Christmas is truly one of the best times of the year. The chill in the air, the smells and tastes of the season and the spirit of giving are what the holidays are about to me. I have celebrated Christmas pretty much the same way every year for my entire life. Because of this, we have many family traditions, some old and some newer, that I look forward to every year.
1. Decorating the tree/ornaments
We’ve always had multiple trees in our house. The biggest one always resided in the living room, but apart from the kitchen, every other room in the house had a tree of some sort. I can remember having a real tree for a few years when I was really little, but my parents have since always used a pre-lit artificial tree. The ornaments on our big tree have been collected over the years and are a representation of our family, trips we’ve taken, and accomplishments we’ve made. Every year growing up, our mom would gift us with a new ornament. Generally, this ornament was something unique to us that was a significant representation of the past year. For example, the year I turned 16 and got my driver’s license, the ornament I received was a little hot pink convertible car. We each have our favorites, and have very specific onions on placement on the tree. It’s always fun every year to look back at all the memories the ornaments bring. It’s almost like a giant scrapbook.
2. Watching Christmas movies
I talked about my favorite Christmas movies here, but this is something I enjoy year after year. Shelby and I started off December saying we were going to watch a new Christmas movie every day. We kept it up until this week as we got too busy with packing and traveling, but we’ll pick it back up this weekend. Watching Christmas movies in front of a warm fire with a cup of hot cocoa overflowing with squishy marshmallows is a family tradition I have fond memories of and one I look forward to doing every year.
3. Driving around looking at lights
This is something we always did growing up, usually in our pajamas. But, as us kids now all live in New York City without cars, and we’re in Texas for such a limited time in December, this is one we haven’t done for a few years. Hopefully we find the time in the next week to make it happen as there are some fantastic neighborhoods too tour. You’ve heard the saying “everything is bigger in Texas” and that extends to Christmas decorations.
4. Baking/decorating sugar cookies
We’ve switched up what we bake for the holidays over the years, but without fail Shelby, Ethan and I always make and decorate sugar cookies. When we were little, our mom ran the show, but now we do it all ourselves. Sibling bonding at it’s finest. Sometimes we make the dough from scratch, and sometimes it’s store bought, but the best part is always the decorating. Taking our carefully rolled out dough and using holiday cookie cutters, baking to perfection, and then all sitting down together with bowls of colored frosting and endless amounts of holiday sprinkles and other assorted decorative toppings is one of my favorite things that we do together every year.
5. Holiday tea
This is a newer tradition we started 5 or 6 years ago. The weekend before Christmas we take an afternoon away from the hustle of wrapping gifts and baking cookies to go enjoy a nice leisurely high tea as a family. If you’re local to Dallas, we’ve gone to the one at the Dallas Arboretum a few times which is always fun, but this year we are going to the Adolphus Hotel which I’m looking forward too!
6. Opening presents
I don’t care as much about receiving presents, but I LOVE giving presents. I love coming up with ideas for the perfect gift, shopping for it, wrapping it up, and the anticipation of watching the receiver open it hoping they love it as much as I loved giving it. My favorite presents to give are not ones that are on a list, I like the unexpected ones. Thoughtful items the person may not even know exist but I found and know they would love.
7. Christmas Eve
Up until a few years ago, we always opened gifts on Christmas morning with our immediate family. When we were little, we did it at our house before driving a couple hours to our grandparents house where we opened presents and celebrated Christmas with our entire extended family. As we got older, we started going to our grandparents on Christmas Eve, spending the night there, and waking up and opening presents the next morning. Then a few years ago we accidentally established a new tradition. We were heading to the grandparents, but the weather turned bad and an ice storm hit Dallas. All the roads were closed so we were forced to turn around and head back home. We found ourselves without any Christmas Eve plans, so what did we do? Head to IHOP for pancakes and then home to open our presents to each other early, siting in front of a nice and warm fire with Christmas music playing in the background. Our unexpected Christmas Eve turned out to be really fun, so it’s a tradition we’ve kept up over the past few years.
What are your favorite Christmas traditions? Do you do the same thing every year or do you change it up?
-Ashley xx