Morning Rituals

This is sponsored content by BlogHer and Kelloggs.

Almost two years ago Monte and I were married.  Immediately following our wedding and honeymoon came the Christmas season.  I love Christmas, it’s such a wonderful holiday to celebrate, but our first Christmas together was one of chaos and stress.  We were trying to figure out how to celebrate the holidays with our extended families as well as at home with our immediate family, and it really seemed to be overwhelming to both Monte and me!  Once the season had passed, we sat down and discussed how we wanted the next Christmas to go, as we knew we weren’t going to survive through another December like the one we had just experienced. 

Fast forward almost a full year and the Christmas season is upon us again.  This time, Monte and I feel prepared and ready for celebrating without stressing!  We went to the Christmas Eve service at our church, followed by Christmas celebrations with some of our extended family.  Christmas day was one that we dedicated to staying home and celebrating with our kids, and I am so glad that we did!  We were woken up early that morning by the kids who were practically bouncing off the walls to open presents!  We got everybody up to the living room, grabbed ourselves some coffee and our camera and enjoyed the morning seeing what everybody got.  The wonderful thing about this past year was that we gave each of the kids a designated amount of money to buy presents for everybody else in the family, so watching them get so excited to see their sibling or Monte and me open a present that was specifically bought for them was such a joy.  It really helped them to see the good that comes with being willing to give without expectation of receiving something in return.

Once we’re through opening presents, when all of their goodies cover the floor along with shreds of wrapping paper, we move into the kitchen and enjoy breakfast together.  We don’t have anything specific that we make, it just all comes together when we make it to the kitchen and make that decision.  The greatest part of this breakfast is hearing the kids talk about how much they wanted that gift that their sibling bought for them, and seeing said sibling truly happy knowing that their present was something that was completely desired.

There’s something beautiful and wonderful about celebrating Christmas with my family, and it is by far my favorite morning ritual.  What’s your favorite yearly ritual that you celebrate?

--

Here's the fun part!  With this review, I get to give away a $100 Visa Gift Card to one of you fabulous readers!  It's incredibly simple to enter, and you can have up to two entries, here's how:
- To enter, leave a comment about your favorite yearly morning ritual.
- For a second entry, you can: 

Tweet about this post with a link to it (and put your tweet URL in a separate comment below)

Blog about this post with a link to it (and put your blog post URL in a separate comment below)

-Sweepstakes ends 5 PM PST on November 1, 2010.

The winner will be chosen using www.random.org.  To view the official sweepstakes rules, visit www.blogher.com/kelloggs-rules-12.

Make sure to visit the BlogHer Reviewer Round Up page to check out what other bloggers had to say and to take advantage of 23 more chances to win a $100 Visa Gift Card! BlogHer.com Kellogg exclusive offers page.

Mom's Breakfast Club was started to help educate moms and families about kids' cereal and share the scoop on their nutritional benefits and ingredients.  To learn more about the program, visit www.loveyourcereal.com.