Christmas Wish Books - Annual Christmas Tradition

This is a 'read me' post...please don't rely in the pictures because that is not really what I am sharing :)

My husband and I have a few Christmas traditions we do with our kids every year; I might share them all with you in a later post. One of these that I truly love and have done since they were little, was to create a Christmas wish list with them. As soon as they were able to hold a pencil, I encouraged them write what they wanted from Santa (sometimes I interpreted below it).

My son's Christmas Wish Book

Three years ago I started a Christmas Wish Book for both of them. I wish I had started this tradition as soon as they were born but unfortunately I didn't. So I will share with all of you, so you can perhaps enjoy this from when your little ones are really little.

This part is not the important part..but I know I need to share it anyway:) I bought a hard cover coil note book at Michaels for $1. The kids selected two of their favorite Christmas scrapbook paper and they Mod Podged them on the front of the notebook. We secured a ribbon over the seam where the two pieces of paper met. I had cardboard letters from the Dollar store that they covered with glue and then glitter. They glued the letter to the front of the book and then the books were done.

 

What happened next was what I love. Over the next few weeks, the kids wrote their wish list for Santa (believe me it changes it a couple of times before Dec. 25), what they are thankful for and they drew a few pictures.  I wrote the day and year on every page after they were done. My one rule was that they were allowed to make changes, but no page could be ripped out of the book.

This page got a little crinkled in the wish list creation process but it is still amazing!

Every year these books come out of storage with our Christmas decorations and the kids repeat the process. And every year we look back as a family and see how thing have changed over the year from their penmanship and spelling to what they thought was important. Their wish lists have gone from asking for bubble gum to a PS3,what they were thankful before were small things and now they are thankful for profound things like a healthy loving family, and how they have grown so much from being our babies to our big kids.

This is my son's self portrait from a few years ago. To me it looks like he is beating up his sister :)

I have only been doing this for three years with my guys and it amazes me to look at how fast they grow.

I plan to continue this tradition until my kids are big enough to pass it on to their kids. At that time, I will give them their Christmas Wish Book so they can share with their little ones what they hoped and wished for when they were little too.

My son drew he wanted a DS. I guess that is what he thought it looked like

I wanted to share this with you so perhaps you can share these memories with your kids as they grow too.

What are the traditions you do that are special to you and your family? Are there any you did when you were a child that you wish you had carried on?

Would anyone be interested in having a 'Christmas Tradition Link Party' where everyone can share their Christmas traditions? I would love to see what everyone else does so we can start some new ones.

Enjoy!
Stephanie