PattisBlessedFamily: Christmas Post

We have had a great month preparing for Christmas and the birth of our Lord Jesus. I absolutely love traditions and the holiday season is filled with them! I think I sometimes drive Dave crazy with my need to have so many traditions but hopefully he will appreciate them sometime! One of my favorite things to do during the season is go to the Durham Museum. We love to see the big tree, play in the trains and of course have a treat at the Soda Fountain. It's always a favorite activity of mine and the kids really like it too! This year the day we went was super busy so the line to see Santa was too long so we ended up going back another day so we could visit Santa. Another tradition I love is going to the Christmas tree farm to pick out our tree. Every year I think it would be so much easier to get an artificial tree but the thought of not going to be able to pick out our tree makes me too sad so we continue to drive out to Frosty Pines to get our tree! This year with our mild fall/winter so far we had awesome weather and the kids had a ball running around! The pick of trees isn't the best and I know would rather just go to Lowe's to get a tree but the memories we are making with the kids makes it totally worth it for me. Another tradition we started last year was taking the kids on a carriage ride downtown to see the lights at the Gene Leahy mall. This year we asked our friends to join us and had a ball! It was chilly but not too cold and the lights were beautiful. We had dinner first and then did the carriage ride. All 8 of us piled into one carriage so it was nice and cozy :) So much fun!! It's my new favorite tradition and I envision many more holiday carriage rides in our future! Another tradition we have is making our Gingerbread House. We don't actually make the house (I buy the kit at Michaels! Someday I hope to venture into making our own but for now the kit is perfect!) Dave puts it together and then we all decorate it together. Jack was really into it this year. It's so fun to think that a few years ago when we started decorating them Jack just sat on my lap and watched and this year he was all over the decorating!! Good times!