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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Favorite Christmas Traditions


Hey ladies!
I hope y'all had an amazing Thanksgiving full of lots of yummy food!
I know mine was.
We're still eating leftovers. 8)
To get into the Christmas spirit, I'm linking up to a Holiday Blog Challenge!

It's day two and the topic:

Favorite Holiday Tradition, Old or New

Christmas Eve Present

Growing, my sister and I weren't told about Santa.
We knew all along that our presents came from our parents.
So every year on Christmas Eve, we were allowed to pick one present from under the tree (excluding the big ones!) to open.
This helped with the anxiousness of wanting those presents now!

Christmas Cards

Growing up, as a family, my mom would send them out.
Then she stopped sending them but I picked back up in middle school.
Handing them out to everyone I know, with two mini candy canes to make a heart attached to the back.
Even now, Vito & I send out photo cards (which we started last year!).
I get excited every year sending and receiving them!!
P.S. I ordered ours this past weekend. If you want one, let me know in the comments & I'll add you to the list!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

Every year, my mom puts together the tree and puts the lights on it.
Putting on the ornaments is the "kid's job".
So my mom sits back and we all decorate.
Even though my sister has her own family and has moved out, they still come over to decorate the tree still.
Growing up, we were better at this but we use to get a new ornament each year.
We've been slacking lately but we still do this occasionally.

The Pickle

The most fun of holiday traditions at our house.
Since I was probably 10, my mom would get up early on Christmas Eve and hide a pickle ornament in the tree.
Every year, my sister and I (now Princess, Vito, and my brother in law too) search for the pickle in the tree.
Whoever finds the pickle receives an extra present.
It gets ugly and competitive in our house & I love it!
(even though I'm pretty much the worst one at finding it...)

Christmas Eve Night

Since Vito has been around, we started our own tradition for Christmas Eve night.
Once it gets dark, we go and drive around looking at the Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music.
At 10:30, we head to Christmas Eve service.
The candle light part is my favorite.
We then head home and it is usually 11:45.
We turn on Christmas music from the radio and dance to the light of the Christmas Tree until after midnight.
It has become one of my most favorite parts.

What traditions do you have?
Or head over here and link up your own post!

10 comments:

Kell said...

Driving around at night looking at Christmas lights with my boyfriend is my favorite. Last year we found a house with lights synchronized to music. But our only family one was waiting til my dad got home to open presents! He's Navy and often had to work on Christmas so we'd suffer through the day til he got home to open presents as a family.

Meghan O said...

this post made me super excited for Christmas! a tradition my family has is that everyone has to be up in order to open presents on Christmas morning. I still get up super early (because I'm so excited), but my dad will be watching a Christmas Story and then my younger brother gets up. it's tough waiting for my older brother and mom to get up and get their coffee but it happens every year that they're the last ones up!

Mia Maree said...

I love Christmas Eve LATE service! I don't know...something about it.

BigAppleNosh said...

What a fun post! I always wondered about the pickle ornament! Great to know about the tradition, finally :)

Suget said...

Those are fun Christmas traditions. I want to try the pickle one this year, but with 5 boys... they might tackle the tree haha And I would loooove to have a Christmas card. Send me your address so I can send you one too. Email me. My Christmas traditions just include decorating the tree and making cookies and having a famiy get together. I think this year we are going to start going to church services, I haven't gone on so many years, because my babies were too young and too loud. haha

Mar said...

The first thing that popped to mind when reading about the pickle in the tree (I'm intrigued; why a pickle? Because it is green and difficult to find? Or just because?), was that Snooki = pickles. And so maybe, this year, your Mom could put a Snooki ornament in the tree for you to find... ;) I know, my mind works in mysterious ways, haha.

We don't really have any Christmas traditions as a family, but I remember that when I was younger we used to go to the beach on the 26th for nice long walks. I loved it. This year, I won't be spending Christmas with my parents, as I travel to Holland 3 days later, so it would be silly for them to pay a fortune to come visit me for Christmas, but I really hope I won't feel lonely...

Unknown said...

OMG that pickle tradition is hilarious!!

Heather said...

NO Santa? It does spare you the heart-crushing reality that he isn't real :).

Caitlin @ Candyfloss & Persie said...

that pickle one is really cute! haha, i love that becuase not only is it a good idea but it's one of those quirky, hilarious stories that we all have. And we always opened pjs on xmas eve... and I still love that we get a new ornament every year!

booksinmycuppa said...

The Grinch movie! I loved it when I was little, and this year, I re-watched it. it is still so good. my kids are definitely watching that when they are growing up :)