Christmas Traditions, New and Old

Mom wanted to have some activities to keep Jack busy while we were in the hospital, so she bought him a gingerbread house. They made it the night I had Jack and Emily helped him finish it up a week later. I think it might be a new tradition for the kids because Jack really enjoyed it.

Before my family left Thanksgiving weekend, we brought down the Christmas decorations and Mom decorated our house for Christmas. I think it's the first year Jack has really gotten into it. He loved putting ornaments on the tree and occasionally we would find him taking them off as well. Now every night he'll point out his and Marshall's ornaments and still takes off 2 each night - his Baby's 1st Christmas Jingle Buddy (which we have to shake while he sings Jingle Bells) and his new "I'm The Big Brother" ornament.

For Jack's first Christmas, Travis's parents got him the neatest gift - Elf on the Shelf. This is the first year we thought he was old enough to grasp the concept, so it's the first year we got it out and introduced it to him. It comes with a book that tells the story behind the elf and a small elf doll. The story says that the elves go out to all the houses at Thanksgiving to spend time with the kids and see if they are good or bad. Every night they go back to report to Santa and return every morning in a different spot in the house. The kids can't touch the elf and he can only talk to Santa. He leaves on Christmas night and doesn't return until the following Thanksgiving. At the end of the story, you name your elf. Jack wanted to name his elf Jack Todd, but we went with J.T. for short. The first day, it worked great. He jumped out of bed, went to find J.T., pottied without complaint, ate breakfast without being remind, and got dressed without a fuss. Now each morning, we have to find J.T. first thing. Here's pictures of Jack the first morning when he found the elf.

The last Christmas that the Jostes family lived in Memphis the first time, we gave them an Advent calendar filled with small prizes. A friend of mine from Paris used to do this exchange with another family and I always thought it was the neatest idea. The next year, the Jostes' returned the calendar to us filled with prizes, we returned it to them last year and once again, it's our year to receive. It's all about the kids, just as Christmas should be, so Jack is really enjoying his daily prizes!

This picture actually has nothing to do with the post, but I love it, so I had to include it.