I think one of the special parts about the holiday season is that each family/friend group have their own little set of traditions that they stick to when celebrating the most wonderful time of year. My family are no exception, so I thought I’d share some of my favourite traditions that we try and stick to during December.
Decorating
As I briefly mentioned in my Fall Traditions post, I like to decorate straight after Thanksgiving is officially over. I play my four hour Christmas playlist (yes, you heard me right, four hours haha), and I really really enjoy myself as I jam out to festive bops & Christmas-ify my room. I might have to do a Christmas decor post sometime this month!
My mom does the same thing pretty much; she starts decorating in the days following Thanksgiving, and although it takes her a bit to do the whole house, she starts on it straight away. We like to put up our outdoor Christmas lights around this time as well.
I always used to request that we get our Christmas tree during this weekend as well, but as we get a real one, I have found that I’d rather wait for the first weekend of December so it can be alive & healthy for most of the month :’) We actually got our tree this Sunday, and we also managed to get it all decorated on the same day which is a miracle. Usually, we don’t have time to tackle that right away, so that process also takes a couple of days haha.
Festive activities
In my previous post, I spent a little bit of time talking about Christmas Tree Lane. This is certainly a tradition we like to take care of every year. I look forward to piling in the car with my parents & siblings, rolling down the windows and being a bit chilly, but nonetheless truly enjoying all the gorgeous decorations and listening to the custom radio station that plays in the neighborhood!
My parents bought a Christmas Advent/Carol book long before I was born, so we like to try and read an entry and sing the accompanying carol(s) each evening. It’s something I really look forward to as it reminds us of the true beauty of Christmas and keeps me grounded in what the season is all about. Just the other night we read about ways we can try to be more giving and kind this month, and it’s so refreshing!
We’re always sure to watch some Christmas films together over the weekends, and you best believe that It’s a Wonderful Life is #1 on that list :’) I’m actually planning to write up a post about all my fav Christmas movies, so I’ll leave it there for now.
Celebrating Christmas…
We split up Christmas Eve & Christmas Day to each side of the family. Christmas Eve is spent with my dad’s side of the family. As with Thanksgiving, we take turns hosting it, and we usually have a meal similar to Thanksgiving as well. We have a good old hearty meal, sing some Christmas carols, and give each other our gifts.
Christmas Day we spend with my mom’s side. We always celebrate at my Nana’s house, and our meal is usually centered around a delicious standing rib roast. We draw names at Thanksgiving, so we pass out our gifts to whomever we got & then pass out what’s left. Some of us also gather around to watch the iconic & legendary film: A Christmas Story or one of the even older classics: Rudolph, Frosty, The Little Drummer Boy, etc.
Those are some of our Christmas traditions 🙂 What are some of yours?!