We have a tree in our living room! It never fails to astonish me that our culture finds this practice “normal.”

And I’m so glad.

As the budding family that we are, we are still establishing our holiday traditions. One of the ones we have had since the very beginning (2003!) is a live tree in our living room. And it excites me to no end that now, 4 years later, I have a daughter whose eyes light up each times she sees it as she exclaims “shishmush twee!!” with utter delight.

Benjamin just wants to eat the lights.

Another tradition that I started last year was a popcorn chain on the tree (we didn’t have garland). After stringing 234,984,234,239 pieces of popcorn together, I swore I’d never do it again. It took two days and I had a blister on my thumb from threading the needle threw each kernel.

But did I remember that this year? No. I stared at our naked tree (all trees without garland are naked) and a I thought to myself, “This tree needs a popcorn chain.” And guess what? I must still have that callous on my thumb from last year. It didn’t hurt at all.

This year, I started a brand-new tradition. I’ve had an advent calendar for a few years, but have never used it. It’s just a chain of white pockets, numbered from 1 to 24. I looked up 24 names or descriptions of Jesus, printed them off, attached them each to a miniature candy cane, and placed it in the pocket. Each day, when Daddy comes home, (we haven’t done this yet – I just got the candy canes yesterday!) I want us to look up the verse where we can find that particular description of Jesus, read it as a family, and then we’ll eat the candy cane. (Maybe even Benjamin will get a lick!) On the 25th day, I want to read the whole Christmas story from Luke before opening presents.

Updated to add:  You can find the verses for my advent calendar and a picture here.

What are some of your Christmas traditions?