Treasured Traditions

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‘Tis the season for fun, festive, family traditions! I absolutely love this time of year, especially as a mom. I love watching the excitement and joy on my kids’ faces. Truth be told, the very first year our kids were old enough to understand Santa, I think I was way more excited than they were!! I’ve gathered a handful of my close friends and family members and asked them to share a favorite holiday family tradition or memory. It’s always fun to read other people’s favorites, and you might even find a new tradition to try with your own family. 
 
“I love spending Christmas morning at my Maw-Maw’s house with all of my family. I also love the time I get to spend with my immediate family, especially now that I have a niece and five nephews.” ~Blair McGuirt  
 
“I think my favorite from when I was younger was waking up early, and sitting by the lit Christmas tree while the house was still dark and everything was quiet.” ~Alyssa Rinaldi
 
“My favorite tradition is buying an ornament for each child and putting it in their stocking.  That way when they move out of the house and/or have a family of their own, they have their own special collection of sentimental ornaments. Some of our collection includes: frogs, lizards, fishing lures, cupcakes, and angels with eyeballs hanging off of their faces. All sorts of cute stuff for our tree every year.  And of course, my Starbucks mug ornament is one of my favorites!” ~Michelle McGrew 
 
“When I was a little girl we traveled to the country on Christmas Eve to visit with my dad’s family.  I loved my grandmother greeting me at the door and the smell of her good food in the house. The trip back home was so exciting. My sisters and I would look to the sky to see if Santa’s sleigh was there.  We could hardly wait to get home! I still love being with family at Christmas time. Getting the house ready, decorating the tree, watching the holiday movies and baking cookies. I love it all!” ~Dawn McGuirt
 
“Singing happy birthday to Jesus on Christmas morning before opening gifts and having the youngest family member put baby Jesus in the nativity manger. I always thought it was really special that my mom makes all these super fancy stockings for the kids’ first Christmas. This year, we are starting a new tradition with our daughter Isabel. It’s like a reverse advent calendar, where she puts an item (a toy, non-perishable food, clothing, etc.) in a box every day of the “countdown” and we donate it on Christmas Eve. Lastly, the Christmas box. I saw it on Pinterest and am super excited to start this year. It’s a box for the kids to open on Christmas Eve with a pair of special pajamas, a Christmas movie for the entire family to watch together, a Christmas book to read before bed, a special snack to eat during the movie (or all the ingredients for cookies the older ones can help make), and a small toy such as a stuffed animal to snuggle.” ~Ashley McNash 
 
“Picking out a tree and decorating it together. Decorating the huge tree on Christmas Eve at my mom and dad’s, waking up to music that gets turned up every few minutes, singing Happy Birthday to Jesus, having traditional coffee cake. Watching A Christmas Story with Mom. The kids always got to look at their stockings without waiting for everyone to get up. Love how they sparkle in the tree lights. ” ~Cathy Evans
 
“We go ride around looking at Christmas lights. My favorite is Christmas Eve: open one gift (usually pj’s), watch a movie, and eat Chinese food.” ~Kristin Taylor 
 
I hope you enjoyed reading all of those special holiday traditions from some of the special people in my life!  Of course I couldn’t end without sharing a few of my own. 
 
I loved spending time decorating the tree with my family. We would all do it together while listening to Christmas music. My sisters and I would always get to open one gift on Christmas Eve. We always chose to open our gifts from each other. Now that I am a mom we have started doing the Elf on the Shelf with our boys and they love it! It’s so fun watching them get up and try to find out where our elf, Tony, has ended up (and what he’s gotten into) every morning.
 

“It is Christmas in the heart that puts Christmas in the air.” ~ W.T. Ellis

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