Traditions... TRADITIONS!

I have no business taking time out of my busy head elf schedule to be writing a blog right now but my heart is so full at the moment that I feel it important to document this feeling, even if only for my kids to one day read and recall the memories. This morning I made Christmas sugar cookies with my girls. A tradition that I remember doing with my Mom for as long as I can remember. We use this recipe that is called Sue's Sugar cookies. Now, I have no idea who Sue is but thank God for her cookies. They are the best sugar cookies I have ever had. I will not even eat any others. I think the secret is there is sour cream and nutmeg in the dough which makes them super soft and smell amazing. Just the aroma of those cookies flooding my kitchen brings back so many warm and fuzzy memories of Christmas' past. This morning my girls helped roll out the dough and cut the shapes and then frost them. Peyton was actually a big help this year and she decorated them really cute (like I can actually give them away to people and not be embarrased) Amber...well she is only two...I think she spent all morning decorating one cookie but managed to put every frosting color and sprinkle that we had on top making a large mond that made it unable to even see what the cookie on the bottom was in the first place. but she was so proud of her cookie it didn't matter. Once the cookies are all baked and decorated we will pass them out to our neighbors, a tradition that I remember doing with my family as a kid and we have now done each year with our own kids. Peyton blessed me so much a few weeks ago when I was getting out some of her old clothes that she grew out of for Amber to start wearing. We came across a pair of princess sneakers that light up when you walk. Peyton's faced lit up and she excitedly explained "Amber! These are the shoes I wore one Christmas when we were passing out christmas cookies to our neighbors."  How on earth did she connect those two, I will never know but the important thing is that it stuck with her and we made a memory from an old tradition. In case you haven't guessed it I am a huge advicate for traditions, for several reasons, but the most important one is that I believe they bind a family together in such away that is unique and special to only your family. Not only that, traditions benefit kids in so many ways, making them feel like they belong and are apart of something bigger then themselves. I believe that it imprints a marker on their hearts of a memory that hopefully they will cherish forever, even if it is just a pair of princess light up shoes that carried cookies to the nieghbors. :) What are some of your favorite family traditions???