Christmas Traditions

            Traditions are important. Either holding on to past traditions or making your own. It’s those things that our children remember from year to year more than a specific gift they receive.   In the past week I have chatted about our families Christmas traditions.  One of these conversations was with a friend who is newly married and excited about starting their own traditions. It took me back to Mister and my first Christmas. We had been married for less than a month and living in Japan.  Thinking back that that was 14 years ago it made me feel old for a minute then nostalgic.  Over those 14 years we have kept a few things as set traditions and our boys now look forward to them each year. We aim to keep things simple, not stressful and focused on Jesus and time together as a family.

Here are a few of our families favorite Christmas Traditions:

Visit LL Bean-

We almost always get to LL Bean in Freeport to enjoy the lights, live reindeer and other festivities in the adorable down town. The parade is very fun as well!

Tree and decorations-

We get our tree and put up decoration as soon after December 1st as our schedule allows. I have totally scaled down my decor after our last move. I have one nativity set in the living room. Candles in the front windows and some advent candles on the dining room table. This year I found poinsettias for .50 cents a pot at Lowes so I snagged several and have them in a few spots in the kitchen and one in the mudroom. I love the pop of color from the poinsettias as well as the oranges I dried and put on the tree and in the candle hurricanes in the kitchen.

Grandparents take the boys-

Probably one of my biggest gifts! My parents take the boys on December 23^rd for the night. Mister and I can spend time together cooking, cleaning and wrapping.  The boys, grandparents and Mister and I all have fun, it’s a win win! On the 24^th we meet everyone at the next point.

Christmas Eve dinner of Chinese Food- 

When I was a kid we realized there were 3-4 years we had enjoyed Chinese food on Christmas Eve before going to church.  The tradition simply stuck and we do the same now.  When we get home the boys can open one gift. It is often a pair of pajamas or a new book to read that night.

Christmas Read Alouds-

Check out this post to learn about a handful of our favorite Christmas storybooks. We are also enjoying an Advent reading this year. The boys love enjoying the readings by candlelight.

Christmas breakfast- 

We always have monkey bread and kielbasa for breakfast on Christmas morning.  I prep the ingredients the night before and everything goes into the oven as we open presents.  Sometimes I cook these eggs because they are delish and go in the oven with everything else.

Dinner-

We take the tradition of soup for Christmas dinner from Mister’s growing up. We always make a seafood chowder and then a second soup. This year I think we may do a creamy chicken noodle. We have homemade yeast rolls and a salad to round out the meal.

Christmas movies-

We always make sure to watch Home Alone, Elf, and The Santa Clause. We’ll watch others too but those three are always enjoyed through December. Sometimes we have hot chocolate and popcorn, sometimes we don’t.

Baking-

Baklava is my choice treat from many years ago. I used to make it for everyone I knew. As I started to minimize different things I came to grips with the fact that it was an expensive treat to make (walnuts and honey aren’t cheap!) Now I limit how much I make.  I still like to make cookie plates but make no more than 4 varieties and usually just share with a few neighbors, and friends.

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Our ‘typical’ Christmas morning-

As typical as something like Christmas morning can be here is how we have usually spent our mornings over the last few years. Stockings begin the day. The boys get up together and get their stockings. They bring them to our room and open them up while Mister and I wake up and enjoy snuggles. After stockings Mister and I get out of bed, freshen up and get coffee going.  Tree is on and music is going, we usually put a fake fire on the TV too for full effect. I always have either a box or a trash bag right in the living room to collect all the wrapping and we take care of it as we go. I also have scissors at the ready.   We’ll all enjoy a gift or two and then we’ll get breakfast in the oven.  (We really try to space out the gifts through the day) We’ll eat breakfast and play with new gifts for a bit and then have another round of gifts for everyone.  At this point it’s typically around 11 am and finish up gifts within the 6 of us.  Any family who is coming will probably arrive at around 12.  I’ll get showered and we’ll do a run through of wrapping paper and gift packaging and get it out of the living room. I’m not a “neat knick” but the explosion of Christmas makes Mister and I a little overwhelmed. While the soups are warming up and rolls are in the oven we will swap gifts with the family that has come to our house. When those are enjoyed, we’ll get things out for dinner. 

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Taking break

Thanks for reading all the way through! I will be making a holiday tradition of taking a couple of weeks off of writing new content. You can still find me here and there on Instagram. I’ll take some time to be with my family, enjoy a break from school work, writing a bit and planning some new ideas for the new year. I’ll see you here in 2020, have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New year!