Our Christmas Traditions

Now that I'm a mom, I feel it is very important that I make sure our family has special traditions that help us celebrate this wonderful season. I didn't do everything I wanted to do with this kids this year, but we did a few fun things. I don't know how next year will be with a four-year-old and five two-year-olds but I hope I'm a little more organized and we can do a few more fun things than we did this year. To be honest, I'm just surviving right now; several of the quints are sick and anytime we have a little change to their schedule (like going and visiting family) it really throws them off and makes things a lot harder. But I will not be a Scrooge; we're going to make the most of our time with our family and hope the quints start feeling better soon.

Our elves, Buddy & Ruby, arrived on December 1st and I will be so glad when they go back to the North Pole tomorrow night! I'm so tired of moving them around, I can't imagine doing all the cute stuff that other people do with their elves...ours are doing good to be moved every night (and there's been a couple of times when they didn't).

This is as fancy as it got at the Seals house this year. lol
I guess if Brady was really into it, I'd be more into it but he's not and so I have a hard time getting all excited after the first week or so of moving these two rascals. Maybe I'll do better next year....

Brady, Gavin, and I make Christmas cookies. I was lazy and bought cookie dough and it wasn't easy to work with, it was very sticky, and didn't keep it's shape which made it hard for us to make really cute cookies, but I think the boys had fun and that's all that really matters.

Brady

After we were finished, his cookies went in the trash. I didn't want to take a chance on Brady passing his sweet little germs to anyone else. ;)

I love the Pioneer Woman! I've made several of her recipes and they usually always turn out delicious. Well, I got a wild idea to make a Flat Apple Pie from my Pioneer Woman cookbook for our big family get-together at our house. Let's just say, I'm no Pioneer Woman. My Flat Apple Pie didn't turn out so well and landed in the trash can. Epic fail.   :(   Oh well, at least I can say I tried it, and maybe, just maybe I'll try it again some day soon.

This is what it's suppose to look like....

And this is how mine turned out.   :(

I don't have the most beautifully decorated Christmas tree, but that's okay because every ornament on my trees (I have 2) are very special and have a meaning/story behind them.

We got these cute ornaments from our friends Adam & Carey.

This was Brady's ornament he made at school. (Pictured is the Christmas tree in his classroom). I love his homemade ornaments and he was very proud his picture ornament. I had to end up hanging it high on our tree because he wouldn't leave it alone.

My friend Dorothy sent this to us in the mail and it's just perfect. Such a sweet surprise.

Brady got to paint his very own ornament this year.

This is what we got! I think he did a pretty good job and I will treasure this ornament forever. We're going to have to get several more trees to accommodate all these ornaments the kids are going to make over the next several years. :)

And it's no secret that I'm obsessed with my kids hand/foot prints. Here's our reindeer ornament made from their thumb prints. I'm so in love!!!

 And perhaps my most favorite tradition is when we have all our family over for Christmas. Both Steven's side and my side come together for a non-traditional meal and fun. I decided to have a gag gift exchange this year and it was really fun! I came away with 4 rolls of toilet paper, that had a note that read, "Just in case you have a  'crappy' Christmas". :)

I love this wild crazy family of mine!

Love my grandma!

Gracie with Nana

Tessa

Rayleigh

Tessa & Rayleigh

Tessa

Brady

Mia

Unfortunately Brant wasn't around when I was taking pictures but he had himself a good time.

Well, that's about it for this year's traditions. It's a start and I plan on adding more fun stuff when the kids are old enough to enjoy it. I'm so thankful for all the blessings in my life and look forward to the next couple of days with my family.

Merry Christmas Y'all!!!
xoxo,
Michelle