Getting Ready for December

The end of the month is upon us. The turkey is carved and Santa arrived during the parade. It is time to start looking towards Christmas, and how to celebrate the lead up. I already talked about Advent, and I don't want to go crazy since I still want a relatively simple holiday, but there are some traditions that I am looking forward to doing.

Get a Christmas Tree - Ever since Munchkin could walk, he loved to run around the tree lot as we picked out a tree. There is something about being surrounded by all those trees and picking out the perfect one which is a great way to start the anticipation of the holidays.

Decorating - Last year, our elf decorated one night and the boys loved it. I'm thinking that while they are little, I will let the elf take care of the decorations.

Visiting Santa - There is a mall not too far from us which has a great Santa. We've gone every year and I'm looking forward to continuing that tradition.

Decorating a Gingerbread House - So far only Munchkin has done this, but maybe Peanut can help this year.

Baking Christmas Cookies - We started this tradition last year, taking advantage of my in-laws new and open kitchen. And while this year, our kitchen is big enough for this, we'll probably go to my in-laws once again. Also, I anticipate another helper, or maybe two.

Look at Christmas Lights - There are a couple of neighborhoods not that far from us which have some amazingly decorated houses. We skipped this last year since the weather never worked out for us, but I'm hoping that we'll have better luck this year.

Holiday Fondue Party - This is also something that we've been doing for a while, and it is only getting more fun as our friends have babies.

Christmas Eve - I'm not sure yet exactly what, but I want to start a new tradition this year. My family was never big on Christmas Eve, we celebrated more on Christmas and Boxing Day, so when Hubby and I started dating, we always spent Christmas Eve with his family. That tradition continued until very recently when my in-laws decided not to make the trip down. Since Christmas is such a busy day for us, we really can't get up to them and expect to get home at a reasonable time, so the past few years we've been on our own. This year, I want to figure out something to make the night for us, like a special dinner or maybe having hot chocolate by the tree. I have a little time to figure it out.

Along with maybe a few art projects, I think that this sounds like a perfect December for us. How do you plan on spending December?