Michele Moss

I've been reading the Christmas traditions with great interest as i
would love to start something new and a little different for Sterling
to build memories on. Growing up, we had the usual routine "get to sleep so
Santa could come, wake up early to open presents, big traditional
dinner, play with toys all afternoon, eat turkey or ham sandwiches
that evening from the leftover dinner". I can't really think of any
one thing that was unique and special that set our family's Christmas
apart from anyone else's. In that respect, i'd like Sterling's to be
different in some way.

We usually have the big dinner and leftovers later that evening
although i'm leaning toward getting away from this for the reasons
many of you mentioned... more time to enjoy each other and less time
in the kitchen on the holiday.

Sterling is 3yo. Every Christmas so far, we open a few gifts from
relatives xmas eve and let him stay up late to get him good and tired
so he'll go to sleep quicker with all the built up anticipation of
Santa's arrival.

Christmas week, the bedtime story is "Santa Mouse" several nights.
On Christmas Eve, we leave a piece of cheese in the tree for Santa
Mouse as well as the milk and cookies for Santa and carrots for the
reindeer. We read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as the last
thing before lights out.

Christmas Day is pretty routine relative to what most people do
regarding presents, playing, dinner, etc. However, one of the first
thing Sterling looks for is not whether Santa ate the cookies, but
whether Santa Mouse ate the cheese!! We take the cheese and leave a
small special gift from Santa Mouse in it's place. his reaction is
so precious!

Looking forward to reading more ideas!!




Michele Moss
Mom of Sterling Tyler age 3 yrs old
Parents of Spirited Kids Resource Web site:
http://www.icstech.net/~michele
Parents of Spirited Kids Discussion Group:
http://www.egroups.com/list/psk