Christmas traditions at our house

I saw on facebook, a friend had an album based on traditions and decorations they put up each year. I thought it would be interesting to see how we (the Hardins) decorate for Christmas in China.

The holidays in another country can be very strange. We have a mix of our old traditions and we make some of new ones. The next several blog entries are about how we celebrated this year. This is our second year in China so we did not have to buy as many new decorations this year.

We have had this guy for several years. I think I might have got him at the Young married class Christmas party (dirty Santa!) The kids like to keep up with how many days are left...

We have a tradition of taking a picture of the kids in matching Pj's in front of the tree.

This is one of Jon's favorite decorations. I remember having one when I was a kid too. You light the candles and the angles move and make the bell ring. We need to find replacement candles for next year.

This was a new tree this year. The kids wanted a white tree, so I said if we found one, I would get it for them. We found it for only about 20 yuan! A great deal! This stayed in the school room most of the time.

I found this guy last year. I have one similar to this at home, but did not bring it. I love snowmen!

The top box was one that a gift card came in a few years ago, but it is great for packing small ornaments in. The bottom one held some of my favorite ornaments that I bought last year.

Every year my dad and Karen (a.k.a. Poppa and Granny) give us a family ornament. This is the one for this year. They also gave the kids Hallmark ornaments and we let them choose a new ornament. I brought all the kids yearly ornaments when we came on the survey trip before we moved here.

I found this little guy at Toys R Us. It is small and wooden. The kids really like it. It will be a tradition from now on.




Every year we make cookies and some of the cookies we make and decorate are the ones we leave for Santa. The kids love to do this.

Last year we bought the biggest tree we could find. Almost all the trees in China are pretty Charlie Brown, even the tall ones, but if you put enough garland, lights, and ornaments it does look pretty good. It is still magical, even if it is a little different.