New Traditions

I'm all about starting new family traditions now that HH is around.  Pinterest has been very helpful in giving me ideas for things we can do during the Christmas season, and one idea I found was to have a daily activity to do as a family.  I made little cards and stuck them inside the Santa Christmas countdown calendar we have hanging in the kitchen.  We are doing 20 activities together (since we will be traveling for the latter part of Dec.) and I'm really looking forward to each one!

Day 1: Take a Picture With Santa

We took Harbor to see Santa yesterday at a local mall.  This Santa was legit.  Real beard, awesome suit, even a fireplace in his Santa lair.  I was curious about how Harbor would handle it all, considering she is having some separation anxiety issues, and the screaming baby in front of us didn't do much to ease my mind.  But lo and behold, HH loved Santa!  She happily sat with him, smiling, laughing, and tugging on his beard.  It made for some pretty darn cute pics if I do say so myself.








Day 2: Shop for Angel Tree Child

On Saturday, we stopped by the mall and made a visit to the Salvation Army table to choose our Angel Tree child.  In years past, we have filled shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  We missed the boat on that one this year, and I thought it would be fun to "adopt" a child for the holiday season.  We decided to make this a yearly thing and choose a child that was roughly the same age as Harbor each year, so she can help in choosing the gifts.  This year we shopped for a 5 month old little boy.  We had a great time strolling down the toy aisle in Walmart and letting Harbor be the guinea pig  choose the toys.  We also picked up a few cute outfits and some shoes.  It was fun to buy onesies with puppies and dinosaurs for a change.  It's really important to us to teach Harbor the importance of giving to others in need, and I'm excited about what this new tradition will teach her over the years. Although we certainly aren't wealthy, we are extremely blessed and want to help in the small way that we can.  Hopefully this sweet baby and his family will enjoy Christmas with these few small things we can provide.