{"id":4299,"date":"2017-11-11T15:00:39","date_gmt":"2017-11-11T20:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/?p=4299"},"modified":"2017-11-11T18:11:09","modified_gmt":"2017-11-11T23:11:09","slug":"christmas-with-college-and-adult-children-our-family-decorating-night","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/christmas-with-college-and-adult-children-our-family-decorating-night\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas With College and Adult Children: Our Family Decorating Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

One thing that draws high school and college kids like nothing else is food. Seriously. Food. Especially boys.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve already mentioned, preparing and\/or buying kids\u2019 favorite foods and treats is a great way to their hearts. Smile (See Kids\u2019 Faves worksheets available here <\/a>for free!)<\/p>\n

And, as I\u2019ve already mentioned in our \u201cContinue With Earlier Traditions,\u201d<\/a> we always invite all of the kids over for our decorating night Thanksgiving weekend.<\/p>\n

Here are some tips from our decorating night:<\/h3>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Our Tree With All of Our Homemade Ornaments<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

1)<\/strong> Our family decorating night on Thanksgiving weekend IS our Thanksgiving get together. We have found that having too many get togethers that kids are expected to attend within that four day holiday weekend is just too much. Again, we don\u2019t want to detract from anything they are doing in their own families, plus they have extended family get togethers and, if they are married, in-law get togethers. So in place of a Thanksgiving dinner, we have our Christmas decorating night.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Snowman globe ornament<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Scrabble pieces and miniature book cover ornaments<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

2)<\/strong> We have shrimp. Yes, shrimp. We have shrimp three times a year in our home: Christmas decorating night (shrimp cocktail), \u201cWhite Christmas<\/a>\u201d night (shrimp alfredo), and Christmas Eve (shrimp cocktail, oven fried shrimp, and shrimp scampi). It is a big deal. It is shrimp! Not casserole. Not half ground turkey and half hamburger. Not shredded chicken. Real shrimp!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Scrabble pieces ornaments<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

3)<\/strong> We read a story or two, sing a few carols, draw sibling names for exchanges, eat appetizers, drink IBC root beer (twice a year!), and decorate. (See Family Unity<\/a>.) It isn\u2019t too elaborate, doesn\u2019t take too much preparation, and isn\u2019t overly long (in time).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Joshua setting Out Nativity Sets<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>I love it that our kids-in-law bring their gifts and uniqueness to our family. Our daughter-in-law Lisa is an artist and always adds a special touch to our decorating.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

4)<\/strong> Our decorating is very simple\u2014sixty to ninety minutes with all of us. We put up a simple tree with homemade ornaments and set out dozens of various sizes of nativity sets. We might hang a wreath or two. I don\u2019t have expectations that they are going to spend several hours decorating my house. The fourteen of us can usually do the actual decorating part in an hour or so. That keeps everybody interested and makes the evening more enjoyable.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Our new kids-in-law taking part in our family’s Christmas activities<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

5)<\/strong> I use paper plates\u2014I don\u2019t want everybody to have to work all night cleaning up at the end of the evening, so I often put the appetizers (store bought) in the oven in foil pans and serve it all on paper plates.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Our Christmas story for decorating night…we love this family favorite!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

6)<\/strong> They are always invited to stay later to play games or watch a Christmas movie\u2014but again, that is an invitation not an obligation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Decorating night singing and stories!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just a few simple tips. But those tips make our night special.<\/p>\n

I am not a photographer by any means, but I have some pictures of our decorating night\u2014complete with all of the homemade ornaments that the kids and I made each year during our \u201cChristmas unit studies.\u201d Those ornaments bring all of us great joy\u2014and are a huge part of our \u201creminiscing\u201d and \u201cmemory sharing\u201d each year.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>After decorating the tree \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  One thing that draws high school and college kids like nothing else is food. Seriously. Food. Especially boys. As I\u2019ve already mentioned, preparing and\/or buying kids\u2019 favorite foods and treats is a great way to their hearts. Smile (See Kids\u2019 Faves worksheets available here for free!) And, as I\u2019ve already mentioned in our \u201cContinue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[995,643,488,633,281],"tags":[842,644,950,907,972,686,195,303],"yoast_head":"\nChristmas With College and Adult Children: Our Family Decorating Night - Character Ink<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/characterinkblog.com\/christmas-with-college-and-adult-children-our-family-decorating-night\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas With College and Adult Children: Our Family Decorating Night - Character Ink\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  One thing that draws high school and college kids like nothing else is food. 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