It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas...

It's snowing and when I went to flip the flag up on the mailbox this morning while mailing my Christmas cards, I realized it was frozen to the mailbox. I truly believe the Christmas spirit lives in our hearts but certain things really bring it out of me. Like snow (prior to Christmas-after Christmas you can keep it unless of course I'm skiing in which case, they make it!), Christmas songs and traditions. I'm really big on traditions like, annoyingly big on traditions - upholding old ones and starting new ones!! Like I said, we have a lot but here are some:

• Baking a Birthday cake together for Baby Jesus to be eaten on Christmas Day

• The infamous Christmas Mouse - I love this ! This is my husband's deal. Apparently when he was young the Christmas Mouse left a special gift and I believe the tradition varied from year to year? Maybe he hid and you found him for a gift or, he was in the tree and brought a gift-I'm not really sure. I had heard about this magical mouse and was eager to start this tradition with our daughter. We called my husband's mom to see if she could send us the mouse figurine for her first Christmas. His Mom then informs us that she had given him to us the previous year. AHH! Had I lost the beloved mouse? Well, we thought maybe we had lost him forever but, sure enough, the next year she called us and said that they had never in fact sent the Christmas mouse and would promptly put him in the mail. So, the time had come for him to join our new family and I open the envelope and.... You know how you remember things differently as a child? Well, turns out the Christmas Mouse is not wearing a Santa suit but more like a red smoking jacket and holding a cigar!! We had a seriously good laugh over the ordeal but love him nonetheless. Since then he has been bringing a gift that fits neatly on a branch in the Christmas tree.

• Elf on the Shelf - This was given to us last year by my Mom and is really sweet. Our elf is named Alford and he is an officially registered elf with the North Pole. If you're not familiar with Elf on the Shelf, you can read about it Here.

I'd love to hear some other really good traditions I can steal! Happy Holidays!