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Christmas Traditions: Gift Wrapped Doorway and Christmas Blocks
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When Santa was here on Christmas Eve, not only did he leave presents for the children, and leave his messy boot prints all over our room…but he also gift wrapped the doorway!
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Now the Christmas tree and the presents were trapped behind a wall of wrapping paper. The only way to get to the gifts…was to bust through the wrapping paper!
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It was actually harder than it looks to bust through that paper! Because of the way our doorway is set up there were actually two layers of wrapping paper to get through.
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Perhaps at your house the bedroom doorway gets wrapped instead of the living room, or perhaps it’s tissue paper or streamers instead of wrapping paper.
The great thing about the gift wrapped doorway tradition is that it can work for so many different families, whether Santa visits your house or not! It’s one that mom’s and dad’s can do themselves without Santa’s help. It’s one that teenagers can enjoy and look forward to as much as little children.
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Another Christmas morning tradition that we have in our family is the ceremonial knocking down of the Christmas blocks. Okay, it’s not ceremonial at all…but it is fun! In the photo below Jonathan was almost 11 months old and he crawled right to the blocks to knock them over.
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It will be interesting to see how long it takes the kids to knock the blocks down this year. Will they be more interested in Santa’s footprints or the presents? Or will they knock the blocks down right away? Will they fight over who gets to knock the blocks down or cry because “So-and-so knocked the blocks down first and I wanted to do it!”
I mean, of course I like to purposely implement traditions that will inevitably create discourse amongst the children…who doesn’t?! 😉
So far knocking down the blocks has been a fun little Christmas morning tradition, we’ll see if it remains fun as the kids get older!
2013 Update: Our wrapped doorway was a little less exciting this year. Check it out here: Merry Christmas 2013! Jon seemed a little overwhelmed on Christmas morning, but when my husband pointed out the blocks to him he was thrilled to knock them down! 🙂
Does Santa gift wrap your door way?
What are some of your fun Christmas morning traditions? Let me know in the comments!
This post is linked to:
Christmas Book Countdown
Here’s a quick and easy activity we do to countdown to Christmas day. Unwrap and read a Christmas book each day until Christmas!
It’s already December 2 and I haven’t wrapped the books yet this year. Oops. I always tell myself that I’m going to get these things done before Thanksgiving and then I always forget, or someone gets sick, or I’m distracted by something shiny. Maybe I should wrap them this year before I pack them away. That sounds smar…Squirrel! Wait, what was I saying?
How does your family countdown to Christmas?
What are your favorite Christmas books?
Let me know in the comments!
Santa Proof: Magical Santa Bootprints
I’m not sure what it is about our house but legendary figures are always leaving messy footprints in our house after a visit. First Leprechauns, then the Easter Bunny, and now…Santa Claus!
For the past two years Santa has magically descended our non-functioning chimney and left his sooty boot prints on our carpet on his way to the Christmas tree.
In 2011 Santa left a trail directly to the tree.
He must’ve ran out of soot on the way back.
But in 2012 Santa wasn’t quite so neat.
He left footprints everywhere…what a mess!
Luckily Santa’s boot prints vacuum up quickly and easily.
…and we noticed something interesting. Santa’s boot prints are truly magical indeed, in fact they change while he’s walking! Every so many steps he would leave a “Ho Ho Ho” or “SC” foot print behind.
In some homes Santa leaves white snowy boot prints with magical North Pole snow that doesn’t melt. For us, it’s soot. I’ve also heard reports from some families that get reindeer hoof prints inside their house! I guess it’s a good thing that we set our oats and carrots for the reindeer out on the back porch.
The product used to create Santa’s plain soot boot prints was Santa Soles. While I’ve seen many other products for creating Santa’s snowy boot prints, this is the only one that I’ve found that imitates soot. Visit SantaSoles.net and like the Santa Soles Facebook Page
Santa Soles allow you to create Santa’s footprints in your very own home, adding to the magic of Christmas morning. Santa Soles are the footprints that dreams are made of! Santa Soles are templates that allow you, along with our non-toxic, non-staining “soot” to create Santa’s footprints right in your home! Our “soot” is safe for use on all types of flooring and vacuums up easily, making clean up a breeze!
