Christmas Traditions

Anyone who knows me knows that I love the holidays & all that comes with it. While I was growing up Christmas time was always a fun, memorable, celebrated time with my family & there were always traditions that took place every year for as long as I can remember.

Christmas Eve was always celebrated at my grandparents house. We would first all go to church for the Christmas Eve service & then head back to my grandparents house to eat a late supper. Later on, as all our families grew, the location moved to my Aunt & Uncles home but the order of events, festivities & food all remained the same.

After the supper dishes were cleaned up grandma set out the candy, cookies, sweet treats & grandpa brought up the cocktails for the adults from the basement. We all indulged in all the yummy sweets & would then gather in the living room around the tree. My Aunt was always the one to hand out the presents to each person & everyone would watch to see what was given.

The very last gift of the evening to be opened was always my grandpa's gift to my grandma. I always loved seeing what he had given her because it was always a beautiful piece of jewelry to add to her collection.

After all the presents were opened my grandpa would then hand out $20 bills to each grandchild - as long as we kissed him on the cheek. This tradition still takes place & I am 45 years old :) Being at my grandparents house on Xmas Eve is one of many favorite memories that I have of my grandmother.

Then on Christmas morning my siblings would wake up super early & do all they could to wake me up & get me out of bed. I would always be the very last one to make it downstairs to see what Santa had brought us. I have never been a morning person - even on Christmas morning.

After opening our presents we would run & grab our stockings to see what fun things were left inside of them. Another tradition that holds true when we are all together for Christmas.

Year after year this was how we celebrated Christmas. So when I had my own child I could not wait to start our own traditions with my little family! Mason was almost 3 years old when he started to "get" what Christmas was all about so the last 2 years have been super fun! This past Christmas was by far the most fun yet!

Here are some of our Christmas traditions that we have started & continue to do around the holidays.....

1) Our Elf on the Shelf appears the day after Thanksgiving. Mason LOVES when Jingle shows up & we look forward to seeing what kind of shenanigans & fun things he is going to do until Christmas.

2) Decorate for the holidays! The weekend after Thanksgiving we put up all our Christmas decorations. Including Mason's very own Christmas tree. As a kid I remember special ornaments I had received growing up & ones I had made. The year my mom told me she threw away those ornaments without asking me I was devastated. I would have loved to of had them to show Mason Mommy's ornaments when I was his age - sorry Mom, I am still bitter about it :( I was not going to let that happen to my child so we bought Mason his own tree for his room & I let him pick out 10 ornaments at Hobby Lobby to go on it. The past couple of years Jingle has brought him a few ornaments, he has gotten some from me & has found some in his stocking on Christmas morning so we are always adding to it.

My plan is when he has moved out of the house & has his own home I will give him all of the ornaments he collected as a kid for his own tree or his own child's tree. Hopefully they will mean as much to him as they did to me.

3) Visit Santa - Every year since Mason was 11 months old we have taken him to Bass Pro to see Santa. They always have an amazing setup there & it is so much fun for the kiddos. We love comparing every years picture with the past years & seeing how much Mason has changed! It is going to be a sad day when he no longer wants to do this :(

4) Crown Center/Union Station - for the past 2 years we have taken a day to head downtown to Crown Center & Union Station to see it all decorated for Christmas. We eat lunch at Fritz's & then spend the rest of the day walking around & taking in all the things these two places has to offer! I just love being there at Christmas time & it will definitely give you all the feels for the holiday spirit!

5)  Make Sugar Cookies - on Christmas Eve day Mase & I make sugar cookies for Santa's arrival that night. Mason loves to bake with his Mama - especially sugar cookies. As he gets older my patience & OCD go into overdrive but I am learning to "let go" of some of it & just let him enjoy putting way too much icing on the cookies with sprinkles 1/4" thick - LOL :)

6) Christmas Eve box - Mason is allowed to open one special present on Christmas Eve. This present consists of a new pair of Christmas PJ's, a Christmas book & a Christmas movie along with snacks. He puts his new PJ's on, we play the movie, eat the snacks & then right before bed we set out Santa's cookies, say goodbye to Jingle (he heads back to the North Pole when Santa visits), hang the magic key on the front door (so Santa can get into the house), spread reindeer food on the lawn & then crawl into bed & read his new book.

Once he & Daddy fall asleep "Mrs. Claus" opens the wine, turns on the Christmas music, brings all the presents up from the basement & situates them perfectly under the tree. My absolute favorite 2 hours of the year!!!

7) Christmas morning is similar to how it was when I grew up. I am still the last to get out of bed, we open gifts & then Mason gets his stocking to see what else Santa brought him. Then I make a yummy breakfast while Shane assembles Mason's new toys :)

8) Sadly, on New Years Day the tree comes down & the decorations get packed away until next year. It always makes Mason sad to have to put everything away & I understand why. Christmas is becoming his favorite time of year also just like it was for me when I was his age & still is. I love doing all these traditions with him as a family & hope that they are memories he treasures & makes with his own family when he is older.

May you all enjoy the traditions you do with your families this time of year & may you treasure the memories! I am quickly finding out that time is flying by & as much as I don't want to admit it, Mase won't "believe" in Santa forever :(