Are you creating any new traditions for yourself and your family this Christmas?

I use to go to the zoo every winter with my nephews when they were little. The zoo puts up over a million lights and you can see the animals in their night time habitat. They have ice skating and chestnuts being roasted over open fires, even horse drawn carriage rides. I think I will see if my boyfriend wants to go this year. I miss going and my nephews are too old for that now (that's their words.) I love doing it and I should do it every year because it gets me in the mood for Christmas and makes winter easier to except. At our local zoo it goes on every day from Thanksgiving till after New Years.

Not new this year, but our fav family tradition is ethnic food for Christmas dinner. None of us really like turkey, so we do something else -- we often do Italian, but sometimes Chinese, Mexican, even French haute cuisine. Last year the weather was nice so we did steaks on the grill. Everyone gets involved in the cooking and we pull out all the stops. Fun.

i started a tradition of my own a few years back where i buy presents for myself as well as buying presents for my family.

not really just me and my family go to new york with the rest of the fam...