I love Christmas and Christmas traditions!
It’s such a magical time of year. Suspense builds all month long. Wishes are made. Dreams are dreamt. Memories are made.
Emma loves shopping for those she loves. We both love baking dozens and dozens of Christmas cookies. We love decorations and Santas and colorful lights. But, most of all, we love the family time!
Christmas Traditions
Em looks forward to these two days all year long. I love that she looks forward to giving as much as receiving. She starts buying gifts for her siblings and pets long before I even start thinking about what I’m going to get everyone.
I start looking forward to our traditions as much as I look forward to shopping for those I love. My month starts out revolving around Nutcracker performances, and then I can breathe and focus on the fun! I can start planning gifts and menus and our traditions. Speaking of traditions…
On Christmas Eve, the kids each get to open a gift, and it’s the same every year. Every year, the whole family gets a new pair of pajamas
After dinner, I make hot chocolate for the whole family. Most of the time, I just make store-bought hot chocolate
Early in the week of Christmas, Emma and I make a some holiday trail mix/puppy chow to munch on through Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Some of our favorites include Cinnamon Sugar Candied Nut Mix and Orange Cranberry Mix. Although, we usually just pick one off the back of the Chex cereal box.
At this point in the night, we all have on our new jammies and snacks and drinks. It’s time for everyone to load up and go look at Christmas lights. We try to go to a new area every year so we aren’t always driving through the same neighborhoods. We listen to Christmas carols on the radio. We talk about what we like and don’t like about the lights we see. I like white lights. Emma likes colored. I don’t like icicle lights
Once we’ve had our fill of Christmas lights, or someone starts getting crabby from being in the car too long, it’s time to head home for my favorite part of the night. We all pile into the basement to watch Polar Express
When the movie is over, it’s bed time for the kids – even the oldest ones. First, though, we have to put out the milk and cookies for Santa. Emma is in charge of this job, and she always puts Santa’s cookies on our “You are Special” plate
Once the kids are in bed, it’s a scramble to get all the gifts under the tree. Then, I fill the stockings
Do you have a Christmas Eve tradition?
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our kids are grown and flown, but I remember putting out Christmas presents while I listened to one of the televised Carols nights – it was a lovely background sound. Our kids always got to open their little presents before church, then the bigger ones when they got home – I’m not sure they would think that was the ideal way to do it, but it worked for us. Thanks so much for sharing at our #OverTheMoon linky 🙂 ~ Leanne
I love that you go look at the lights in your PJs! Fun!
Oh, yeah, we drink way more cocoa at Christmas time. And I love using a candy cane to stir it!
My grandkids always spend Christmas Eve at my house. My daughter and son-in-law wake up early and bring Santa gifts as well as their family Christmas gifts and add them under the tree! We are on our 14th year and the grands LOVE it there. I LOVE it too because I get to relive all the excitement and magic of Christmas through my grandkids! It cracks me up when my granddaughter (age 7) wants to go to bed at 6pm (normally midnight), because she is on a second shift parents’ work schedule (Good thing she is home-schooled).
We decorate the house, but don’t turn on any lights until Christmas Eve after everyone falls asleep. In the morning it’s a wonderland.
We have a family party every Christmas Eve; and we broke tradition by NOT hosting this year for the first time in 10 years! We’ll still get together with family but at someone else’s house this year. We eat dinner, open presents and have fun with family members we’d never get to see on Christmas day.