Will's favorite holiday: DECEMBER

I asked Will what his favorite holiday is and his answer was DECEMBER! Which you may find funny, but it's really a legitimate response. Here's why: We celebrate the heck out of December!! Starting with his birthday, then Hanukkah, then Winter Solstice, then Christmas, and ending with New Year's... it's a month of parties and celebrations! Who wouldn't say December was their favorite holiday:)

Here's a recap of our celebrations and traditions:
Christmas Eve we always get new cozy jammies. I rotate colors every year... this year was red. I literally LIVE in my jammies from Christmas Eve to New Year's Eve. (Will's friend came over to play and asked him "Why is your mom still in her pajamas?" to which Will replied "Because it's the day after Christmas." Too funny!)

Drew with his Christmas morning haul... not pictured is his bike.

Will with is haul... also not pictured is his bike.

The two coolest kids ever in their new clothes on their way to Grandma's on Christmas morning. So cute!

Here we are at our annual Winter Solstice celebration with Danny, Kelly, James & Jesse. We get together every year to celebrate this important turning of the season. We learn all about our ancestors who cherished the birth of the sun.

The boys act out the battle of the Holly King and the Oak King. In the past Jeff and Danny have acted it out, but this year the boys wanted to do the battle.

We light a Yule Log that we've decorated with evergreen. We throw pine cones and twigs into the fire as it burns and share our hopes and dreams for the future while we reflect on the year that has past. It's always fun to hear what they kids will set as their goals and it's always great to hear the adults really dig deep and share things that they wouldn't normally share.

I make a Yule Log cake every year and we all look forward to eating it! This year I added a little knot in the log... I'm getting fancy in my old age:)

Hanukkah started December 11th. In the past we've had our own little celebration as a family but this year we were fortunate enough to have family members join us who were interested in learning more about this important Jewish holiday. Matt, Cathy, Carrick & Maple joined us, as well as Drew's friend from school Max. It was really fun! We feasted on Latkes at dinner, watched a movie and read books all about Judah and the Maccabees, then answered Hanukkah trivia questions to earn gelt (chocolate coins) to use as we spun dreidle.

The kids all made shields so they could reenact the battle. (My boys love any holiday that includes battles or presents!)

We all took turns lighting a candle on the menorah... we lit all the candles and pretended it was the last night of Hanukkah. It was a really fun celebration!

Another highlight of December is decorating Gingerbread houses. We do it at least twice every season. They're getting really good at it! (Their favorite part is yet to come though... it's New Year's day when we give them each a hammer and let them destroy their house!)

This year we decorated houses at my mom's house on Thanksgiving with my nieces... we then did it again at the Bergstrom's a few weeks later.

So now you can see why December is Will's favorite holiday... and now I'm finally up to date on all my blogging!! Hip hip hooray!!!!

Thanks for reading everyone! Hope you had a happy December!!