A New Tradition {While I Go Crazy}

I am running around like a headless chicken.  I'm sure you are too.  No really though, I'm losing my mind.  I completely forgot to fill out the permission form so Marcus could go on his field trip.  They sent it home weeks ago and I completely spaced it.  Luckily his teacher had my back.  I totally forgot I invited my boys' friends over for a play date after school.  Luckily I was home when they arrived.  Today I walked out of Home Depot with my children but without my bag of purchases.  Luckily the sales clerk chased me down in the parking lot before I drove all the way home.
Christmas is just busy.  It's a fun time but it's also a busy time.  I'm glad that we've come up with a few meaningful traditions to remind me what's really important and it's good for my kids to be reminded too.
If you're in need of something a little more meaningful then this is for you.  {Seriously, click on it.  It's 3 minutes and worth it!} We watched this short clip about the reason for the season as part of a Family Night a couple weeks ago.  We discussed giving gifts to Christ and how those gifts aren't something you can buy at the store.  Each family member wrote down something they wanted to do to give to Jesus, something they could work on throughout the month, then sealed it up in an envelope and placed it in their Christmas stocking.  Hopefully everyone is working on their "gifts and on Christmas Eve, during our special Family Night, we are going to take out those envelopes and share them with each other.  I hope this will lead to a meaningful discussion on the true meaning of Christmas.
We are also thoroughly enjoying our tradition of reading Christmas stories each night by candlelight under the Christmas tree.  I changed things up a bit this year by wrapping each book in wrapping paper.  The boys love that they get to open a present and this way we read all the Christmas books, not just the favorites.  I've found a bunch of great books at the library to add to our collection and I'll share the whole list with you in January.  If I remember.  I hope I remember.

Santa's helper