Christmas Traditions in the Decker Household!

This year, I thought I'd chronicle some of the traditions that have become part of the Christmas Season for our family.  Some of them we have done for years.  Others are newer traditions.  I figured this would be a good place to document some of them!

We decorate the Christmas tree the weekend after Thanksgiving!  Every year, we make a new ornament for the tree!  This year, we made Gallup Gilani Reindeer!

We usually take part in the Community Choir Christmas Concert.  This year, the electricity went out at the Ft. Wingate Building.  Many of the members of our branch attended church in Gallup Second Ward since we couldn't have it at our building.

After church, we invited them over to our house for dinner so they didn't have to drive clear back to their homes.  They could stay in Gallup and go to the Community Christmas Concert, and then to the Christmas Devotional.

This year, the Community Choir performed the Messiah at our church.

Every year we make a fruitcake.  Tradition has it that everyone who helps stir the fruitcake will have good luck for the next year!

It was tasty and delicious fruitcake!

We smoked a turkey on Christmas Eve for our Christmas dinner.  We usually have a bunch of salads and sandwich fixings for Christmas Day, and have our sit-down dinner on Christmas Eve.

The wrapping paper game is growing!  I think we have about eight good-sized games worth of cards now! 

Chelsea, Brian and Angela seem to be the most competitive players.  (That translates to "They win most often.") 

We had a steak dinner for our Christmas Eve dinner this year!

Brian and Steve made lumanarias earlier in the day.  They lit the candles when it finally got dark enough.

The traditional burning bag.  We started the tradition of burning one of the bags many moons ago when my folks lived in their house in Albuquerque.  As we'd leave their place Christmas Eve night, we'd burn one of the bags.  We did it every year because it made Carol really ticked at us.  The tradition continued even after we moved here where there was no Carol to irritate!

We go looking at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  After we get home, we have hot cocoa with candy cane in it right before we go to bed!

On Christmas morning, before we go open presents, everyone comes in our room, and we plan The Clapping Game (One person claps out they rhythm to a Christmas song, and everyone else tries to guess the song.  We all take turns being the clapper.)  

This year, Doug and I had to start the game on our own.  None of the kids came in our room until nearly 7:00!  They finally all made it!

All the kids before the cyclone of unwrapping gifts began.

Unwrapping presents is always fun!

After the presents are all unwrapped, the dad makes new cards for the wrapping paper game from the new gift wrap for the year.

Playing Steve's Candy Land game, the name of which I can't remember right now!  The kids had fun with this one!

The missionaries (Elders Collins and Butterfield) came over to Skype with their families.  They spent the day with us.  We introduced them to the Wrapping Paper game.

The Myers gave us a bucket of indoor snowballs for Christmas, and the dad made a bunch of pom-pom snowballs, and we had a big old snowball fight.

The snowball fight, I imagine, will become a new Christmas tradition!

This isn't a tradition.  I just took advantage of an opportunity when I saw one.  This is Brian's forehead.  I drew an unpside-down face on him!

This is Steve's forehead.  The boys look kind of creepy if I do say so myself.

More of the game.

Every year we put a couple of puzzles together during the holiday.

And we can't forget Musical Mayhem night!

I love having a musical family!

By the end of the evening, the family band sounds pretty doggone good!

We were ribbing Chelsea about posing for pictures.  I about fell over laughing when she popped up with this one!

And we all know the conductor's is the most important part.

We bought some chestnuts to roast.  It was good for a one-time shot, but we doubt it will become a tradition.  It's too much work.

This is the puzzle we bought at the Red Rock Balloon Rally.