Christmas Traditions

As Christmas is soon approaching, it has reminded me of the traditions I have had with my family over the years! I love traditions and carrying things out year after year! I also love being married and thinking of starting our own family with our own traditions.

Some of my favorite traditions I have with my family are :

~On Christmas Eve we always open a gift and it is ALWAYS new Christmas pajama's! Usually it's some cute, festive pajama pants, a top and sometimes new slippers!

~Growing up my little brother and I would always make Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve, ice and decorate them, then leave them on our "Dear Santa" plate with milk and a note for Santa before we went to bed. We would always wake up the next morning with a note from Santa and then enjoy more of our Christmas cookies as we opened presents that morning.

~ Also on Christmas Eve, we used to always put on our new Christmas pj's and hop in the car with my parents and some hot chocolate and drive around listening to Christmas music and looking at lights. Now that we have gotten older, we haven't done this every single year (which I miss) but it sure is such a great memory I have growing up!

{Me and my lil bro about 8 years ago on Christmas Eve}

~We almost always go to church as a family on Christmas Eve! It's always a perfect reminder of what Christmas is truly about!!

~Three words . . . "The Christmas Story." I think people either love or hate this movie! It is shown for 24 hours starting on Christmas Eve every year and as soon as it starts at our house, it usually stays on until it goes off Christmas Day. When my little brother and I would go to bed on Christmas Eve, we would snuggle up together, eat some snacks and watch this movie all night!

Another classic, MUST watch movie on Christmas Eve is "It's a Wonderful Life" - we usually watch this earlier on Christmas Eve!! LOVE this movie!!

~On Christmas morning we have our "Santa" gifts and then our regular gifts. Santa gifts only appear by the tree on Christmas morning and all the gifts are always wrapped in Santa wrap: wrapping paper with Santa Claus's of some sort.

~Stockings are our first things to open Christmas morning. I love opening stockings! Some times some of the best things are in your stocking!

~We always have a yummy breakfast Christmas morning: Eggs Benedict, fresh berries, rice with sausage and yummy jelly! Now that we have gotten older, we have added Mimosas!

~Ever since I was around 3 or 4, my Mom has been making the best Christmas dinner and her signature Beef Wellington. This has been a tradition for Christmas dinner for over 25 years! She makes it every year, and puts bells on top. When I was a little girl I loved getting a bell! She has used the same bell cookie cutter all these years too! Her Beef Wellington is SOOO good and I love that we have something different for Christmas dinner. I've always thought having Turkey didn't sound too fun since you have just had it a month before, so the fact that we do something different is fun and a great memory and tradition to carry out!

~Before Christmas dinner, we always have Shrimp Cocktails!

~Our Christmas dinner is always started with a salad and just like the Beef Wellington, we have had a tradition of having the same salad dressing for over 25 years. . . . Green Goddess dressing. My Mom started this tradition when I was little, I guess because it was green and she thought it was festive! I love this tradition too!!

~Putting cloves in Oranges is something I can remember helping my Mom do since I was a little girl! I always loved doing this, although it does hurt your fingers a bit. It smells divine and looks pretty too! I did them last year and look forward to doing them again this year! Last year I added some ribbon and pine cones to them!

~My little brother and I always got to pick out a new ornament each year. We each picked a one out and then would come home and put it on the tree. I remember having the best time looking for that "perfect" ornament each year!

~Along with left over Christmas cookies, we usually munch on Sausage Balls Christmas morning. I made some last year along with some strawberry muffins and had them all ready when we got up Christmas morning!

~ I am a HUGE fresh flower fan, especially around Christmas. Something I love to do each Christmas now that I am married, is make a few arrangements of cranberries and white flowers of some sort. It's festive and so pretty! I had them all over my house last Christmas and even made a few for gifts!

I am probably forgetting some other traditions, but these are some of my fondest memories and traditions we carry out each year! As you can see, a lot of it revolves around food, but it wouldn't be Christmas without yummy food, right? Whatever your traditions may be, large or small, they mean something to all of us because of the memories they hold! So here's to keeping up with traditions and making new traditions this Christmas!