Christmas Traditions - 4/4

Graham Cracker "Gingerbread" Houses

One of our advent calendar activities is to make graham cracker gingerbread houses. I have hosted a “cousins” party at my house for the last 4 years (including this year). I make the houses the night before (one for each kid) by gluing graham crackers into a house shape with hot glue. Yes…you heard me…Hot Glue!

This ensures that the houses are STURDY so little hands can frost and place candy on it without it crashing down. The kids know this and do not eat the graham crackers or glue when they are finished. But they can still pick off the candy and eat it. I place each house on a paper plate with their name on it. My older children help me make them by getting the crackers ready and putting the cousins names on the plates while I do the gluing. There are 19 cousins to make houses for now!

My sisters and sister-in-laws each bring a couple of different types of candy to decorate the houses with or the frosting (we use Royal Icing). We decide before hand who will bring what. When all arrive, we divide up the candy so that they each have their own little cup of candy to use on their house. We also fill small plastic baggies with their own frosting and cut the corner of the bag so they can spread the frosting easily. They each are given their own plastic knife so they aren’t licking and sharing :)!

Graham-Cracker-House

It is so fun to see each of their individual personalities as they decorate their houses. Some pile globs of frosting and candy together and call it good. While others spend the entire time carefully decorating with precise candy placement and color patterns. It is a lot of fun, and a little messy, but so worth it. The cousins look forward to it every year and so do I! (The pictures are from last year’s party).

**edit–Royal Icing Recipe:

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

2 large egg whites, or more to thin icing
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar, or more to thicken icing
1 lemon, juiced

Directions:
Beat the whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat for 1 minute more. If icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it is too thin, add more sugar. The icing may be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

*You can substitute 5 tablespoons meringue powder and 1/3 cup water for raw eggs.

Christmas Books

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When we were first married, my hubby and I talked about each of our families Christmas traditions and which ones we wanted to incorporate in our own family. We have used some traditions from both our families and then started some new ones we have adopted from our friends families.

This Christmas book tradition was inspired by one of my students when I was still teaching high school. She explained to me one day how every Christmas season, they would buy a new Christmas book to add to their growing collection. Each night, her siblings would take turns picking a book to read together as a family bedtime story, saving the new book to read on Christmas Eve. I loved this idea as soon as I heard about it and so we added this to our list of Christmas traditions.

We have acquired about 18 books now most we purchased as that year’s book (one each year) and some were given to us as gifts. We usually start our books around December 6, so that we can read one book a night. I wrap all the books each year (to solve fighting over who gets to pick which book as some are more popular than others) in the same wrapping paper, except for the new book. This new book is wrapped in a different paper and is saved until all the other books have been read. This book is read on a special night (more to come on that later) which we usually try to do on December 23.

I have really enjoyed this tradition as it brings a nice Christmasy feeling into our home each night. Most of the books have a nice Christmas theme to remind us of the “real reason for the season”. In fact, it is probably MY favorite Christmas tradition!

Here is a list of the books we have (although there are many other great books out there). This tradition can also be altered to represent the other December holidays you as a family may be celebrating other than Christmas (ie. Kwanza, Chanaukka, St. Nicholas Day, Boxing Day, St. Lucia Day, etc.)

1. Bear Stays Up For Christmas; Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman
2. Welcome Comfort; Patricia Polaco
3. The Giving Tree; Shel Silverstein
4. The Polar Express; Chris Van Allsburg
5. You Are Special; Max Lucado
6. How the Grinch Stole Christmas; Dr. Suess
7. The Touch of the Master’s Hand; Myra Brooks Welch
8. The King’s Highway; Heward Fullmer
9. Christmas Day in the Morning; Pearl S. Buck
10. Too Many Frogs; Sandy Asher
11. I Believe in Santa Claus; Diane G. Adamson
12. A Wish to be a Christmas Tree; Colleen Monroe
13. Christmas Oranges; Linda Bethers
14. Snowmen at Christmas; Caralyn Buehner
15. The Story of Holly and Ivy; Rumer Godden
16. Christmas Tapestry; Patricia Polaco
17. The Tale of Three Trees; Angela Elwell Hunt
18. Jacob’s Gift; Max Lucado

For a printable version of the above list, click here.

What are some of your favorite Christmas (or other holiday) books?

November 25, 2009 · Filed under: Christmas, Christmas Traditions Tagged with

Christmas Advent Calendar

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Each year, starting on December 1, we start our Christmas (or Kwanza, Chanaukka, St. Nicholas Day, Boxing Day, St. Lucia Day, etc.) countdown with an Christmans Advent Activities Calendar like many of you.

I have seen all sorts of advent calendars around. Here is our version! I am also sharing a list of some Christmas Advent Activities to help you come up with some of your own.

I make a list of several activities we can do together as a family. Then each day the kids take turns opening the little door for the day and reading what activity we get to do together. At our house, the holiday season can be pretty busy and somedays are unpredictable. So instead of just cutting up the strips and distributing them into the calendar, I do not put the activity in until I have an idea of what activity is actually feasible that day. I keep a pre-typed list up in the cupboard and then before the kids get home from school, I pick an activity, cut the word strip out and place it behind the little door.

This way each day I control what we are realistically able to participate in. Plus the kids aren’t able to find out what we are doing until that exact moment.

Here is a list of some of the things we have included in our advent calendar in years past.

1. Decorate the Christmas tree.
2. Write letters to Santa.
3. Build a snowman.
4. Have a snowball fight.
5. Make Christmas cookies and surprise a neighbor or two with a plate.
6. Sing Christmas Carols together.
7. Write Christmas letters to relatives we will not see for Christmas.
8. Watch a Christmas movie.
9. Visit Santa at the Mall.
10. Take a drive to see the Christmas Lights.
11. Clean out old toys and donate to Goodwill.
12. Make a gift for kids teachers.
13. Make some Christmas Candy.
14. Play a game in front of the fire.
15. Watch The Grinch.
16. Learn more about Jesus.
17. Sleep under the Christmas Tree.
18. Do a secret service for someone in the family or a neighbor.
19. Make a gingerbread house.
20. Read an extra Christmas story.
21. Make some reindeer food for Christmas Eve (recipe here).
22. Read the Christmas story in Luke Chapter 2 and other scriptures.
23. Act out the nativity scene.
24. Listen to Christmas music.
25. Set out cookies and reindeer food for Santa and his reindeers.
26. Read the notes in our love socks (more to come on this later).
27. Watch a Christmas special on television.
28. Go sledding!