I think even more than THE day I enjoy all the activities leading up to THE day. I enjoy the old traditions surrounding the season, the music, the bringing out of familiar Christmas decorations.
For years we have helped decorate our church for Christmas the first Saturday of December. Now the grandchildren are helping and it is so much more fun with them.
My favorite Christmas decoration hands down is the Fisher Price Natitivity set. We've added pieces over the years and it has held up well. The kids play and play and play with it.
We don't get a white Christmas here very often. Face it, we don't get snow very often period. We did get a bit of a dusting a week ago and a little 3 year old insisted on a snowman. This was the result. He's about 6 inches tall. She also insisted on a carrot nose. We packed the head so tight that the head flew off when we tried to insert the nose. Ahh well, she was happy.
So we don't get much snow. That doesn't mean we don't have snowball fights. Indoors. A friend in my IBK group on ravelry sent me a dozen knit snowballs as part of an ornament swap. They have been a hit since. Just a day ago they divided into teams, boys vs girls and had a war. I'm not sure who won but considering how much fun they had, all won.
Zoo lights is part of the holiday tradition. The lights! The zoo characters for hugging. Elephant ears for eating. The night we went this year was cool but clear, as in no rain! Perfect!
One of the ladies in our church uses tea time as her ministry. Usually there is one around Christmas time and one in the spring near Mother's Day. We haven't gone to the last few because we had other commitments but we made it to this one. The little girls seem to enjoy it more than we do. But then all they have to do is smile or bat their eyes and the waiters are swooping in to give to their every whim. They enjoy the dress up part of it too.
Church, church family, are a huge part of the Christmas season for us. My grandchildren enjoy their moment in the spot light lighting the Advent candles. This year the brothers did it together. Half way up the aisle one of the candles went out which meant going back for a relight. The other went ahead and lit his candle and then patiently waited for his brother to light the 3rd candle together.
I've tried to get some knitting done inbetween scrapbooking and passing the treasurer's job for the Guild on to the next one and running children to and from school and fixing meals. Hats are great projects for busy people or any knitter really. Super cute results with pretty instant gratification. Both the hats I've finished were slouchy ones and I want to do some more. They look so cute on the kids. (details on ravelry)
Just a week before Christmas and we finally got our treel. It's a pretty one and it was fun to decorate.
Now to get the needles clicking. Another holiday tradition? Last minute sewing and knitting projects! But come January it's all about finishing projects. Nothing new in January but back to the old.
We, all of the grandmunchkins, the grands (my husband and I) and the great grands all went to the zoo for the day. Here we are! And we didn't scare anyone off. That may be because it was field trip day at the zoo for a bunch of grade schools and they were more scary than we. The day was perfect! Warm enough to go without coats but cool enough the animals were active. And NO rain! 
Pointed out things of interest.... 
We saw what our zoo is famous for...the elephants! My sweet little two year old GD can't say elephant and I kept asking her what these were just to hear it. They weren't doing "tricks" but it was an stimulation for them. We got to see the baby elephant, born last fall, I think.
This was a typical scene throughout the day, elbow to elbow looking at the animals. I love these scenes.
It was these guys first ever trip to the zoo. And they lasted for the day, even without a nap.
We saw this pose quite often from the three as they saw animals or fish. 
This probably expresses better than words how we felt about the day!
Lions and tigers and bears...oh my! This little one shouted at the tigers to "wake up" and they did! She was so pleased with herself!
We saw this frequently as well.. uncles and aunts and grandparents all chipping in to make sure the little ones enjoyed the zoo to the fullest. Uncle J calls his little niece "chubs" because she definitely isn't!
The smile says it all!
If you look off in the upper right corner, the sign right behind our granddaughter says "Please Do Not Feed". Ooops! We didn't see it until we'd fed. In defense, it was their hay we were feeding them.
The mommy elephant. The baby is sleeping so we didn't see much of it. What we did see was very cute.
We had a special picnic lunch with, for dessert, what else...animal crackers. Iced ones. This little one thought they were pretty good and decided to help herself.
Yep! We had a wonderful time! And we're going to do it again...SOON!
I hope your Valentine's Day is special. Ours was! And it's not over! We're going to have a special dinner together before I have to send my Valentine off on a business trip for a week. 