Merry Christmas

Although this was technically Simon's second Christmas, it felt like his first because last Christmas he was three weeks and slept through the entire holiday.
This year, we celebrated in Provo with Grandpa and Grandma Heyborne (my parents). We had so much fun together.

Christmas Eve, we ate cookies and hot chocolate, Simon opened one present and we read the Christmas story out of Luke 2. It's become a family tradition for me to make biscotti every Christmas Eve, but this year I made these cookies as well. I thought they were so cute!

For his Christmas Eve present, Simon opened a toy school bus full of legos from Grandma and Grandpa Heyborne.

Christmas morning, we had our yearly braided-bread for breakfast (cinnamon-roll type bread my mom makes every year) and opened presents. Simon got a truck that makes real truck-like noises and even sings and dances to "Cotton-eyed Joe." Simon loves it. The batteries are already dying after just four days. He loves it so much, we all have "Cotton-eyed Joe" in our heads all day long. It's worth it to see him dance though.

Then as usual, mom and I spent a large part of the day making our Christmas dinner.

After Simon went to bed, we played games until we were all too tired to function (Christmas is exhausting).

I love having traditions for Christmas. Some of them, Jacob and I have carried with us from our families and some we've started on our own. We hope we are building traditions our children will enjoy and remember throughout their lives.
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?