Traditions....traditions!

Feel free to hum along to my title. Or sing. Whatever you feel is best.

A few weeks ago I blog-hopped to a cool site/blog called largerfamilies.com. I thought it was interesting reading since I grew up in MUCH larger family, especially since "larger" seems to be defined as more than three kids. I'm also fairly interested in having my own larger family one day, provided that the thrice daily high-chair battles cease soon.

It's interesting to read the contributing writer's blogs, since most of them are more experienced mommies than me, for sure, and even more experienced than you, my dear readers and friends. It's interesting and a little frightening to read about the challenges that lay down the road. However, that is not what this post is about. It's about traditions, since I just read a huge thread about all these families holiday things that they do. I love traditions, and am a firm believer that they help kids find a sense of self and feel at home in the world. Sean finds my obsession mildly amusing, especially when it finds us frantically searching for 0-3 month old Christmas jammies (for a baby obviously too young to remember anything) because I forgot to purchase them in my postpartum/mastitis induced haze last year. Albeit, I think he's on my team as far as creating lasting memories and rituals for our kids to look forward too all year, but especially at Christmas. Here are a few of my plans:

1. The St Nick's Day new pajamas--may or may not be left near shoes set out and filled with treats. We'll see.
2. The Christmas books. I have a lot but need a few more. The best idea so far is to gift wrap them all and read one every night from Dec 1-24. One mom even sewed Christmassy bags that tied to hold each book and not waste paper. Love the idea, and the anticipation. Also love reading presented as a gift. I need more books that explain the symbolism of Christmas and get at the real meaning. Also, maybe we could do the same with the Christmas movies, and unwrap those on Friday nights to watch as a family.
3. The winter Solstice party on the 21st. My mom and her friends started this after I left home. They have a soup/salad/bread potluck night, with goodies and all, and the kids write Santa one last letter with a reminder of thier little hearts desires and they light a fire, starting with the letters. My mom used to use this method, I guess to save on postage? She told us that the ashes flew to the North Pole and reassembled themselves for Santa to read.
4. Santa presents are laid out unwrapped with filled stockings, for immediate enjoyment. Even though no one is technically allowed downstairs until everyone is awake, I remember sneaking down early nearly every Christmas and that magical feeling of seeing all those presents laid out, waiting, in the glow of the tree lights. When Kearis was 4 months old, I even snuck her out of her crib to go appreciate things with me and then spent an hour trying to get her back to sleep without mom knowing I woke her up.
5. Some years, Santa managed to wrap the entire doorway with Christmas paper, requiring a battalion of little ones to rush through to the bounty. That could be fun.
6. The present unwrapping happens one at a time. We try to take turns somewhat and appreciate every item before moving on. I like the idea of designating an "elf" or a "santa"--the child who does the handing out for that year.
7. We always had the BIG dinner on Christmas Eve, and then a big special breakfast on Christmas day. The rest of the day was laying out leftovers and noshing pretty much continually, until you couldn't really tell at any given point whether you were hungry or not. This time was usually occupied playing with new gifts, playing in the snow in some way or another, and squeezing in a nap at some point.
8. I know I want a special day-after-Christmas tradition. Ice skating, or something. I hated that let-down day when I was a kid and I think if you planned a simpler, family time to transition down from the high, that would be nice.
9. I really want some kind of set Christmas Eve thing. One family I read about had a "program" that everyone just had to contribute to in some way. They could sing, they could read, whatever. That could be fun since it would change as the kids grew. There obviously needs to be a reading of Luke 2 and the "Joy To The World" DVD.
10. One family had a surprise day in the middle of December called "Cookie Hooky." They pulled the kids out of school at lunchtime, dad (and/or mom) came home from work early and they did the Christmas baking as a family. That's be fun, and since I know about the craziness that goes on at school between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I wouldn't even feel too guilty about it.

That's what I have so far. The problem is that it seems like it will be forever before our kids are old enough to appreciate the fun, fun things I have planned for them. I'm sure it'll be shorter than I think. Any ideas you guys have? What did your families do that you definitely want to continue?