Hello Friends!
It’s December! What? Ok fine tomorrow it’s December, but basically the day after Thanksgiving makes it Christmas so really December.
But whether today or tomorrow, it’s upon us and that means full-blown Holiday fever!
Obviously there will be many posts about gifts and presents and don’t get me wrong, I’ll have a few of those myself coming up if I can get my act together and Not take a week off of blogging again.
But the gifts aren’t what the Holiday spirit is all about, it’s about family and friends, being with your loved ones and giving back to those around you.
My family is huge on traditions. We do the same things year after year and I couldn’t get enough of it! I love traditions!!
However, my family is all the way down in TN while I let JB move me up to MA this year. That jerk, making me love him 😉
But this is my blog so I’m pretty muich obligated to share some of the traditions of my family no matter where they are.
- My Mom and I usually bake all the same treats every year. Sugar cookies, cinnamon rolls, and dream bars are a must every year. Fudge with and without nuts of course. And if we’re feeling adventurous, caramels.
- My Dad, Sister and I venture out to Dollywood to watch the performances and drink the hot chocolate.
- We always put our tree up Thanksgiving weekend of course.
- As we were growing up, we all got a new ornament to represent our lives that year so we have a very eclectic tree. It’s so fun to look back over the ornaments every year though and remember why we picked a certain one.
Those are just a few things we do every year. However with my “new” family, aka JB, I need new traditions to make mine, so I thought I’d ask some of my blogger friends what their traditions are instead! I gave fair warning that I might steal them for myself and they still gave willingly. What friends!
Myra from The Little Aslam
Every year, we go to look at Christmas lights and we always make a stop for coffee & hot cocoa beforehand. Usually it’s just Amir & I going to enjoy the lights together wherever we are and when we were in Houston, we used to go to Town Center with all of the siblings to go look at the lights and just to goof off (they usually had decor that you could take pictures with, so we used to do that)!
Lindsay from Bourbon, Lipstick, and Stilettos
We spend Christmas Eve with my paternal grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. There are 9 grandchildren on this side of the family, and we all take turns reading verses from Luke about the birth of Jesus. I’m 30 and still look forward to this every year! It’s such a special night and it’s wonderful to stop and remember what Christmas is really about.
Jen from 500 Days of Engagement
Couple: As bizarre as this sounds, my fiance and I have a tradition of going to New York City at the end of every year. The first time, we went right before Christmas and saw all of the pretty shop decorations and went ice skating at Rockefeller. The second year, we went for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and then stuck around for the Christmas decorations to pop up. It’s the best time of the year in NYC and of course we Texans go out of our minds with joy when it snows. I think it’ll be a forever tradition for us!
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Ashley from The Grits Blog
My favorite family tradition is a new one that I started during my first year of marriage. We started opening one gift on Christmas Eve together and it’s just so special and wonderful! We also have a low-key pizza night on Christmas Eve then have a big family breakfast on Christmas day. Food is a big part of our family and always brings us together – but for some reason it just tastes so much better during the holidays 🙂
Helene from Helene in Between
Every year, since before I was born, since before my parents were even together, there was a family Christmas party on Christmas eve in each of their respective homes. (Side note, my parents lived 3 blocks away from each other and have one of my favorite love stories ever). They carried on the tradition of the Christmas party, but moved it to the weekend before because I worried that Santa might skip over our house since there were so many people inside. Each year, anywhere from100-200 people come. I most definitely tear up after a few glasses of my spiced hard cider and see all of the people I love in one room.
So there ya have a few blogger’s traditions, now I want to hear YOURS!
Do you go somewhere every year? Bake the same treats? Listen to the same music? Spill it all down in the comments
Great traditions!
So many great traditions! I just love this time of year!
Aw yay! I love all of these! Also super impressed, Helene, that your Christmas parties draw in 200 people!
I love these!! Now I want to go to NYC just because Jen mentioned it! Haha.
Also, please tell me you’ll be sharing your recipes for all the yummy food you mentioned up there at the top?!? 🙂 xo
aw i love reading about other people’s traditions! i’ve always wanted to go to Dollywood 🙂
I don’t have any set traditions with my family because we aren’t always able to spend the holidays together (used to work healthcare and now live 1200 miles away). But when we are fortunate enough to be around each other, my sister and I usually go grab a shake at McDonald’s and drive around to see the lights in the neighborhood. These drives are usually timed about when our mother is driving us nuts. Saying it’s sisters only will always be a great escape, I mean excuse. 😉
I watch Love Actually every year, I fall asleep half the time because I’ve seen it so many times that I don’t really need to follow the story, but I always wake up for the last scenes.
I love reading about everyone’s traditions! What a fun post idea. We always go to my husband’s childhood neighbors house for a Christmas Eve party. It’s a tradition his family has had for years. We missed it last year so I’m excited we will be there this year!
My grandmother used to do caramels and white fudge. It was so tasty! None of us kids can ever quite get the recipe right, though! Enjoy the old and new traditions!
I love reading about other people’s traditions, especially since I really don’t have any, other than watching Elf and Love Actually and going to see the tree in Rockefeller Center! Love the Dollywood one!
My parents would set a “Christmas Trap” outside our bedroom door. So if we could get through the trap and get to the tree without them waking up then we could open our presents as early as we liked but if we got caught before we got to the Christmas tree, we had to go back to bed and wait. The traps were made of barricades, alarms, pots and pans, towers, strings. Seriously everything. http://www.christmastrap.com
I LOVE THIS!
We always do my dad’s side on Christmas Eve for dinner/gifts, and then Christmas morning we have a ton of people over for a huge breakfast. Most of my mom’s side of the family lives nearby, in our town, next door, across the street etc, so it’s easy for them to come over early morning. My best friend lives across the street from us so her family comes over and her dad makes omelets for everyone! Then later in the day my mom’s side gets together at an aunt’s house.