Holiday Traditions - courtesy of TodaysMama and GameStop

TodaysMama and GameStop are giving away a sleighful of gifts this holiday season and to enter I’m sharing this meme with you.

1. What is your holiday wish for your family?

For my local family and my extended family across the country, I wish the blessings of good health, love and prosperity.  These times can be tough on folks, and I wish everyone an easier road ahead in 2011.

2. What is your Christmas morning tradition?

Our kids wake us up early, we all wait for each other to be ready before we go downstairs together to see what Santa has left for us.  We open Santa's stockings first, then the gifts he's left for us.  Then we break for a quick bite, and then we enjoy opening gifts from each other.  We stay in pajamas as long as we want, and we eat leftovers all day - no cooking on Christmas Day!  On the best years, we have extended family visiting us and we enjoy each other's company all day long.

3. If you could ask Santa for one, completely decadent wish for yourself, what would it be?

How about a full day of beauty - including a professional makeover, shopping spree, and massage therapy?  Ahhh!  :-)

4. How do you make the holidays special without spending any money?

We play Christmas music all season long, we decorate with cherished items from years past, we attend everyone's school concerts and music performances, we spend a lot of time together at the dinner table.  We enjoy time together at home!

5. What games did you play with your family growing up?

My three sisters and I played a lot of Monopoly and Life back in the day, and we played with our Barbies and dolls quite a bit.  When we visited our grandparents, we would always end up sitting together in the living room playing "I Spy".  This was a trick, I'm sure, to get us kids to settle down for the evening, but it turned out to be one of the most often-recalled memories that my sisters and I share.

6. What holiday tradition have you carried on from your own childhood?

I think the most over-arching tradition that I've tried to bring from my childhood is that of enjoying the season together as a family, in whatever ways that turns out to be for our newest generation.  My childhood Christmases were magical, and I want my kids to feel the same way when they are grown.  

7. Where would you go for a Christmas-away-from-home trip?

We have made it a tradition to not travel on Christmas, so that we can wake up in our own home on Christmas morning.  But if we were to travel at Christmas, it would be to our families' homes across the country.  We are so spread apart, it makes it hard for everyone to enjoy Christmases together.  Now if we could arrange for a family reunion at a vacation destination, it would have to be Walt Disney World!

8. Check out GameStop and tell us, what are the three top items on your GameStop Wish List this year?

Our son is asking for "Star Wars The Force Unleashed" for XBOX360, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" for XBOX360, and I'd love to have the "Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2011" for Wii.  

I hope you'll share your holiday traditions too (whether you enter the giveaway or not).  I love reading about other families and their holiday traditions - so much fun!