Today I'm linking up with Holly and Amy for a post that I had meant to write about anyway one of these days! I love talking about Christmas traditions and hearing about others' traditions. For me as a child, and even now, Christmas is one of the most special times of the year. I still can't really pinpoint why, but as an adult, I find that Christmas is a time to show those around you how much you care about them. I don't necessarily mean that you buy everyone you know a gift, but I personally like to send out cards, and exchange greetings with people, and try to let people know how much they mean to me at this time of the year.
With our favourite little toddler, this Christmas is going to be a GREAT one. It is our first year in our house, and Molly's first year understanding the season (to an extent - I still think she will be scared of the mall Santa). We are starting some fun traditions with her this year!
My Childhood Christmas Traditions
Nativity Scene
We had a wooden nativity scene growing up that we would have out during Advent. The manger that had baby Jesus was empty until Christmas Day when Jesus was born, but my mom had little pieces of straw (yarn) that we were able to put in the manger if we did a nice thing for a sibling or someone else. This encouraged us to be mindful of preparing for Jesus, and it is one of our favourite memories of Christmas. The Wise Men also didn't show up until after Christmas, which we always thought was funny (but actually true, haha) ;)
This week we are going to buy this for Molly:
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| Little People Nativity Scene via Sears.ca |
Advent Wreath
We also had an Advent devotional that we (tried to) do every night as a family. We would gather around the wreath with the number of candles lit, read a little bit, and sing a song and pray together. This was really special and I am grateful to my parents for taking the time each night to do this with us (I'm sure we didn't actually get to it EVERY single night, but most!)
St. Nicholas Day
The Feast Day of St. Nicholas is today, December 6, and as children we had a tradition of laying out a pair of shoes outside our bedroom door on December 5 and receiving a book and sometimes some chocolate on December 6. There is more about this tradition here, but it is kind of a fun one, and my mom sent Molly a Christmas book last year and this year to celebrate :) (I wonder if she will understand the shoe part this year?!)
Real tree
We always went to a tree lot (or once or twice went to a forest) to pick out our tree in mid-December. This was a fun family event, and I remember always wanting to get the loneliest looking tree (my mom disagreed, obviously). We also usually got hot chocolate or candy canes on this outing :)
Christmas Eve with family friends
On Christmas Eve each year, we went to church at 7 pm and then celebrated with some family friends who we grew up with. We would always put together and outrageous "Christmas play" of the nativity story, and we had a great meal (usually slow cooked during church!) and each opened one gift. It was always a really special way to celebrate the season.
Wake up as early as possible
Our gifts from Santa as children were never wrapped, so my sister (in particular) had a VERY difficult time sleeping all night and often woke up at 4 or 5 am to check her presents and start playing. My parents would usually give in around 7 or 8 and I started wanting to sleep in a bit later at some point too, but my siblings would always wake me up ;) Now, I think it will be my husband who carries on that tradition...lol. We also usually had pancakes for breakfast while my mom got the turkey in the oven :)
Open gifts as a family
We all would sit around the living room and open one present at a time so everyone could see the present being opened. It was the youngest's job to "deliver" presents to everyone, so thanks for that, David! This was a nice way to really enjoy each other's company and show our parents the gifts from aunts/uncles and truly show appreciation for our gifts.
Family walk on Christmas Day
We probably didn't do this as very young children, and likely just played in the backyard instead, but at a certain point, we used to go for a walk in the snow (if we had snow - many years it was mild in Calgary!) after lunch on Christmas Day. It was a nice way to get some fresh air and spend time with the family. The above mentioned family friends often joined us and we talked about what Santa brought us, etc :)
My Newer Traditions as an Adult
Since this will be my first Christmas season (sort of) without my parents and siblings, I won't be partaking in as many of the above traditions, but we are starting some of our own now. For starters, here's our Christmas card for this year:
Exchanging ornaments
The first year that Brian and I were dating, we bought each other ornaments for the tree as a little Christmas gift. We have decided to keep this tradition and do it every year. This year I am making Brian's ornament out of clay. I usually try to pick something that represents him a bit, such as a baseball ornament.
Christmas movie night
Brian loves to watch Home Alone over Christmas, and I love to watch Love Actually, so we usually fit both of those in at some point.
Crockpot Christmas breakfast
I made
THIS RECIPE at my in-law's last year for Christmas, and I think I will make a different breakfast casserole
type of thing this year. We will be waking up in our house this year and then heading over to the in-law's house at some point in the morning so that my hubby can reap the rewards of opening TWO stockings...haha.
Church on Christmas morning
With a 2 year old, it doesn't really make sense to go to an evening mass for Christmas, so we'll be bringing Molly on Christmas morning this year. Last year, she was having a meltdown at church time after not sleeping all night, so Brian and I went alone and that was a-okay. haha.
Christmas MUSIC
This is an obvious one, but I like to listen to almost nothing but Christmas music over the holidays. Brian isn't as big of a fan but he puts up with it!! Haha. I have a whole post drafted with a playlist to share sometime ASAP.
We are doing an Advent calendar with Molly with stickers in it instead of treats (or she would just eat all of the treats at once and be sick!!)
Does anyone have any fun Christmas Eve traditions? I am looking for something fun to do with hubby at home this year after Molly goes to sleep. My aunts and uncles all get together, and last year I went to that alone, but I think I'd rather spend the evening at home with hubby this year.
