Christmas Traditions

This tradition has been in my family since I got married.  Most people are familiar with the chains that are created when you loop strips of paper together and many may have used that as an advent countdown to Christmas, but I took that idea and added my own flair.  During Thanksgiving weekend, my family writes what they are thankful for on 24 strips of paper (red and green, usually), and then we create the chain and finish with a 25th strip that says "Jesus" on it.  (By the way, this was actually harder when it was just my husband and I - 12 things each to be thankful for was actually kind of difficult!!!  :-}  However, this year we have my sister living with us so each of us only had to think of 5 things (the baby only did 4 and the Jesus one was her 5th!))

 
We hang the garland and each day in December we tear off a chain and reflect on what that person said they were thankful for.  We try to keep the words secret so that it's a surprise (and sometimes we get duplicates!), and we always finish with the Jesus chain as our 25th one to tear off, since that is the real reason for Christmas!!!

This is such a great way to start each day and not get carried away in the "bustle" of the season!  What are your traditions and why do you do them?