My FAVORITE Christmas Tradition

    This a very special tradition in my family and it was started when my mom was a little girl. My mom grew up in a small Idaho town called Ririe. They were not very well off growing up and they usually only had one gift each for Christmas. They also didn't have a fireplace. Since opening one present doesn't take very long, my grandma came up with this idea to stretch out the fun. She had a small ceramic fireplace and she sewed four small stockings. On Christmas morning the kids would find a small piece of paper rolled up in their tiny stocking. It was a clue. One by one the kids found clues all over the house until they found their present.
    When I was growing up, the small fireplace was passed down to my mom and we did the same thing at our house. We were fortunate enough to get more than one present, but the one from our parents was always the one that was the treasure hunt gift.
    Now that I am grown and have my own kids, we carry on the tradition and do this at our house. My oldest sister got the original fireplace, so I made my own. I made it out of clay.

The clues would be anything from pictures of things in the house for when we were small, to a scripture verse, to an ad in the newspaper, and a show description in the TV Guide or even a word in the dictionary. It was so easy to silently solve the clues when it was a siblings turn but you turned instantly stupid when it became your turn. Seriously. That is why I don't go on game shows. I know I would blank!!!
This was my favorite part of Christmas morning and now my kids look forward to it too :) Thanks for letting me share.