This is part of the series The Gifts Of The Holidays: Celebrating Thanksgiving And Christmas. Read more from the series!

Our kids get really excited about our Christmas traditions. And, to be honest, so do I.

And the day after Thanksgiving is probably my favorite day of the year because of this.

This is the day we decorate the house.

First of all, I’ve booked this day as a recurring entry on my calendar. It’s always pre-booked, so that I will never forget and double schedule something else on this date. That has the added benefit of communicating to my wife and kids just how important this day is to me.

Once we are all awake, the work begins. The kids clean and vacuum the house, especially the living areas while I’m unloading boxes from the storage area under the stairs.

After the living room passes inspection, we set up the tree. We now have a pre-lit tree, so it’s a little easier than in years past.

We make sure all of the lights are working (this year we have a strand out, and can’t find the cause; might be time for a replacement tree…), and then we start adding the decorations.

This in itself is a special tradition for our family. We purchase a special family ornament for each year, representing something our family experienced during the year. With the multiple deaths in our family in 2011, we felt a cross with the word “Hope” was appropriate.

After hanging the family ornaments, we do the same thing with each of our children. They each receive a special ornament each year, with special significance. This creates some very special memories, and will also give them a tree full of special ornaments when the day finally arrives when they move out of our home.

Every one of these ornaments carries special meaning to us.

Here’s our tree this year:

Once the tree is up and decorated, we go through the years of collected Christmas decorations that we’ve gathered, deciding what to put out this year. We have so much that a lot of it stays packed away sometimes.

One of the favorites that we pull out every year is our Christmas village:

After that, we spot vacuum, making sure the floor is clean of the tree’s needles, and take a break with some sparkling grape juice.

We then eat dinner, usually Thanksgiving leftovers and gather in the living room, near the tree to watch a movie.

Every year, the movie we watch on this day is It’s A Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. We watch it in black and white, and celebrate with George Bailey as he discovers just how meaningful his life is.

After the kids go to bed, Heather and I celebrate with another movie. This time it’s National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, starring Chevy Chase. We absolutely love that movie!

It’s a full day, and it wears us out. But every moment is worth it; and we look forward to this day with great anticipation every year!

Does your family have any decorating traditions? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.

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