My favorite holiday activities to do with the kids

Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Christmas is definitely more magical when you have children with whom to celebrate. My kids are excited about every little detail of Christmas. Every year we have a handful of traditional activities that we enjoy doing together, and each year we throw in a few new ones, too.

Nickelodeon and TwitterMoms are teaming up to offer bloggers the opportunity to share their 5 favorite holiday activities that they share with their children. You could win a $100 Amex gift card and Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure DVD just for sharing!

Here are our top 5:

1) Decorating
Before our food fully digests on Thanksgiving day, the girls start asking me to bring the decorations in from the garage. They're not very fond of the act of decorating so much as they are of admiring the decorations and recalling Christmas' past.

2) Trip to NYC and Radio City Christmas Spectacular
This is a tradition that was originally started by my sister-in-law, Bev, and her family. At some point, we joined in and carried on the tradition. We go to New York City for a day in mid-December. We start out by admiring all the department store windows. Afterwards, we take in the matinee at Radio City. We then head to dinner, and cap off the night with a trip to FAO Schwartz to marvel at all the toys!

3) Making cookies
The girls love to make sugar cookie cut-outs. This year we are going to try our hand at gingerbread people. The best part, we all agree, is eating them!

4) Watching all the holiday classics on TV
Who doesn't love Frosty the Snowman, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and Charlie Brown? They are the best, and I love that my kids love them too. I have to confess that we love Shrek the Halls, too!

5) Reading children's holiday books
We have quite a collection thanks, in part, to my sister-in-law, Susan, who sends the girls books. Some of our favorites include:
'Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
One Winter's Night by Leo and Diane Dillon
One Snowy Night by M. Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton
Rudolph Shines Again by Robert L. May
Mrs. Greenberg's Messy Hanukkah by Linda Glaser

There are several other activities that we do and events that we attend, but the above are our favorites. How do you make the holidays special for your children?

To jump in on the fun, go to the contest page at TwitterMoms.

Don't forget to watch Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure on Nickelodeon December 6th at 8 pm!

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