Holiday traditions means so much to me. Growing up they are some of my favorite memories and now that Matt and I have a little family of our own we have continued these traditions as well as starting new ones. I wanted to share a few of ours as well as list out some of the most popular and unique ones you all sent in. You can also find a bigger list on this Instagram post of mine! I can’t wait to add in some of yours below.
Our Family Traditions….
- eating hot dogs at our local tree farm after cutting down our tree
- the pickle ornament (explained below)
- reading The Night Before Christmas every Christmas Eve with all the kiddos
- “adopting” a family
- an ornament swap with my college girlfriends (going virtual this year!)
- annual white elephant with my cousins
- when younger we would do heavy appetizers on Christmas Eve and now we do 7 fishes!
- Cinnamon buns or monkey bread on Christmas morning
Your Family Traditions….
- Pickle ornament hidden in the tree. Whoever finds the ornament first gets a special gift/treat. FYI: This originated in Germany and my dad’s side of the family started this tradition as my Grandma was born there.
- Christmas Wishes in an ornament. “Every year we write down our wishes for each other for the upcoming year and fold up and place inside an ornament and hang it on the tree. We won’t look at the wishes until the following year when we write our new Christmas wishes to place in the ornament.”
- “We wrote letters to Santa on Christmas Eve, threw them into the fireplace, then ran outside to watch the “magic” smoke rise to the North Pole.”
- Put out reindeer food in the yard (made of glitter and oats) to help Santa and the reindeer find the house
- Hand make Christmas cards to hand out to neighbors.
- Purchase a new ornament each year that symbolizes something significant of the year to hang on the tree.
- Advent Christmas books. Unwrap one book each night leading up to Christmas to read.
- Purchase a burlap Christmas tree skirt and every year add childrens hand prints.
- “Husband always hides an ornament around the house for it to be randomly found weeks/months later.”
- “My aunt makes a Christmas test every year that includes music, movies, etc. we get graded” 🙂
- Each year one member of the family gets to dress up and play Santa and hand out all the gifts.
- “Rent a limo that fits all of our family and go on a Christmas lights tour”.
- Scavenger hunt around the house for kids final/big gift.
- Place a flashlight and book in stocking and wake up in the middle of the night to read book and then go back to sleep.
- “Santa (our parents) would always write us a note and leave on the tree for us to read before opening gifts.”