My Christmas Traditions

This week over at I Heart Faces they are having a share your Christmas Traditions through pictures week, so here are some of our traditions.

First of all let me say that I love Traditions!  Lately it has been hard to keep our Christmas traditions, because my oldest daughter is 18, and well she has a life beyond being at home.  So we usually plan everything around her schedule.  I don't mind, because to me all of us being together is what is important.

Every year I get all the kids a new ornament for the tree.  I like to find something that tells a story about them, and every year it is so neat to just look at all the different ornaments that they have.  My husband and I also get ornaments for each other.

This winter, Alisha and her boyfriend got passes to a local ski hill, and they plan on doing lots of snowboarding.  I couldn't find a snowboarding ornament, so this girl skiing was as close as I could find.  I also got her boyfriend an ornament that was a boy skiing. 

My Megan is turning into the girly girl, and she loves to shop.  Especially for shoes, so I thought this ornament was a good choice for her.

Andrew is really into firetrucks lately.  He has a fireman hat and he wears it all the time.  When I saw this ornament I knew it was the one for him.  The only problem is, he loves it so much that I have to keep it up high or he will take off the tree and play with it.

Then the last ornament that I got was for my husband.  He loves Santa ornaments, so this year I found one of Santa on a beach making a sand man.  He loved it!

So here is our picture of all of us after the tree finally got up around 9:30 one night.

One new thing we put out this year is a train.  It is my moms, but she didn't have room for it, and thought Andrew would love it.  Lets just say all day long I hear mommy I want the train on! 

This year I started a new tradition.  We got this Christmas Navitity set from Kyrgyzstan where we adopted Andrew from, and we were able to pull it out this year for Christmas.  He has enjoyed playing with the Yurt, baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the Camel.

So every year, I also torment the kids with a family photo for the Christmas Card.  This year I dragged them to a park, which made for an adventure in itself.  Here is one of the many pictures we got that day, that made it on the Christmas Card

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So another tradition we started with our kids when they were we little, was we like to take a day and go down to Tower City in Cleveland. 

We always like to see the toy soldier when we go! This year I grabbed this shot of the Toy Soldier dancing with this little baby girl!

Then the Toy Soldier walked around the fountain, and I was able to grab a few close ups.  He saw my camera at one point, and just stopped and posed for me. 

So every year we get a picture taken with the Toy Soldier, and this year the Fairy god mother joined us as well.

Then Andrew snuck a hug from Ragedy Ann.

So every year we also head to the Hard Rock for something to eat.

Alisha and her Boyfriend!

Then it is time for some love!

And then some more love!!!

Then we also take time to check out the neat Ginger Bread Houses, on Ginger Bread Lane!

Each year at Tower City we also catch a movie.  This year we saw the Blind Side!  Andrew slept throught the whole thing, but it was fine, because I got to sit in peace for 2 hours.  We all absolutely loved the movie, and I suggest it for everyone to see.

Then finally we head outside to see all the lights!

We always get a family shot in front of some of the lights, even if we have to ask a stranger.  Luckily this year Josh was there to snap the picture.

Then we always take some goofy pictures.  Most people look scared to come near us when we are doing it but I don't care.  We love to look back and just laugh!

This one is my favorite!

All in all we had a great day at Tower City! 

We had another great year of traditions, and we haven't even gotten to Christmas Day Yet!  I can't wait to see what is to come.

Be sure to check out the other entries at I Heart Faces.