November Thanks--Holiday Traditions

So it's time for the last Thanksgiving giving thanks post.  this time I'm giving thanks for the traditions we have as a family.  I think I'll bullet these out for convenience sake.

I give thanks for:

• Every year we go to the mountains and get a tree.  It's $10 for a Christmas tree permit.  Then it jsut costs gas to head to the mountains and then time to find the most perfect tree we can.  Sometimes they turn out to be a bit Charlie Brownish, but they are always beautiful once decorated.
• I like to try to make cookies with the boys.  Candy cane cookies, oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, although this year I think I might need to expand the cookie choices   I'm thinking snickerdoodles or something like that.
• I get a gingerbread house for Turbo to decorate the day before Christmas.  Bruiser needs to get a bit older before he gets one to decorate.  Probably next year.
• We always enjoy watching A Christmas Story.  We can really identify with the story.  For me it's being mom to two boys.
• We always watch Santa's progress on Christmas Eve on Norad's Santa Tracker.
• I mentioned it before, but it is a tradition--we do an all day long seafood extravaganza for New Year's, either New Year's Eve or New Years Day, depending on if the kids are with us or the grandparents.  We spread out the courses--appetizers of shrimp and scallops at around lunch, main course of lobster tails around 5 or so and the final course of Crab legs around 8:30 or so.  Enough time in between to clean up from each course, let it digest, and move on to the next.  It's awesome!
• We do a count down calendar for the boys.  It's a cute calendar with pockets for each day and a star that moves from pocket to pocket.  I got it when Turbo was four to help him know how long it was until Christmas.  It helped save me from the Is Christmas tomorrow? questions.
• We spend Christmas eve with Nick's folks.  The boys get to open present from Papa and Nana then and we get appetizers and snack food and it's nice.
• After Christmas Eve at the grandparents we go look at lights and then head home to scuttle little boys into bed so Santa can come.
• We have Christmas breakfast at our house.  It way easier than lunch and lets the kids show the grands what they got and we don't have to go anywhere.

I am so thankful that I have a family that I can make these kinds of memories with.  Thinking about all these traditions really helps put me in the Christmas mood.  What are your traditions?  Are you looking forward to Christmas?