Allen Traditions

Our holiday traditions start a few weeks before Thanksgiving. A few of the adults get up at an unheard of time the first weekend in November and sit in the freezing cold to buy christmas tree tags. This year Ben had the honors since I had a newborn baby to feed. I kinda missed the crazy conversations we can have when we're all shivering and tired and bored. It sounded like fun-they went out for breakfast this year. Usually we just settle for donuts and Halloween candy-it helps to keep us awake.
Of course our traditional Thanksgiving feast-this year at KristyAnns house-was lots of fun. We ate a ton and then devised our plans for shopping the next morning. Last year we ad matched at Walmart at midnight and did the 5 am sale. This year we just met up at 3:30 and we were able to get everything we wanted. Laura, mom and I saved a ton of money. Thanks to mom who goes along just for the fun and helps Laura and I by standing by a pallet of toys for an hour and has quick reflexes to grab what we need. It's a blast.

That afternoon we usually all go up to the mountains and cut down our trees. This year Ben took the boys and met up with Scott,AmyLyn and Andy. The rest of us stayed home since we weren't sure if there was snow for the kids to play in while the men and AmyLyn tromped off for an hour or more to find the perfect tree. I mean what do you do with 9 kids and no snow in the middle of no where. Turns out there was snow but Laura and I were glad we stayed behind to let the kids play at my house. Next year will be easier. Ben brought home a great tree about 11 feet tall and this year -since I bought an after season fake tree last year- we have the real tree upstairs(mine) and the fake one downstairs (the fams) Let me tell you It has been fun but twice as hard to get two trees decorated.

Another tradition is we each get a new ornament every year. This year I thought it would be fun to get disney ornaments since we went to Disneyland in the spring. We got some cute ones and hopefully will get them hung tonight.
We also took our annual trip to temple square to see the lights last Saturday. It was a quick trip and I promised the kids to come back during their winter break. They love to visit everything there. We walked through temple square, ate yummy cookies, and then stopped by Mcdonalds on the way to my work. We ate dinner in the break room while I fed Owen and then poor Ben (the kids were acting crazy by then) took the kids home for bed.
The best tradition of all of course has to do with food. My dads toffee. Yum! Last week my parents watched our kids while Ben and I went to his christmas party at Sundance. My dad made a couple batches of candy and left one for us. We have almost eaten it all gone and I think this year I will have to make myself a batch.

Our family is getting big enough that this year I will have to make lots of cookies and fudge and right now I am cooking up my first batch of chex mix-Grandma Princes recipe. I don't think we'll have a problem eating it all.
It's been a busy season already and I still have cards to make, Jocelyns christmas dress to make, gingerbread houses, presents to wrap and I haven't bought anything for Ben yet. Luckily I'm done buying for the kids!