When we were first married, my husband and I had no traditions of our own when it came to celebrating the holidays. Rather, we would show up for gift openings and Christmas pageants with our extended families, and that was that. However, as we've added more of our own children to the mix, we've started adding things to our holiday traditions that we enjoy doing together as a family.

Here is a list of what we do together as a family during the holiday season to get everyone in the gift-giving and Christmas-carol-singing spirit:

• Christmas Cards: We have done our own Christmas cards year after year. We pick a day and time, get all the kids dressed in clean clothes and venture out to try to get them all to smile at once. As the ratio of parents to children has shifted, this can sometimes be stressful, but we try to make it a fun time for everyone. Last year we let the kids play in huge leaf piles and throw them around. This year we took them out to a snowy sledding hill and let the snowball fight happen. Everyone was smiling by the end, and we did come away with some pretty priceless pictures that we wouldn't have otherwise. Those are the ones I'd like to keep anyway.
• Decorate the Tree: On a night when we're all together, we select a tree from the tree lot down the road and put it up in our living room, right in the main window for everyone to see. The kids squeal as they take ornaments out of the box, remembering them from last year and asking for stories behind the ones that belong to my husband and me. We play our favorite holiday soundtracks and everyone gets into the family togetherness.

• Holiday Movie: A few years ago when The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe came out we started a holiday tradition of seeing a movie all together. We don't often venture to the theaters during the year, especially not as a family since we've always had an infant, so this is our one chance to take it in with popcorn, snacks and the whole nine yards.
• Holiday Parade and Windows: We're lucky in that our downtown area puts on a parade multiple nights a week all through the month of December. There are floats and dancers, people dressed in every imaginable sort of holiday costume. Huddled together for warmth, we all stand together and watch as the bright lights and music pass through the streets. Then we stare into department store windows, decorated for the holidays, and we can even visit Santa's Workshop in Macy's to grab fresh baked gingerbread cookies.
• Christmas Program: We celebrate Christmas in our home, and that comes with several trips to church for program practices. My kids each memorize their individual parts and songs, and they on Christmas Eve they all stand in their cute little clothes and sing.
• Cookie Baking: I adore Christmas cookies, and since I really don't make many cookies other times of the year, I make up for it on Christmas. Together with all the kids and my sisters, we spend two entire days holed away in my kitchen, mixing and rolling and baking all while watching our favorite holiday movies and laughing at old stories and sometimes crying, too.
• Entertaining: After months of running around and getting caught up in the business of life, the holidays are a good reminder to reach out to the people in your life that matter most. We love having friends over to share in meals, throwing small get-togethers and also enjoy being the guests at our friends' gatherings as well. It's a great time to make lavish meals and appetizers and enjoy eating them with the people you love.

What seasonal holiday traditions does your family celebrate? Do you get together with extended family members, or perhaps you have solo traditions you like to do to get away from the craziness of the holidays?