12 days of Christmas Day 1 (yea I'm 4 days late starting this)

I'm a little late on my blog reading but I came across several that are doing a 12 days of Christmas challenge. Technically I'm 4 days late on it but I'm going join the fun starting today. Again I'm starting late so when you read about my Black Friday tips after the fun then you know I'm not behind in real life.

Okay so my Day 1 will be today and it's about family traditions. I think I did a post similiar last year so I'll make it pretty short.

My family traditions start on Thanksgiving afternoon when we go see a holiday movie and the Christmas lights in our town. My family loves to go Black Friday shopping and we put up our Christmas decorations that weekend. One thing we love doing is getting an angel off the donation tree and buying Christmas presents for them. Some years we have actually "adopted" a family of children or an elderly shut-in to buy gifts for. Our church has "hanging of the greens" and a childrens Christmas play every year that puts us all in the mood for the season.

Some of our Christmas Eve / Day traditions have changed since my grandparents passed away and some family members have gotten married and also visit inlaws during the holidays. Most of my life though I spent Christmas Eve with mom making desserts for the next day and prepping the food. We usually watch a Christmas movie on television and make one last visit to the Christmas lights. I get to open one gift on Christmas Eve (and when I was younger I'd get a new set of pajamas to wear, mostly for photographs the next morning). On Christmas Day of course there are presents under the tree that morning followed by a quick breakfast and a morning of cooking. We have extended family over that afternoon for dinner and gifts for the children.