Christmas for the Crew

"How do you do Christmas?" is today's topic for the "Big Families and How They Do It" blog round-up.

The Crew keeps is pretty simple. We travel at Thanksgiving and share that day with our closest family. Then, sometime after December 1st, but NEVER before, we begin decorating. A few years ago, we bought a beautiful, high quality, artificial tree for 75% off after Christmas. This has saved us about $50 a year. I much prefer a real one, but trees are SO expensive here! I pull the tree box and the Christmas tubs out of the attic and let the Lambies get to work. I love that they are old enough to decorate! My Honey puts together the tree and they deck it beautifully. We set up our three nativities and the Christmas village.

I bring out the Christmas books and we turn on Christmas music (favorite funny/second favorite/third favorite). The Lambies draw names to exchange a gift with a sibling.

My Honey and I get gifts for the Lambies all year 'round so we don't feel much of a financial pinch in December and we can focus more on the REAL meaning of Christmas. We speak a lot about how the world celebrates and why and why we do it differently. We look for more opportunities to serve. We pray together. We read together. We play together.

I love this time of year!

I make a full Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. Turkey, potatoes, stuffing and all the fixings...then on Christmas we enjoy leftovers and I don't have to cook! The children exchange their gifts with each other. On Christmas Day, we read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible, pray and then open gifts. The rest of the day is spent playing.

Hope you enjoyed reading of Christmas with the Crew! Make sure to go to Ginger's blog and visit the other participants in the linky.