighbor gift cookies. 

Thursday, December 12

Book to unwrap: How the Grinch Stole Christmas 

Activity: Deliver neighbor gifts 

Movie: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (original cartoon) 

Everyone knows this book as well. I decided to put it here because I felt that delivering gifts to others fit well with some of the messages of this book. 

Friday, December 13

Book to unwrap: Baby's Christmas  

Activity: Find toys to donate

Movie: The Grinch 

This Little Golden Book highlights all the toys the baby receives for Christmas. I thought it would be a good way to introduce a conversation about how blessed we are to give and receive so much for Christmas. I then want them to go through their toys and find something they can donate to another child who is in need this year. I'm not sure how we'll go about the actual donating part (if you know of where we could do that, let me know!), but I want to make this a tradition, as a way for my kids to realize that not everyone has as much as we do and as a way for them to really think of others and sacrifice for those less fortunate. 

Saturday, December 14

Book to unwrap: A Birthday Party for Jesus 

Activity: Hold a birthday party for Jesus
Movie: Wise Men Seek Him Still, White Christmas 

This is a cute little book about animals holding a birthday party for Jesus. Growing up, we always did a birthday party for Jesus on Christmas Eve and it was always my favorite tradition. Since Ben and I have gotten married, we've had other Christmas Eve traditions and haven't done this. This book is the perfect way for me to bring my favorite tradition back--even if it's not on Christmas Eve. I haven't decided on the specifics yet, but I know I definitely want to do cake and sing to Jesus. I think a birthday party is a great way to bring home to kids that Christmas celebrates Jesus' birth. 

Sunday, December 15

Book to unwrap: The Little Drummer Boy 

Activity: Give a gift to Jesus 

Movie: The Little Drummer Boy

I love this story and the idea that we all have something we can give to Jesus and Heavenly Father. To give the gift, we'll each write down something (or help the kids write down something) to give to Jesus this next year and seal it in an envelope under the tree. Next year, we can open them and see how we did. I thought this idea went really well with the birthday party idea and I love how beautifully The Little Drummer Boy illustrates this concept. 

Monday, December 16

Book to unwrap: The Gift of the Magi 

Activity: Make gifts for each other 

Movie: Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas (has a version of The Gift of the Magi)

This is another classic story that I love. We have a tradition that I got from my aunt where I have the kids make gifts for each other (so far Ashtyn makes one for Parker and vise versa). I thought this was the perfect story to get them into a gift giving mood. 

Tuesday, December 17

Book to unwrap: The Snowy Day 

Activity: Make paper snowflakes 

Movie: Arthur's Perfect Christmas, It's a Wonderful Life 

I have always loved this book, all about this boy's snow adventures. I wanted to put some snow days in this rotation, but you never know when there's going to be snow (and there's not even a guarantee we'll have snow before Christmas), so I thought making paper snowflakes would be the next best thing. Plus, I have always loved making snowflakes! I chose to watch Arthur's Perfect Christmas on this day because Arthur hopes the whole time for it snow on Christmas and it doesn't and it doesn't and then it finally does. 

Wednesday, December 18

Book to unwrap: The Christmas Wish  

Activity: Visit Santa 

Movie: Santa Claus is Coming to Town 

                      gh.  l;l......................................................................................

This is another new one for us, about a girl who gets help from animals to find Santa Claus. We might have to rearrange a little, depending on where we can find a Santa Claus (we usually see Santa at our ward party, so we'll see if they have Santa there again this year and when they hold the party). 

Thursday, December 19

Book to unwrap: You are my Miracle 

Activity: Decorate gingerbread houses
Movie: The Nutcracker Prince 

This one is a little bit of a stretch, but this is a cute board book we have about a parent and child doing Christmas activities together, and the way it's written beautifully describes a parent's love for their child. It makes me cry when I read it. One of the activities they do together is make gingerbread houses. 

Friday, December 20

Book to unwrap: The Legend of the Candy Cane 

Activity: Candy Cane Party
Movie: The Legend of the Candy Cane, Rise of the Guardians  

This is a beautiful book that tells the history of candy canes and really drives home that Christ is the center of Christmas. I cry when I read this book as well. For our candy cane party, we will make paper candy canes and eat candy canes. We also might hang some candy canes on our tree. 

Saturday, December 21

Book to unwrap: Away in a Manger 

Activity: Service Project
Movie: Home Alone 

We have this beautiful book that puts paintings to the lyrics of Away in a Manger. The girls and I love it. I thought it would be a great book to open up a discussion about all the things Christ has done for us and how we can serve others. I'm not sure what our family service project will be, but I want to start a tradition of setting aside a day each Christmas season to serve others in some way. 

Sunday, December 22

Book to unwrap: Christmas Cookie Day 

Activity: Cookie decorating with cousins
Movie: If You Give a Mouse a Christmas Cookie 

This is another new book I want to get this year and it looks darling! Sunday is a day we spend with cousins most weeks, so I thought they could decorate cookies together (and in preparation for leaving cookies out for Santa!). 

Monday, December 23

Book to unwrap: Llama Llama Jingle Bells 

Activity: Look at Christmas Lights
Movie: Llama Llama Christmas episodes, While You Were Sleeping  

Is it really Christmas if you don't drive around looking at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music? This book doesn't really fit the activity that well (and I'm honestly not a hundred percent sold on it, since we'll probably try to get it from the library), but we love the Llama Llama books.

Tuesday, December 24

Book to unwrap: The Night Before Christmas 

Activity: Christmas coloring pages
Movie: The Santa Clause 

Christmas Eve! I chose The Night Before Christmas because it seems appropriate for Christmas Eve and coloring pages as the activity because I know I will be busy preparing things for our evening traditions and coloring pages are something they can do semi-independently. 

So that's my plan! We will see how it goes in real life. I'm really excited to do this, I think the kids will have a blast with it and that it will really bring the Christmas spirit into our home.