I absolutely love holidays, traditions, and celebrating the best parts of each season. A couple of years ago, my team lovingly gave me the nickname “the walking holiday” because of my deeply rooted enthusiasm and eagerness for celebration. Christmas is the culmination of festivity. It’s a fun and joyful way to wrap up a year well-spent, and traditions make it all the more special. As we celebrate our fifth married Christmas together, I’m excited to share some of our family traditions. These are the Christmas traditions we build into each December and look forward to all year long.

Our Christmas Traditions

• Enjoy a Christmas light tour together, just the two of us. Last year, we kicked this off with a stop at Trader Joe’s to first pick up fun and festive snacks. My very favorite are the peppermint pretzel slims.
• Go on a weeknight mall date with my mom. We usually go in the middle of the week, giving me something to look forward to at the end of a work day. We always split a Cinnabon, too!
• Take a Christmas light tour with my dad. This has become some of the most special quality time we share together each year. We bring warm cider and drive around to look at the lights throughout the neighboring towns.
• Have a gingerbread house building and decorating party with our siblings, complete with Christmas cocktails. You can see a peek at my creation from last year’s party here.
• Make gingerbread pancakes for dinner for our annual viewing of Elf
• Set the table with pretty linens, glowy tapers, and jingle bells for a fancy at-home Christmas dinner date. Our menu always includes the balsamic rosemary steak tips from Trader Joe’s, smashed potatoes with flaky sea salt, and broccoli.
• Bake from-scratch gingerbread cookies with my dad on Christmas Eve
• Enjoy family viewings of Christmas Vacation and Daddy’s Home 2 and watch Four Christmases with my mom
• Attend the annual hymn-sing with our extended family, complete with cookies, egg nog, and warm cider

I absolutely love hearing about other families’ traditions, too! If you have a favorite, I invite you to share it in the comments section below. I just might add it to our lineup!

Do you love seasonal fun, too? Visit my fall fun list to save some ideas for next year! 🙂