My Christmas Traditions - ft. Our Christmas Decorations
Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. This year it seemed to really sneak up on me, I can't believe it is only 12 days away! I love everything about Christmas time, the scents, the decorations, the movies, the gift giving... everything!
Here are some of my favorite Christmas traditions (along with lots of pictures of our family's Christmas decorations).
1. Christmas Music
First I just want to say that as much as I love Christmas, I do not listen to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving. I want everything up until Thanksgiving day to be about pumpkin spice, fall leaves and apple cider. You can't rush Christmas!
2. DECORATIONS!
I love, love, love Christmas decorations! We always start Christmas decorations the weekend after Thanksgiving and slowly build and build until everything is in their place. We of course have a Christmas tree. We have had the same Christmas tree for about 20 years now! (Perks of having a fake tree over a real tree #savethetrees).
Every year my mom buys my sister and I ornaments, so if you look at our tree, you'll see doubles of our most unique ornaments, or ornaments with our names on them. This year my mom bought us these gold "Cinderella carriage" ornaments as I like to call them. We got these from At Home which has some of the cutest Christmas decorations if you haven't already checked them out!
Then there's all the wreaths. We put up our wreaths on the front doors, back door, and random doors within the house (including my bedroom door). Then we decorate the stairwells with garlands wrapped with lights and add bows for color (made by me, I will do a DIY if you all are interested).
We like to spread Christmas around the house so we have cute door hangers in the house, stockings above the fireplace, a Christmas little neighborhood with homes and little people (including Santa Claus), bows on our lights outdoors, and more (all pictured).
3. CHRISTMAS MOVIES!!
I grew up on ABC Family's (which is now FreeForm... don't get me started) 25 Days of Christmas, and have faithfully watched it every single year. I can't be the only woman in her twenties that loves all the cute Christmas movies they play on television at night. My favorite ones are the old claymation films with characters like Jack Frost, Rudolf, Santa, Mrs. Claus, the drummer boy, the Miser brothers and Mother Nature. I look forward to seeing those every year!
I also don't mind stumbling on a romantic comedy that takes place during Christmas time. Then of course there's Elf, Santa Claus 1, 2 and 3, Christmas with the Kranks and so many other funny Christmas movies that I love watching with my family.
4. Do Something Festive
Whether it's driving around to see Christmas lights, decorating cookies, trying a new non-alcoholic eggnog, or ice skating, my family has always taken advantage of the Christmas season. We definitely don't do all of those things every year, but I have lots of memories doing those types of activities growing up.
Now that we live in Illinois, we have new Christmas events and activities that we can be a part of and we are learning more and more about such opportunities. Last year we visited one of the zoo's in the area that decorates their entire park with lights! It was a very cold but fun activity. This Christmas season we want to try to visit downtown Chicago and see their decorations!
5. Christmas Eve Pajamas
I know we aren't the only family that does this, but we open one gift on Christmas Eve and it's always new Pajamas! We sleep in them and wear them Christmas morning when we open gifts. I love this tradition because, well, I love opening presents, so it's nice to have a present to open a day early! This is definitely a tradition I want to keep when I have a family of my own.
6. CHRISTMAS DAY!!!
So, every Christmas morning we all wake up, eat breakfast, and then start our day with worship. As Christians, it's important to remember the birth of Christ and the sacrifice He made for believers and nonbelievers to go to heaven if they choose to accept Him as their Lord. After our family worship, we get to open all of our presents!
Now that I’m an adult with income I get to get more gifts for my parents! Which is really a great after being blessed with so many gifts from them over the years. We’ve already completed our Christmas shopping and the picture above is a current picture of what our tree looks like! I can’t wait!
After opening gifts, my family has a big Christmas dinner, which is really lunch but you know we always call big lunches “dinner” (e.g. Thanksgiving dinner = actually lunch).
7. Donate Gifts
Another tradition my parents keep is donating toys, clothes, etc. to those in need. There are lots of organizations that collect things for the less fortunate around Christmas. I encourage you to find an organization collecting toys or money this Christmas near you and help a family in need!
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my family’s Christmas traditions and seeing our decorations! Comment below and tell us what your favorite Christmas traditions are!
Merry Christmas!
- by Amanda Nicole