Family Traditions

I am all about traditions in a family. I feel that since our family is going to be living a life of chaos most of the time, having simple traditions will be important. Noel Piper wrote a book about traditions and it got me thinking. She says the most important part of making traditions is planning. So I am already planning ahead. Here are some I am planning on doing with our family:
Daily:

• I plan on giving each child a "life verse". I will give it to them when they are born (or adopted) and speak it over them every night. Our normal routine at night is bath, bottle, bible story, two worship songs, prayer and this verse. As they get older, this will probably be the first verse they memorize.
• I sing a "good morning song" every morning when Wyatt gets ready to play....this just seems to start the day off right. I don't do it as soon as he gets up because I am not a morning person so I wait until he is fed, changed and ready to go. As he gets older, the morning song will change but I do want to make sure I always start the morning off right for him by saying the same thing over and over.
• Every week or two we will have a new bible verse that I will put up somewhere in the house and I will say it throughout the day (probably at every meal so I can stay consistent) My mom recorded me quoting Genesis 1:1 at the age of 3. She felt that memorizing scripture was very important and I am so thankful for this!
• we will have dinner together at the table. My parents did this with us and though not every dinner time was a pleasant experience, it is a great time to really talk and to teach kids manners, ect.

Holidays:

• Birthdays- every kid gets a "special plate" This plate is reserved for birthdays but can also be used for very special occasions in the kids life. My mom did this with us and we loved it! We thought that plate was so awesome because we had to save it for special days.
• Christmas- levi's mom gave the kids 3 gifts and I really like this idea. I know this is controversial (even with my siblings) but I LOVED Santa when I was a kid and some of my best memories are of Santa so we will definitely have Santa bring the 3 gifts and write letters to the kids. We will also make him cookies. I know that we will read the Christmas story and watch the Nativity Story every Christmas too...just not sure when yet.
• New Years- I plan on having a special dinner the night of New Years. We will get dressed up and either go out or dine at home but it will be really nice. Each child will get a letter telling them special moments we had with them the previous year, ways we've seen them grow, and what we look forward to the next year.

These are just a few I've been thinking about. Are there any special traditions your family has? I love hearing new ideas!