Zehring Christmas Traditions

My husband has been working retail full time for over 2 years now. It has been a blessing and a curse. But most of the time its been a HUGE blessing. The Lord provided this job for Joel when we were looking at losing $500 a month in income through one job or another. We were both working hard and taking care of a 1 year old at the time. When this position came up we were nervous (we had been discussing it for a year and kept putting it off) but super excited over the possibilities.

It all started right after my oldest was born. I always thought I would be a working mom. I thought I would make it work. But after my maternity leave was up, I didn't want to go back to work. I wanted to be with my baby at home. And the Lord provided for me to do that by doing in-home child care. Then I started substitute teaching when child care wasn't enough. Then, the pay cuts with Joel's job started happening. That's when retail management started entering our conversations. Long story short, Joel took the job and I am home more than ever before. I am also at the tail end of my working out of the house. And its been wonderful to see an end in sight and my chance to finally stay home full time. With the exception of  holidays, Joel's job has been a wonderful change to our family. He his home more and we have extra income.

But during the Christmas season, we would never see him. Dinners at families houses were not happening because of Black Friday and overnight inventory. And he always seemed to be the one that closed on Christmas Eve. Which meant that he didn't participate in any of our traditions that Nathan and I started. Then this year, Target gave us the BEST gift ever. They allowed all management to either have Christmas Eve or the 26th off. We chose Christmas Eve. And by far, the best day ever. Here is what we do on Christmas Eve and how Joel was able to join us this year.

First, we introduce Nathan to Santa. We track him on google maps and see how close he is to where we live. We also sprinkled reindeer food for Santa's reindeer. Nathan chose our front walkway because its right by his window and maybe he will hear them. :)

After that, we went to Costco for pizza before we headed over to Winterhaven. Its a neighborhood that goes all out for Christmas and is completely free for people to walk through. All they ask for is donations to the food bank. So we clear out my stock pile of food and head on over. Nathan was actually on the news two Christmases ago while we at Winterhaven.

 

When we got back home, we tracked Santa one more time. Then came the baths, Christmas PJs, and some thing Joel got to do for the first time, the reading of the birth of Christ from Luke 2. After that its getting a plate of cookies for Santa and some Christmas books are read. Then bedtime.

 

 

After the boys are asleep, Santa comes, eats some cookies, and he ALWAYS leaves a Thank You note for our boys.

BEST CHRISTMAS EVER!!!!