Christmas Traditions

The holidays are filled with traditions for us. Some have been passed down through family generations & some we've created for our own family. Every year, we refine. Add a few more, maybe cut out some that we aren't feeling anymore. I always enjoy reading what others do so I thought I would share some of our favorites that have stuck over the years.

• Every year we go out to a Christmas tree farm & pick out the biggest & fluffiest tree that we can find & haul it home over thanksgiving weekend.


• Said tree is decked out with many many strings of lights and covered with a selection of hodge-podge ornaments collected over the years from our travels & our Christmases together. Each year, we gift a new meaningful one to each other in their stocking.


• My mom, sisters, grandmother & (sometimes husband & brothers) I get together for a baking extravaganza. We churn out quadruple batches of homemade cookies, candies, bars, breads and other snacks and goodies over the course of a weekend & then give them out to everyone we know. Our UPS, FedEx & mailman always get a big plate from me for all the extra hours I have them working during the Holidays. ;)


• We have certain Christmas movies that must be watched every December including: Home Alone, Polar Express, White Christmas, Muppet's Christmas Carol, Grinch Who Stole Christmas (animated!) & several others. ABC Christmas countdown has got nothing on us!


• Christmas Eve after the Christmas service we have special gifts we give each other. Brent gets me pajamas & jewelry and he gets pajamas and food from me.


• A tradition passed down through my German side is the tradition of hiding a pickle in the tree. There is always a giant candy basket for the winner! (note this works better amongst a larger family, with two its hardly a competition ;)).




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• Christmas morning is celebrated with a huge breakfast feast of fresh fruit, breakfast scramble, Swedish tea ring, sticky buns and cinnamon rolls. We roooooll out afterwords.


• In the aftermath of the Holiday, we celebrate a second Christmas every year and enjoy a glorious week long Christmas extravaganza in the beautiful winter wonderland of Vermont. Home of our favorite Cabot Cheese & Lake Champlain Chocolates. We are already excitedly looking forward to some hockey, snow-shoeing, cross country skiing and other fabulous activities.


• And a new tradition added this year? A weekend trip up to NY to enjoy the lights, decorations & Broadway. I am thinking we might need to add the lighting of the Christmas tree in the capital next year!

Obviously, this list will expand greatly once kiddies are added to the mix. There is a whole other list waiting for that time! What are some of your families favorite Christmas traditions?