Tis the season! It’s finally December, and even though the holidays can be filled with tons of ripping and running, this is truly my favorite time of year. One thing that I love the most about the holidays is the family traditions that my husband and I have made over the years. I love that living in a city without family kind of forced us out of our comfort zone and made us learn to find creative ways to enjoy the holidays with two young toddlers. We are in complete control of how we spend our holiday season, and that is such a special honor that we don’t take lightly. I love reading about other families holiday traditions, and I thought it would be fun to share ours.
Holiday Photos
For the past six years we have taken Christmas photos and that is one of my favorite traditions because we can look back and see how our family has grown over the years. Our first set of photos were a DIY shoot that we set up ourselves in college, but I think they get better each year. For Christmas photos it’s nice to have a theme, like Christmas pajamas, ugly Christmas sweaters, formal wear, or even just Christmas colors. That’s the great thing about traditions, you make them work for you!
Decorating As A Family
To decorate before Thanksgiving or after Thanksgiving, that is the question that always sparks a ton of debate on social media. Growing up, my mom used to put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving so I always associated Black Friday with decorating instead of shopping. When I met my husband, he was convinced that the Christmas tree goes up two weeks before Christmas because that’s what he saw growing up. Some how along the way we ditched the traditions we had growing up and decided to do our own thing. We put our Christmas tree up the first weekend of November, because it’s our way of making the season last a little longer. One month just isn’t enough! Our children light up when they see the tree lit and they love helping putting the ornaments on the tree. This is where shatter proof ornaments come in hand! We love giving our children the opportunity to pick out a few new ornaments or decorations each year, because it really makes them feel apart of the decorating process.
Christmas Lights Show
There are quite a few neighborhood in our town that really go all out for Christmas and put on light shows each weekend in December. The kids love to get into their pajamas, hop in the truck, and go around looking at lights! We blast Christmas Interpretations by Boys II Men, drive around, and really enjoying such a free and easy activity.
Christmas Eve Grinch Night
Grinch night is one of my favorite traditions that we do. I’ve been watching The Grinch every year for as long as I can remember, so I didn’t think anything of it when I started to watch it during Savannah’s first Christmas season. She was 6 months old and I’m not sure if the Grinch costume threw her off or what, but she screamed during the entire movie. It was at that point that I had to figure out a way for her to enjoy classics like The Grinch without having a meltdown and Grinch Night was born. We love it! I usually push dinner up a little earlier and start transforming our living room with all things green after dinner. We watch the cartoon version of The Grinch, eat green movie snacks like guacamole and chips, decorate Grinch crafts, bake Grinch cookies, and we wear our Christmas pajamas for the first time!
Donate Toys to the Salvation Army
I want to instill in my kids at a young age that the season is about giving and not necessarily about receiving. They each pick out one unopened toy and we donate it along with all of their other toys that don’t get played with anymore. Last year my son was too young to fully understand the concept, but this year I’m hoping that they both understand a little bit more what’s going on.
Now that my kids are a little older, I hope to incorporate a few more traditions this year that they will actually enjoy! What are some traditions that you and your family have?
