Holiday Challenge Day 2

I am so excited to say that I am thisclose to being done with my Christmas gifts.  Santa's been done with the kiddos for a while now, even though this Elf keeps adding more to the loot.  I spoil them.  I can't help it.  I'm finishing up the Grandparents gifts today, getting them ordered, and will patiently await that bright orange package that Shutterfly will send me.  Honestly, I think they know my address by heart now.  2 weeks ago, I got a delivery from them 4 times in one week.  I'm anticipating another delivery in a few days with the last one to show up next week.  What can I say?  I might have a problem!!!


Now on to Day 2 of the Fabulous Holiday Blog Challenge.
Today's topic....Fav Holiday Tradition, old or new

I've grown up loving this time of year.  My mom always had the house decorated to the max. Christmas music was always on.  My most favorite tradition, that continues on to this day, is that we all gather together as a family on Christmas Eve.  Growing up, the Christmas Eve party was always at our house.  We would all go to Mass, then come back to the house.  We would have tons of food (and the same foods all the time....people live for Christmas Eve and my mom's beer meatballs and hot dogs in mustard/grape jelly),  and pass out the gifts and open them up with everyone watching.  Sometimes, my cousins would spend the night and Santa would bring all of their presents to our house.  Now that we're all grown, the big Christmas Eve party has been moved to my house.  I love entertaining in general but hosting the family Christmas Eve party is something I've always dreamed of doing.  It's an honor that's been passed down to me and I try to make it as great as I remember it being growing up.

Now that I have my own family, the Hubs and I wanted to start some traditions of our own.  We have all the grandparents over Christmas morning to watch the kiddos open up their Santa gifts.  We have a huge breakfast and then the kids get to play with their new toys for the rest of the day.  This year, we added a new tradition that I've been wanting to do for 2 years now.  This is the newest addition to our family:

Meet Chippy, the Elf on our Shelf

The Hubs is creeped out by this little guy.  I think he's adorable!  But the Hubs is also deathly afraid of lawn gnomes so I guess it makes sense (and gives me so many devious plans to freak him out!).  Noah just adores Chippy and every morning, he gets up, checks to see if he traveled to the North Pole to check in with Santa.  Then its time to find out where he landed (aka where I hid him).  It's a fun thing for all of us to do together.  As much as it freaks out the Hubs, I know he loves how excited Noah is about it.  Noah even called him yesterday morning to let him know that Chippy went to the North Pole.  I mean how much cuter does it get?!?!  I've been taking pictures of Chippy's daily landing spots and I'm planning on printing them out and putting them in an album every year.  I have so many plans for when it's time for him to return to the North Pole for the year.  I'm thinking postcards from vacation spots, friendly updates, birthday cards.  The possibilities are endless!!!

  Don't forget to share your traditions and link up with Amber and Neely!!!