Christmas Traditions
It is that time of year when we start thinking about how we're going to celebrate Christmas!
Personally it's my favorite time of year, I'm brought so much joy through my memories alone.
I look back fondly on my childhood, especially around Christmas time. My parents worked really hard to make it special and to make the season a time of pure joy.
As Christians we use Christmas as a time to celebrate the gift that God gave us of Jesus. I don't call Christmas Jesus' birthday because according to historians who have studied scripture it is clear that Jesus was most likely born in the early fall and not in December. That being said, we should be celebrating Jesus everyday and if Christmas helps people get into a church building to hear about the gift of God and we can partake in fun traditions that help us remember that gift, I'm all for it. This is debated in the Christian community but I really don't see a problem with it as long as we're not idolizing it.
That being said my parents started a lot of traditions in our house that I hope to carry on with my own kids. I'll be starting a few of them this year with the help of family members but will definitely be more intentional next year when baby boy is a bit more aware of what's going on.
If you've been looking for fun Christmas traditions to start with your kids, be sure to read on and maybe pick one or two to get started this year. I know that Christmas is looking a bit different this year for a lot of people as some are afraid or unable to travel. If this is you and you've been sad about that, it's totally understandable. Maybe you can start one of these, even if you don't have kids to make you feel a bit better and make this Christmas just as special.
Christmas-Tree-Getting-Day
Although Christmas always started with Christmas music around November 1st, we really got in the spirit the day after Thanksgiving. I talked about how sad I was to miss this last year and it's bittersweet having a fake tree this year as well, but Dustin has assured me we will go cut one down at a local Christmas tree farm next year when we don't have a very fresh newborn. On this wonderful day we'd all bundle up and walk through a Christmas tree farm with our wagon and handsaw and go on the search for the perfect tree. Once we found one we'd all take turns cutting a bit and then my Dad would finish it off, load it up and we'd haul it back to the car where he'd tie it on (some years tying himself out of the car) and we'd take it home. We'd usually enjoy the rest of the evening by wrapping it in lights just to make it shine and then we'd sit down with cocoa and cookies and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. That last part was added once we were all a bit older but we've had this tradition going since I could remember. There's something special about the smell of a freshly cut tree and we'd usually pick up extra branches to decorate the rest of the house with. A fake tree, although convenient, just isn't the same. If you've never had a real tree and you're planning on not traveling for the holidays this year, I encourage you to try out a real one! Just don't forget to keep it watered or you may just have a real Uncle Lewis/cigar situation on your hands.
Homemade Christmas Cookies
A lot of people do this one but buy pre-baked cookies. Nothing against pre-baked but have you ever made cookies from scratch? 10x better. We usually used my great grandma's sugar cookie recipe and we'd do cutouts with the assortment of Christmas cookie cutters my mom had collected over the years. We'd bake, frost and eat them all in the same night, usually close to Christmas eve when we were little to put out for Santa. My mom also did homemade fudge, mounds bars, magic cookie bars and chocolate peppermint bark for neighbors and friends- that's one thing I'm definitely going to miss this year.
Advent
Advent is celebrated a little differently all over the world but we celebrated as a family in a few ways. The first way started on December 1st with a chocolate calendar. Not a huge deal, but it was fun especially as kids. I actually have a wooden advent calendar that someone gave us one year and I commandeered when I moved as no one else really cared for it. It's a beautiful calendar that I can't wait to fill with treats when baby boy is older.
The second and bit more important part of advent that we celebrated in our house had to do with remembering the story of God's grace. Every Sunday evening we'd light a candle in the advent wreath and sitting around the kitchen table with cocoa and cookies we'd read a portion of Max Lucado's “Angel Story” and in later years we'd also read a portion of Ann Voskamp's “The Greatest Gift” and we'd hang an ornament on the Jesse tree. It was a time to remember the family tree of Jesus and how God uses people in His greater story. It's a tradition that I am very fond of and I plan to continue. In fact my mom gave me my own copy of both books so that I could carry on the tradition in my own home.
Christmas Ornaments
A very fun tradition that my Mom enacted when we were very young was meant to set us up for success and she absolutely did. Every year she would pick out an ornament for us. Some years she would surprise us with one and other years we'd help pick it out. Usually it would have something to do with our personality that year so looking through my collection is very, uh, diverse. This was her way of helping us to make Christmas our own as we'd decorate our own little trees and she also wanted to send us out of the house with a collection of our own. She still gives me an ornament every year, even now that I'm out of the house and it's fun to see my collection continue to grow. This is one of my favorite traditions because as I sit and look at my tree every ornament has meaning and a story behind it. It's fun to reminisce and remember my childhood. I want to pass this tradition on and while my husband insists my son is not going to care one bit, I'm still going to do it anyways. I didn't manage to get around to getting him an ornament this year, but his Em (my mom) did so his little felt Christmas tree will be his first ornament in his collection.
Christmas Books
Another one of my favorite traditions is actually an advent tradition as well. My mom would wrap our Christmas books and number them and then we'd pick a number out of the jar or go in order based off the day of the month and everyday we'd sit down and read a Christmas book. We'd receive a new one to read on Christmas eve which was a fun little gift to open when you're an anxious child ready to rip into the pretty packages under the tree but you need to wait until the morning. As we got older we'd have to do several Christmas books a day because it didn't take long for us to get to 24 with three kids. That being said, when I left home I got to take my own Christmas books with me so I have a collection for my kids to read. I plan to continue this tradition with baby boy and I did buy him his first Christmas book already. I don't have quite enough with my whole collection (18 books) and his one to get us to Christmas but it will only be a few years and we'll be there. I look forward to reading him these well-loved books and sharing my memories with him.
Christmas Pajamas
And last but certainly not least, every year my Mom would get us new Christmas pajamas. We'd unwrap them on Christmas eve along with our books, cozy up in them and read. Once we were a bit older we'd usually stay up and watch Christmas movies too while our parents headed to the basement to do all of the wrapping that they hadn't gotten around to yet. Some of my best memories with my siblings were on Christmas eve. I think that's why I like Christmas so much, it just brought out the joy in my whole family and it was the one time of year where everything was just good and magical and peaceful. At least from my perspective.
Christmas morning is usually spent with homemade fresh baked cinnamon rolls, stockings and presents and although I'll miss that this year I am looking forward to newborn cuddles, Dustin's hot cocoa and a morning full of Christmas movies my husband can't complain about because it's actually Christmas. It's going to be different but it'll be ours and that makes it beautiful.
I hope that this inspired you to start a few new traditions this year! Do you already have any? Let me know on today's Twitter post, I'd love to hear about them!