Making New Christmas Traditions {Try New Adventures Thursday!}

As a young family, this time of year is always a blast for us. We are creating and experimenting with our own family holiday traditions.

1st things 1st: The weekend after Thanksgiving we set up our tree and decorate the house for the season. This involves eggnog, Christmas music, and the yearly question of "does-this-string-of-lights-still-work." Our apartment is tiny, so our decorating space is limited. But that's ok...it helps keep things simple.

That Yankee Candle is the best smelling thing ever...

This year, instead hanging all of our "special" ornaments (still a small collection) on our tiny 1 1/2 foot tree, we hung Christmas garland and lights and added our ornaments to that. We were pleased with the result. :)

The ornament we made for Squishy last year, hung on our garland. :)

Which brings me to our next tradition: Making ornaments together as a family! We make them to give as gifts and we also make one for us as a family and one for Squish. This year we're going to give salt dough ornaments a whirl.

Our toddler is old enough to start being involved...and so this year we started a sugar-cookie-making tradition. He was fascinated. I love the joy little ones have at being involved in something with you.

P.S. I just bought parchment paper for maybe the 1st time, and it makes me feel like a real baker for some reason. Not sure how I get these things in my head...

Chubby hands are one of life's delights. :)

Our finished product. I used Our Best Bites' sugar cookie recipe, and it is the bomb!

A few other traditions we enjoy: 

• Baking Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Coffee Cake for the neighbors (we started this last year!)
• Putting together a box for Operation Christmas Child. I look forward to when our kids are old enough to be a part of the shopping process for this!
• New tradition this year: Making a gingerbread house. If, that is, we can pull it off without structural issues. :)

It is so sweet to make family memories together. What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

P.S. Perhaps the pictures look idyllic, but let me just tell you, my kitchen was probably overflowing with dishes when half of these were taken. No, when 90% of these shots were taken! Just so you know. Can't have fun without mess...:D
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Link up your recent adventures below! Just link up your specific blog post (no links to homepages, please!) link back to Alicia's Homemaking, and visit and comment on a few other participant's posts. :)

Making New Christmas Traditions {Try New Adventures Thursday!}