Gift-Giving Traditions - for children and adults

So far, I've started two "traditions" for the boys...
- I get them books for that holiday. For example, I just picked them up Halloween books at the store the other day.
- The other tradition was one that my mom did for us when we were little...we got an ornament every year for Christmas...it usually came in our stocking, and the ornament usually gave in indication of what we enjoyed that year. The boys each received a "1st Christmas" ornament last year, and I've been on the hunt for their ornament for this year. I'm pretty sure that their ornament for 2009 will have penguins on it, since they have been obsessed with this dvd all year! The current song they are obsessed with on the dvd is the butterfly song, but not very boy-ish, so I think I'll go with the penguins instead. :)

St. Nick's/Christmas
Socks
Christmas pajamas
Ornament
CD



For children:


My sister-in-law Jamie started giving my niece the Precious Moments Birthday Train Set when Rachel was born. Each year for her birthday, Rachel gets another piece of the ceramic train set...it looks like there is a piece up to age 16. My sister Katie said that was one of Rachel's favorite gifts, and that each year she looks forward to seeing 'which animal will add to the train'. Too cute!

When my boys were getting ready for their first birthday, Jamie asked me about this train set for Connor and Logan. After much debate, we determined the Precious Moments set wasn't very boy-ish, so we decided on a real, battery-powered train set. The boys each received a train car for their 1st birthday, as well as some pieces of track, etc., and will continue to get a piece of the train each year. This way, wheen they are older, they will have a train set to put around their Christmas tree, play with, etc. Putting the train on the floor around the Christmas tree was always a tradition when I was a kid...and it was "Scott's train". So it seems even more fitting that the boys are receiving their train sets from Uncle Scott and Aunt Jamie.

I'm a super-slacker on this one, but I started a tradition for my nieces Sammie, Rachel, and Taylor. This tradition was getting them a charm (for a charm bracelet) each year...for example, for their baptism, they got a small cross. Sammie was obsessed with purses one year, so I that year I got her a purse, etc. Like I said - I'm pretty far behind on this one, but I do have the intentions of catching up one day...my plan is to give them a "complete" bracelet on their 13th (or 16th, or whatever) birthday to exemplify their lives.

For adults:

One of the gifts my mom gave her children and step-children was a collection of cookie cutters. She would pick out 2-3 for each month, and then we received cookie cutters for that season/holiday as well as a recipe for that kind of cookie...and a few of the cookies. This was nice for us because now we each have a small collection that we can continue the tradition of baking shaped cookies with our kids.