Let's Celebrate The Holidays!

It's time to CELEBRATE This Week with Ruth Ayres from Discover. Play. Build.  Every week Ruth invites us to share our celebrations from the week and link up at her blog. What a fun way to reflect on everything there is to be thankful for. 

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This week I'm celebrating holiday traditions!

*throws confetti*

I wasn't sure what I would be celebrating today but then I stopped to think about how much I love the holiday season and how special it is with kids. While I still work in schools, last year and this year have definitely been different because I don't work directly with students of my own on a daily basis. A few days ago I looked at the calendar and realized it was really, truly almost winter break. It's crazy how fast time flies.

Like the school year going fast, it seems like life goes fast, too. My Peanut is six and a half now and Little Bean is going to be three and a half in a few weeks. So much attention gets turned toward daily tasks like laundry and dishes and checking the homework folder but this time of year reminds me that while our kids will grow up to remember (hopefully) all of the (sometimes...well, most-times) mundane, everyday things that we do for them, I also hope that they remember certain traditions we have embraced as a family. 

I've blogged before about the Book-School Year Tradition at Nerdy Book Club but today I'm celebrating holiday specific traditions I really enjoy.

• Elf on the Shelf - We love when our elf Snowflake comes to visit!
• Visiting Santa - We don't always go to the same spot to visit Santa but it's always fun to see my kids interact with him.
• Watching Holiday Movies - My all-time favorite holiday movie is Elf. I could watch it over and over again. I'm excited for when my kids are old enough to watch it, too. I also love the Burt Ive's Rudolph movie.
• Reading Holiday Books - This week I'll be rereading Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn. It's so great and completely puts me in a holiday mood. We also read Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Chris Van Allsburg's Polar Express and Mary Englebreit's The Night Before Christmas.
• New Pajamas and Books - Every Christmas Eve, we all get new pajamas. I try to coordinate our color scheme at least and we try to get a picture on Christmas Day. We always give the boys books for Christmas, too thanks to Teresa.
• Tamales - My mom's side of the family is from Guatemala and the tradition there is to stay up until midnight to officially celebrate Christmas. While we don't set off fireworks like they do in Guatemala, we do cheer and play music and eat tamales at midnight. Skype has made the last few years even more fun as we have been able to visit and celebrate with family in Guatemala.

What are your favorite holiday or winter traditions?
What are you celebrating this week?