Tradition is one of my favorite words, and probably my favorite Christmas word. It's cozy. It feels homemade. Just hearing it evokes so many memories and emotion, that sometimes I can actually smell certain smells. It's what the holidays are composed of, it's what makes them special. We all have them, sometimes whether we know it or not.
There are some traditions I have always done, always wanted to do, and have planned to every detail. There are others that we have stumbled upon, and my children will remind me of them, saying things like, "Are we going to make cookies again this year while we decorate the tree? We always do that."
My children's memories will be founded in the traditions we have--it will be what they remember of their time at home, and my wish is that the word tradition will conjure up all the wonderful times that we've had, and that they will think of home, and how much we love them.
So today I'm going to make a list of our favorite holiday traditions, and I would love to hear some of your favorites as well!
*Making donuts and hot chocolate on the day of the first big snowfall.
*Cutting down our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and going out for ice cream or hot chocolate afterward.
*Decorating our tree on Sunday, while making and decorating sugar cookies.
*Being involved in the annual Nativity Exhibit and Concert the first week in December, then attending the concert and walking around to see all the amazing nativities.
*A girls' day to see the Nutcracker and have lunch.
*Reading a Christmas story every night in December.
*Reading aloud Dickens' A Christmas Carol as a family.
*Opening a box from our advent calendar each morning--the weekdays hold candy, and the weekends include enjoying family activities...driving around to see lights, singing Christmas carols, watching our favorite Christmas movies while eating popcorn, and more.
*Deciding with Rick the gift we will make for our kids, then working together to get them done in time!
*Making yummy Christmas treats, then driving around together to deliver them to friends and neighbors.
*Visiting the Santa House, so the kids can sit on Santa's lap and see the reindeer.
*The Wade Family Annual Nativity play on Christmas Eve...by far one of our favorites. Rick is always the donkey, I'm the narrator and cameraman, Ryan is Joseph, and all the other parts are up for grabs. This year we have two potentials for baby Jesus...
*Making gingerbread houses.
*Seeing friends and family as much as we can!
*Rick and I wrapping all the gifts together on Christmas Eve, while watching movies. (Yes, we purposely save all of our wrapping until then!)
*Checking out the stockings first thing Christmas morning, then eating breakfast, followed by opening presents. We open them one-by-one, starting with the youngest and working our way up.
*Staying in our pajamas all day Christmas Day, then getting dressed and going to see a movie in the afternoon. (There have been years we haven't been able to see a movie, due to small babies, but we love it, and do it whenever we can!)
The only problem is, the month seems to fly by, and Christmas is here before I know it. I wish time would slow down a little during December--I want it to last a little longer!
Merry Christmas!
6 comments:
It sounds like you have a ton of great traditions.
I'm with you on traditions--I love them. They are very important to me and hopefully to my children.
You have some great ones. I don't think I could save the wrapping until Christmas Eve, but my son and his wife do the same thing.
You continue to amaze me.
Like you say we probably have traditions and don't even know it, but I sure CAN'T think of that many :) I'm glad you do it with your family...hopefully we can start some!
I just might have to copy your post. I cried while reading your tradition statement. I guess I love the word as well. I find myself saying "We have to it a is tradition." all the time.
One of my most found memories from my childhood is on Christmas morning we would all get up on my parents bed and read Luke 2 and 3rd Nephi before we opened presents. I of course passed this one on to my kids.
One of my most favorite new traditions is that on Christmas Eve we watch some sort of Christmas movie, eat a yummy dinner, read THe Night Before Chirstmas, watch Luke 2 with Amy Grant's Breath of Heaven playing instead of the actual sound, and then we hear bells ringing somewhere in the house. That is our Elf warning us that Santa is on his way and we MUST get to sleep or he will have to skip us,rush for bathroom, brush the teeth, and off to bed to dream of Sugar plums dancing. Ahh how I love it. I can't wait.
Thanks for this post.
P.S. my post was massive but I had to tell you we also wait to wrap. I love it. We usually crawl in bed around 2am and are up by 6am. I love it and wouldn't have it any other way.
Very nice post. Our tradition on Christmas Eve was to open one present...new pajamas. I loved getting new p.j.'s. Another Christmas tradition I've only recently learned about, is the Elf Magic and Elf on a Shelf tradition. I wrote about them on my blog. I wish this was around when I was a child and when my children were small. What fun it would have been!
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