…spending the night with my great aunt and uncle on December 23, and Santa making an early stop at their house...and then going to my nan’s house on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my mom’s family…
…coming home Christmas Eve night to my (paternal) grandmother at our house, having brought with her a big tin with an assortment of Christmas goodness…
…waking up Christmas morning to open presents, and then the family coming over to see what Santa had brought me…
...I think of lazy days during Christmas vacation, cuddled up at home with the fireplace ablaze…I think of yummy candy and cookies…downtime surrounded by family.
In the way of more “concrete” traditions, my nan gave me an engraved ornament each year. When I was younger, I remember the pep talks from my mom, “Remember to thank Nan for the ornament. It’s not something to play with, but she spends a lot of money on those every year.” Now, of course, I understand…and I wouldn’t take anything for my ornament collection.
I also remember getting to open one gift on Christmas Eve, a pair of new pajamas. My mom always joked that I had to know what was in the box, but I still got so excited to get to open a present from under the tree.
Last year was our girls’ first Christmas. Although at 11 months old they didn’t have much grasp on what was happening, I thought long and hard about what kinds of traditions I wanted to start for them.
I settled on engraved ornaments. I can’t wait to hang them on the tree this year, and add to them two more on Christmas morning.
As the girls get older, I’ll layer in more traditions.
I am so looking forward to making Christmas cookies and candy…going for a ride on Christmas Eve to see the lights, Christmas music playing and hot chocolate in hand…watching Charlie Brown and Rudolph…reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas…
…and I love the idea of baking a birthday cake on Christmas to remind ourselves of the meaning of the season…
I want the girls to have warm holiday memories, peaked by multiple senses…the sights and sounds, the smells and tastes, and the feeling of being surrounded by love.
7 comments:
We do ornaments too! I'm nervous about over populating our tree though. We have my ornaments, DH's ornaments, our family ornaments, and now 4 ornaments for the girls(two each for their two christmases thus far). I'm such a sucker for hanging EVERY memory on the tree.
Our tradition is games after the big meal. I have such great memories of some of those games. My girls aren't much past the Candy Land, Chutes and Ladders and Yahtzee Junior stage, but I'm hoping to fit in a game or two with them this year. I'm still looking for a fun, age appropriate game to give them as a gift.
We have many of the same traditions!! Each year, on the weekend after Thanksgiving, we go to the Hallmark store and each child gets to pick out their very own Keepsake ornament...something that represents something that they loved or enjoyed during that year. It's funny to see how much their interests and likes change each year. Like last year, Bella was totally into all things Barbie but this year, she just wanted something plain and simple...a little Penguiin ornament. I write their names and the year on the ornament boxes and it's so much fun every Christmas to unpack those and talk about all the things they loved. When they're adults with their own families, I want to give each of them all their ornaments to hang on their own trees. I just love the idea of them sitting around telling their children about each ornament!
We also bake a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas eve which we eat after dinner on Christmas day. It really helps bring things back to the reason why we celebrate Christmas in the first place!!!!
My Nana always bought her kids and grandkids Hallmark ornaments. We each had our own series. If that series ended she started us on a new one the next year. I cherished those ornaments and I know my kids will one day too! My Mom has now picked up the tradition. Speaking of....maybe we all could do a post on our favorite ornament and why!
This year Molly and Luke are so into Christmas. It is so much fun! I too can't wait to add more and more traditions!
arg. i just typed a long comment that got deleted :(
i was just thinking about traditions yesterday. b and i had a long talk about what we want for the kids. especially since this year is filled with so much drama!
love the idea of opening pj's on christmas eve :)
We share many of your traditions as well. This year, the Christmas season has already been so different because the kid understand so much more the ways in which we celebrate. Each day, one kiddo gets to move the candy cane marker on our felt Advent calender, and each day the both say, "And when it get to this one (the last pocket on the calendar), it gonna be Christmas!" They're both loving this kids Christmas CD that I picked up for $2.99 at a discount store and are constantly requesting Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, and Here Comes Santa Claus. They talk about Santa and how he'll come on Christmas Eve when they're asleep. I know all this is nothing amazing as far as kids and Christmas go, but it's such a huge leap from last year when all our traditions just went right over their heads. I can't wait for Christmas morning. It's going to be so magical for them, and I'm so looking forward to seeing it. :o)
We bought Lboy an ornament last year and will do the same thing this year. I hope that's something that we do for him every year and all the other kiddos we have too.
I'm ready to start "layering new traditions" as you said it-I'm looking forward to it!
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