Holiday Traditions
We would like to share some of our staff’s favorite festive traditions as we enter the holiday season. We think traditions help us celebrate meaningful moments, and we hope these will inspire you to keep yours alive or even start some new ones!
Idea #1: Ashley’s Gingerbread House Showdown
Our family tradition is to do a gingerbread house contest on the night of Thanksgiving to kick off the Christmas season. We all bring our own gingerbread house kits and after dinner, we spend hours building and perfecting our houses. Our only rules are that you have to get a gingerbread house that you assemble (no pre-built houses) and you can only have one “special item” that other people are not allowed to use; everything else is fair game! We get an impartial judge- usually a neighbor, to come over and pick a winner. The competition is always tough and the smack talk is always over the top, but that’s just how I like it!
Idea #2: Kim’s Snickerdoodles & Family Fun
I always make Snickerdoodle cookies that my family asks for every year. The recipe is out of the Joy of Cooking cookbook I got for a wedding gift. I also really love the forced family time and making my kids play board games with me.
Idea #3: Willow’s Caroling Christmas Tree Farm
We have done one of our Christmas traditions for about 25 years with another family. Every year on the day after Thanksgiving, we all drive together singing carols to a Christmas tree farm. Both families pick out their trees and then we go to each other’s houses and decorate them. We eat Thanksgiving leftovers and then we turn out all the lights, do a countdown, and turn on the Christmas tree lights. Then we sit around it and talk and laugh, it’s the best!
Idea #4: Brynn’s Cozy Casserole
The first tradition that came to mind is a Christmas breakfast casserole that my mom has made for our family every Christmas morning since I can remember. It is the only day of the year that she makes it and it is truly one of my favorite dishes. I remember growing up and watching her prep all the ingredients on Christmas eve and then being so excited to wake up and get to have this cozy Christmas morning breakfast as a family. As a mom now I understand why she liked this breakfast option so much since everything is prepped the night before it gives her the opportunity to soak in watching her kiddos experience Christmas morning each year. Since starting my own family I had the opportunity to carry on this tradition of Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole and it still brings all the cozy Christmas yumminess that it once did as a child.
Idea #5: Kristen’s Family Baking Day
Our Christmas tradition is a family baking day. Some of our favorite things to bake are spritz cookies, pumpkin bread and fudge. We make plates for people to take home with them and deliver them to our neighbors.
Idea #6: Sandra’s Kids Are in Charge
The kids help design the tablescape for Christmas dinner and the decorations for the front door. I usually take the girls shopping with me. We go through Pinterest first to brainstorm ideas, and then they get to choose cloth napkins, napkin rings, table runners, placemats, and centerpieces together. I encourage them to work together and stick to a cohesive theme, its great to see how well they’re picking out matching pieces. They love getting to express their creativity in this way and make a significant contribution to Christmas preparations. The front door decorations typically happen with Dad and there are no parameters there. Last year, they came home with a 10ft Santa they put on the roof of the house!
Idea #7: Kick off the Season with Elf
We end the night of Thanksgiving by watching our first Christmas movie of the season, Elf. It is one of our family’s favorites, I’m pretty sure we could all quote the whole movie. It is such a sweet time for family bonding and Christmas cheer.
Idea #8: Keeping Jesus the Reason for the Season
Every year we read The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. It is such a sweet story of acceptance and compassion and keeping Jesus the reason of the season. Along with that we follow different advent reading plans, like the Bible Project’s Advent reading plan. This year we’re planning on using the advent paper chain kit from the Collide Store!
