Christmas Traditions
Today's theme for Kelly's "Show Me Your Life" Friday is sharing Christmas traditions. We have probably 100 different traditions between those I grew up with, those I've started for my family, and those that overlap what we had growing up that I've kept for my family. So rather than share every single one, I thought I'd share a few of my favorites. These are the most meaningful, memorable ones to me:
--Christmas Eve PJs--every year the children in the family have coordinating pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. Some years all of the women in our family have the PJs and other years it's just the kids. This makes for the most adorable Christmas morning photos because everyone is in festive PJs and all match!!
--Growing up, my stepmom used one type of wrapping paper per child each year, and to figure out which wrapping paper was yours, you had to open everything in your stocking and then find a swatch of paper at the toe of the stocking. So I've continued this for my family. Scott, Jaden and Sienna each have their own wrapping paper and don't know whose gifts are whose until they've opened all of the packages in their stockings and can see their paper swatch stuffed into the stocking's toe. As children, we had fun guessing whose paper was whose until we all revealed our paper swatches, and I can't wait until Jaden and Sienna start guessing!
--We did not do this when I was young, but I've started wrapping up our Christmas books and each day from December 1st until the 25th the girls can open one book before bed and then we read it. Speaking of this, I need to get my books wrapped up for this year!!
--My mom and stepmom both did a good job of buying us ornaments which hung on our family tree as children, and now make up our main tree in our living room now. So I've started the same tradition for Jaden and Sienna. Each year I buy a few ornaments that reflect them at that age and write their name and year on the ornaments. When they are grown and have their own trees to decorate, we'll pass down all of their ornaments to them to fill their trees. I know I enjoy looking at all of my ornaments year after year and I hope they'll be filled with the same type of joy as they experience the same when they're grown up.
--This year I heard about a tradition that I'm definitely starting. I'm going to get some cute festive pillow cases this weekend and everyone will have their pillow in their Christmas case for the month of December. This way I don't have to buy sheets or full bedding sets in Christmas themes for each room, but the girls will have a special holiday pillow to lie on each night. I hope that it will feel special and seasonal for them, and that each year from now on they'll look forward to bringing out the special cases for their pillows for December.
--Finally, this last one is something I will be starting in the next year or two. As a big-time scrapbooker, I set goals each January of how many pages to complete in each of my girls' books for that year. And my girls love to look at their scrapbooks {well, Jaden does, but Sienna doesn't have many pages yet...ahem} to see their completed pages and baby photos. So, at some point my goal is to start working on pages in January and keep them hidden until December. Then I will wrap their scrapbooks and place them under the tree with their new pages from that year in the books. I think it will be an extra special gift from Mom each year to see what I've done for them in their books. Whether it's 5 pages that year or 50, they will cherish the fact that I've made something out of their memories. I'll let you all know when I get that started!!
Well, those are the most meaningful traditions in our home, at least in my opinion. I think that any and all traditions are awesome and as long as you keep them up year to year, they will make a lasting impression and many good memories for those involved. Now, onto bed I go because tomorrow begins my Christmas decorating and the start of this year's traditions!!
--Christmas Eve PJs--every year the children in the family have coordinating pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. Some years all of the women in our family have the PJs and other years it's just the kids. This makes for the most adorable Christmas morning photos because everyone is in festive PJs and all match!!
--Growing up, my stepmom used one type of wrapping paper per child each year, and to figure out which wrapping paper was yours, you had to open everything in your stocking and then find a swatch of paper at the toe of the stocking. So I've continued this for my family. Scott, Jaden and Sienna each have their own wrapping paper and don't know whose gifts are whose until they've opened all of the packages in their stockings and can see their paper swatch stuffed into the stocking's toe. As children, we had fun guessing whose paper was whose until we all revealed our paper swatches, and I can't wait until Jaden and Sienna start guessing!
--We did not do this when I was young, but I've started wrapping up our Christmas books and each day from December 1st until the 25th the girls can open one book before bed and then we read it. Speaking of this, I need to get my books wrapped up for this year!!
--My mom and stepmom both did a good job of buying us ornaments which hung on our family tree as children, and now make up our main tree in our living room now. So I've started the same tradition for Jaden and Sienna. Each year I buy a few ornaments that reflect them at that age and write their name and year on the ornaments. When they are grown and have their own trees to decorate, we'll pass down all of their ornaments to them to fill their trees. I know I enjoy looking at all of my ornaments year after year and I hope they'll be filled with the same type of joy as they experience the same when they're grown up.
--This year I heard about a tradition that I'm definitely starting. I'm going to get some cute festive pillow cases this weekend and everyone will have their pillow in their Christmas case for the month of December. This way I don't have to buy sheets or full bedding sets in Christmas themes for each room, but the girls will have a special holiday pillow to lie on each night. I hope that it will feel special and seasonal for them, and that each year from now on they'll look forward to bringing out the special cases for their pillows for December.
--Finally, this last one is something I will be starting in the next year or two. As a big-time scrapbooker, I set goals each January of how many pages to complete in each of my girls' books for that year. And my girls love to look at their scrapbooks {well, Jaden does, but Sienna doesn't have many pages yet...ahem} to see their completed pages and baby photos. So, at some point my goal is to start working on pages in January and keep them hidden until December. Then I will wrap their scrapbooks and place them under the tree with their new pages from that year in the books. I think it will be an extra special gift from Mom each year to see what I've done for them in their books. Whether it's 5 pages that year or 50, they will cherish the fact that I've made something out of their memories. I'll let you all know when I get that started!!
Well, those are the most meaningful traditions in our home, at least in my opinion. I think that any and all traditions are awesome and as long as you keep them up year to year, they will make a lasting impression and many good memories for those involved. Now, onto bed I go because tomorrow begins my Christmas decorating and the start of this year's traditions!!
Comments
My family has always opened a set of pj's on christmas eve and I have been doing it with my daughter now.... she is 3!
Summer :0)
We're doing the wrapped Christmas books this year too! I love Christmas books!