Advent...

It's the most wonderful time of the year....right? Of course it is. I have oodles of photos of Mason that I hope to get posted later today or tomorrow. But first, I thought I would share some Advent and Christmas traditions that we are going to start with our family.

We have an Advent wreath on our island and keeping with an Irish tradition, those little battery operated candles in the window to the light the way for weary travelers. We have lots of Christmas story books for Mason and us...some of which belonged to Jon and I when we were younger. The stockings are hung - but I need to get one for Mason yet :). We hope also to have a holiday treat baking day here soon. We also plan to celebrate the real St. Nicholas holiday as well coming up this weekend.

Several friends told us they often give their child(ren) an ornament and new pajamas for Christmas Eve so we will start that too. We have the ornament already and the jammies to come. I'm already looking forward to Christmas Eve church - one of my favorites of the year. For some reason, I remember crying last year at church when the choir sang "O Holy Night" and "Breath of Heaven" - two of my favorite songs. The pregnancy hormones could have also played a role in that.

Our tree is up and so far, Mason could care less. He's crawled under it to get a book and that's it. What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?