1) Christmas cookies with all of the neighbors: Every year since my family moved to Michigan, our next door neighbors, the Connor's have all of the neighborhood children over to decorate cookies. It is a pretty big group of people and the ages range from as young as two years old to parent aged people that all come together to decorate cookies together. So fun!
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| Photo Credit: Personal Photo |
2) Cutting down a christmas tree: The Heise tree farm was a Christmas tree farm in Ann Arbor owned by my family; the Heise's. Unfortunately when my grandfather passed away, they had to shut it down and sell the land and it is no longer a tree farm. But since that happened, we have gotten a tree elsewhere. Every year my family brings our grandma along with us to pick out a tree for our house and then we bring it home and decorate it together and put lights and ornaments on it.
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| Photo Credit: Personal Photo |
3) Christmas Eve Baking and Movie Marathon: Every Christmas eve all of the girls in my family wakes up early and begins baking hundreds of baked goods. Regularly we make chocolate chip tea cakes, peppermint bark, sugar cookies, and chocolate buttons plus any random things we think of making as well. After everything is made, we put a mixture of the treats on different plates and wrap them with plastic wrap with a bow on top and deliver them to our family and friends.
After Church, all of the kids of the family (even the babies) and some adults if they're up for it, the cousins all have a movie marathon we normally watch an average of five or six movies.
4) Christmas Day: Have you ever watched the show on abc called "Modern Family" about a huge crazy family? Well that show might as well be about the Heise family. My family is huge and crazy, there are 9 cousins, 3 sets of uncle and aunts plus four grandparents. It's madness. They all live in ann arbor area or willis michigan and because my immediate family s the only ones who live in okemos, we have to drive all the way there, but it's well worth it to see my family.
5) Massive Sleepover at Grandma's house and Costco: Just for fun all of the cousins sleepover at my grandma's house every single christmas and have a massive sleepover. The next morning we eat breakfast then soon after the uncles pile us into the cars and we go to Costco. Kinda weird right? Apparently there's good deals on food or something. The girls seem to get lost in the store every year.
6) Neighborhood kick the can tournament: After the actual Christmas celebrations and everyone's back home from their holiday celebrations with their family, we play kick the can with the neighborhood kids, this tradition started three years ago and I assume it will continue this year as well.
I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday break, what are some of your family's holiday traditions?
