Our Favorite Christmas Traditions

Christmas is my favorite holiday. There’s so much fun surrounding the season and we get to celebrate with family and friends. We’ve got some favorite Christmas traditions that we do every year, some of them we did with our families growing up and others we started when we became parents. It’s so much fun starting new traditions, so I wanted to share ours with you in case you need a little inspiration this season!

But first, a tip: keep it simple. So many moms feel like they have to go all out and do a different activity with the kids every day and be busy all the time… That’s not what the season is about. If you fill your calendar too much, you’ll miss the opportunities to be spontaneous and enjoy the moment. That’s why our traditions are simple and don’t require a lot of advanced planning. It lets us enjoy the season that much more!

Hot Chocolate and Christmas Lights

Every year, at least once, we go out walking and driving to see Christmas lights around our neighborhood and around town. We take hot chocolate and play Christmas music and enjoy oohing and ahhing at the beautiful sights.

Decorating a Second Tree

We started using a second Christmas tree a few years ago. We have a real tree that we decorate with our sentimental ornaments and a smaller artificial tree that we have dubbed the “Disney Tree” because all of the ornaments are Disney themed (you could do it with any theme though!). It’s a fun way to decorate another room in the house and we love buying a new Disney ornament every year… Someday, though, we’ll have to get a bigger tree!

New Ornaments

Every year each of us gets a new ornament. My mom started this for us when my sister and I were little and I’ve enjoyed continuing this tradition. When I moved out and had my own tree to decorate, she gave me my box of ornaments that she had been collecting for me over the years. It’s so special to me that I have my “Baby’s First Christmas” ornaments and ornaments that mark milestones and different fads throughout my childhood. I can’t wait to give Graham his box of ornaments when he grows up to put on his own tree! Plus, this way when mom and dad are empty-nesters we won’t have an empty tree because we’ve been getting yearly ornaments too!

New Pajamas on Christmas Eve

We always got to open a present on Christmas Eve and it was always a new set of PJs. They weren’t always Christmas themed, but it was fun to have something new to sleep in and open presents in on Christmas morning. I’m currently loving these for this year because they don’t have anything Christmas-specific on them, so it’s ok to wear them more than once!

A Special Breakfast

When Jon and I were first starting out together I always made cinnamon rolls (from the can because I’m not that fancy) on Christmas morning (or whenever we were celebrating Christmas because of his work schedule). Now that we’re a little older, I like to bake the Pioneer Woman’s French Toast Casserole because I can prep it the night before and just throw it in the oven while we open presents. I also halve the recipe because it feeds an army like most of her recipes do.

Footprints on the Tree Skirt

I saw the idea in a magazine many years before Graham came along and always thought it sounded like such a fun way to mark each year. Basically, we just paint his foot with red paint (when we add to our family we’ll use a different color for each kid) and leave his footprint in a circle around the tree skirt, labeled with his name and the year.

What are your favorite Christmas traditions from your childhood or some that you’ve started with your family? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!

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