Nipper Snigglefigus And Other Traditions.

This year, one of Santa's elves came to our house. He is going to live with us until Christmas Eve and then he'll go back with Santa until next year. His name is Nipper Snigglefigus. (You can thank Jackson and Google for that one.) The fun thing about Nipper is that he moves to a new spot every night. Every morning the kids get to wake up and look for his new hiding place. He's found some good ones, like right in our Christmas tree, inside Jackson's stocking, hanging from a picture frame on the wall, and this morning he was found in the bathroom sitting on top of the vanity mirror. (Trust me, it's a little creepy, so Nipper may be banned from the bathroom from now on.)

The BEST thing about Nipper Singglefigus is that he is here to watch the kids, and make sure they are on the nice list. He reports back to Santa regularly. I always said I wouldn't use Santa as leverage, but seriously, I can't help myself. All I have to say is, "Look. Nipper is watching you." And the bad behavior stops. Immediately. If I could only use it 12 months a year.... I've even caught Jackson saying to Mia, "The elf is watching you Mia." Creepy? Maybe. Worth it? Definitely.

The Elf on the Shelf is one of our new Christmas traditions. Some of our other favorite traditions are:

*Letting the kids pick their own Christmas tree decoration. Our tree has no theme whatsoever. Just a bunch of hodge podge decorations. My parents started this one, and a lot of their Christmas tree decorations are ones that my siblings and I made growing up. We all get to decorate the tree and remember. I love it. Last year we had to finally throw an ornament away that Emily made in, like, 1st grade. It was an ice cream cone with a red Christmas ball on top. It only took 25 years, but that ice cream cone was defiantly starting to rot. I think my mom cried for a week.

*Cutting out snowflakes.

*Making ginger bread houses. From scratch. It's insane. Not like, off the hook insane. But like total madness that takes 3 days to prepare, chill, roll out, cook, cut out, and get ready to glue some candy on insane. My Grandma Dean shared her recipe with my mom 30 years ago, and I don't think we've ever missed a Christmas since. Even when I lived in Alaska, and it was just Tim and me, I still made the dough and frosting from scratch. That first year in AK was pretty much a fiasco. Trust me. It's not that easy. But I seriously would never consider buying a ginger bread house kit. I would feel an immense amount of guilt and shame. Christmas just wouldn't be the same.

*Every year Santa bring us cold cereal. In bulk. We each get a huge boxes of all kinds of cereal. Then we eat it for a year.

*Riding Tracks to see the Temple Square lights. This is also insane. Fighting all those other crazy people in the freezing cold. Love it.

*Drawing names for family gifts. Do you know how hard it would be to buy presents for 7 other family members, and now their spouses, too? Instead we all draw names, including my mom and dad. We usually set the limit at about $25, but some years we've also been known to set some crazy rules like "homemade" gifts only. Makes for an interesting Christmas morning.

*Sub for Santa. Even the years we've been a little worse for the wear, we always pick at least one family to do something for. Even if it is just dropping off a few homemade gingerbread houses. And then there was this one year, that we all still remember very vividly, when we were dropping off some things to a friend of my dad's. He worked at a bar. So we took a few boxes and a gingerbread house to the bar parking lot, and set them down by his car. And my dad fell down the stairs on the way there - with the gingerbread house in hand. He also said a few choice words on his way down the icy steps that are definitely not Christmas approved. Then they sent me to call him from a pay phone in the parking lot, and I told him that "someone is messing with your car." And then I ran like the wind. And it was a good thing, too, because he and a bunch of bar bouncers came racing into the parking lot ready to kick some butt. But all they really found was a box of Christmas presents and a broken gingerbread house. Those are the Christmas memories I will cherish always.

*The Present For Jesus. This is also a new one here at our house. We watched the story of the birth of Christ for Family Home Evening (found here), and then we wrapped up a big box in the prettiest wrapping paper we could find, cut a hole in the top, and every time we do something kind or nice, we get to write it on a piece of paper and put it in the box for Jesus. Every night I ask the kids, "What did you do for Jesus today?" And then Mia will say something like, "I made a snowman for Him!" And Jackson will say something like, "I was nice to my friends at school." And they get to put it in Jesus's present box. On Christmas Eve will read the story again, and if the kids are in an especially good mood, we might even act it out. Then we'll open the present to Jesus and read all the kind things we did this Christmas season.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?