Other stencils/templates used: “Ho Ho Ho” and “SC”
Disclosure: I found, purchased, and reviewed the product “Santa Soles” and the additional boot print templates on my own. I was not given the products for free, I was not compensated in any way, and I was not asked to post a review. All opinions expressed are my own.
Does Santa leave boot prints in your house?
Let me know in the comments!
This post is linked to:
Easter Tradition: Easter Bunny Paw Print Trail (2013)
For the third year in a row the Easter Bunny left white paw print tracks all over our family room (which is now the playroom).
(Watch video here)
The kids had to follow the bunny trail to find their Easter baskets.
The Easter bunny hopped in through the window just like he did in 2011 and 2012.
This year he hid Jonathan’s Easter basket inside of the play kitchen.
The Easter bunny hopped all over the playroom leaving his footprints behind.
He even hopped onto the table to get a closer look at Adaline’s stuffed bunny.
Then the Easter Bunny hid Adaline’s Easter Basket under the art table.
Adaline searched for both Easter baskets since Jon is 14 months old and was not very interested in the whole thing.
Adaline was so excited about the Easter Bunny’s footprints being everywhere, she just kept running around in circles pretending she was bunny!
The kids enjoyed inspecting the Easter Bunny paw prints closely.
Yet another fun visit from the Easter Bunny…that rascally rabbit! 🙂
Does the Easter Bunny leave paw prints at your house? Does he hide the Easter basket?
Let me know in the comments!
*FREE PRINTABLE EASTER BUNNY PAW PRINT TEMPLATE
*EASTER TRADITION: EASTER BUNNY TRACKS 2011
*EASTER TRADITION: EASTER BUNNY TRACKS 2012
*50+ EASTER EGG DECORATING IDEAS
*NATURAL DYES FOR COLORING EASTER EGGS
Easter Tradition: Coloring Eggs (2011)
We seem to always color eggs on Palm Sunday. Adaline really enjoyed coloring Easter eggs last year. We just do the basic solid colored egg-dye, nothing fancy. We may branch out as the kids get older.
There are so many cool, interesting egg-decorating techniques and you can find many of them here…
50+ Easter Egg Decorating Ideas (Links)
Natural Dyes for Easter Eggs (Links)
We’ll be coloring eggs this weekend, but until then enjoy these photos from last year.
Related Posts:
*Happy Easter 2011
*A Loooong Trip Down Bunnylane
*Natural Dyes for Easter Eggs (Links)
*Easter Bunny Footprints
* 50+ Easter Egg Decorating Ideas (Links)
*LOCAL
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Easter Traditions: Bunny Footprints (2011)
Find a free printable Easter Bunny paw print template/stencil here! Front and back paws! 🙂
Last year on Easter we woke up to find that the Easter Bunny had left bunny tracks in the family room!
At first Adaline was a little afraid of the bunny footprints which is odd considering that she didn’t seem to mind the leprechaun footprints at all.
It looks as though the Bunny hopped in through the window and then hopped across the room to fill Adaline’s Easter basket leaving a trail of bunny prints behind.
He also dropped some plastic eggs that had candy in them. Adaline enjoyed putting them in her basket once her fear of the bunny paw prints mellowed.
Adaline’s bunny and book about Easter was waiting for her.
Adaline’s Easter basket
Don’t worry about the bunny prints…they vacuumed right up! In fact, I’d say they were as easy to vacuum as flour, baking soda, or baby powder ;)!
If you need a template you can try this one!
Does the Easter Bunny leave paw prints at your house? Let me know in the comments!
*FREE PRINTABLE EASTER BUNNY PAW PRINT TEMPLATE
*EASTER TRADITION: EASTER BUNNY TRACKS 2012
*EASTER TRADITION: EASTER BUNNY TRACKS 2013
*Natural Dyes for Easter Eggs (Links)
*Round up of 50+ Easter Egg Decorating Ideas
*Santa’s Magic Sooty Bootprints!
*Leprechaun Visit 2011: Leprechaun footprints and green toilet water!
*Leprechaun Visit 2013: Little green footprints!
*30+ April Fools Pranks You Can Play on Your Kids!
This post is linked to…
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Fun and Dysfunction 