It's a (New) Family Tradition...

Our family Christmas included a few new traditions this year and they went over BIG!

ART AUCTION-
The kids were instructed to make some sort of art project to bring to our Christmas Eve gathering.

Most of the kids brought a drawing or painting. There was a paper mache Santa, some hand-painted ornaments, and a snowman made from torn pieces of construction paper.
All the projects were amazing and the kids really enjoyed creating them.
The adults held a silent auction. Bids started at $1 with a $20 maximum bid. (Though a few coveted art pieces went for $27!). To be fair, the money raised was pooled together and divided amongst the children. Each child was also given an award certificate.

CHRISTMAS PHOTO BOOK-My cousin, Charlotte, created a Christmas photo book from pictures taken at last year's Christmas get-together. She used the website BLURB to create the book. Charlotte wrote that it was time to combine her love of family and passion for photography-we're glad she did! Each year the adults participate in a "Scrooge" game similar to a "White Elephant" gift exchange game. Charlotte's ever-so popular Christmas book was stolen the max of 5 times! I didn't get the book-guess I'll be buying it off the website.