If you’ve read my last post, you’ll know that I haven’t really been in the Christmas mood recently. I’m slowly getting there, but not fully there like what I want to be. So today, I thought I’d reflect on all of my favorite Christmas traditions now that we are officially 5 days away from the big day! Surely once I’ve done all these things I’ll be fully in the mood for Christmas, right??
#1 Decorating the Tree
I already mentioned this in my previous post, but one of my family’s traditions is decorating the tree to Robert Goulet’s Wonderful World of Christmas. Usually it’s a family affair with everyone in my family, but this year it was just my Mom and myself. Although it was just the two of us, it was fun and it did start to actually get me in the Christmas spirit! It always brings me back to being a kid decorating the tree and listening to music as loud as it can go on the speakers.
#2 Shopping with My Mom
Ever since I was in high school, it’s been a tradition of my Mom and I to go to the mall in Huntsville right before Christmas. We spend hours just walking and browsing and eating in the food court. Christmas shopping has most likely already been done for everyone in the family, but it’s always so much fun shopping with my Mom, even though we don’t need anything! I always think of that episode of Gilmore Girls where Lorelai and Rory go window shopping in the mall, only to be discovered by Emily, who is buying everything in sight. Emily Gilmore can you buy me some things please?
#3 I Wrap, You Wrap, Jack
I learned how to wrap a present when I was who knows how old, but ever since then, I’ve loved it. Weird, I know, why would anyone love it? I just do! I think it’s fun to just wrap presents and get creative. I know, what’s creative about wrapping presents? To me, there’s so many different choices and combinations, and it brings me joy, ok!!! I’m also the type of person who’s discreetly nosy and wants to know everything. Which means, if I wrap everyone’s presents, I get to know what they are getting! I just like to be in the know about what’s going on, what can I say 🙂 I always like to offer wrapping services to my family, and my only condition is that I don’t wrap my own presents!
#4 Candle Light Service
Another tradition of my family’s is that the Sunday before Christmas, we go to the candle light service held at church. It’s a night filled with music and Christmas songs, and I’ve been going to that service my entire life!! My favorite part is when all the lights go out, and it’s pitch black darkness. Then, one candle starts, and the light spreads throughout the entire congregation. It’s really beautiful and something I look forward to every year!
#5 Homemade Christmas Cookies
In my fall essentials post back in October, I mentioned that one thing I do is decorate sugar cookies. Decorating sugar cookies has always been something my family and I do for every holiday occasion! If there aren’t any homemade, decorated Christmas cookies, is it really Christmas? I may have mentioned in that post that I take cookie decorating very seriously, and it only increases around the holiday season. I’m that type of person that goes in with a toothpick making sure all the sprinkles are put in the right spot. Perfectionist, I know. It’s a blessing…and a curse. I can easily spend hours decorating cookies. Is it the most productive time spent? No. But is it really fun? YES!
#6 Mr. Grinch
Every night before Christmas day, when were all about to go to bed, one thing we always did growing up was watch the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Sure the one with Jim Carrey is great and funny, but I love the original!! Every year we’d watch this movie and then we’d hang up our stockings, so excited for Christmas morning.
#7 Hallelujah! It’s Christmas!
Instead of having someone wake up and run around the household trying to get everyone up, my parents played the “Hallelujah Chorus” on the kitchen speakers to rouse everyone up and out of their beds. This signaled that it was time to sprint to the living room, ready to celebrate the day ahead of us. My brother and I had rooms right next to each other, and the older we got, the more we would wake up before the music started, waiting patiently to hear that all too familiar song. It’s something that my Mom grew up doing with her family, and I’m so glad she kept the tradition going with our family. This has always been one of my favorite Christmas traditions and I can’t wait to do it with my kids in the future!
#8 Forgetting the 5 Cup Salad
There’s this dish that I was always in charge of making for as long as I can remember, and it was the 5 cup salad. All you have to do is first drain some canned mandarins and pineapple chunks. Then, you take a cup each of sour cream, shredded coconut, and marshmallows and throw it all together in a bowl with the mandarins and pineapples and mix it all together! Having that sour cream may sound weird, but don’t hate it till you try it!!! It’s the perfect amount of tangy and sweetness and the flavors all work really well together. I always like to throw in way more than a cup of marshmallows because they are the best part. But anyways, after you’re done making it it’s ready to go, or you can put it in the fridge till the rest of the food is done. Almost every single year we make this during the holidays, we eat dinner and then as soon as we are all done, my Mom and I look at each other and the realization hits. We forgot the salad in the fridge. Every. Single. Time. It’s become a hilarious joke between us! And when we tell each other to not forget it before we eat, we end up forgetting it…again. It’s happened so often that it’s basically a tradition at this point!
And those are eight of my favorite holiday traditions! Sharing these makes me way more excited for Christmas then when I started writing this post. There’s so much nostalgia that hits me! Even though all of these traditions are great, the most important thing to me is family. I love spending time with my family, and these traditions wouldn’t be anything without them. I didn’t grow up with any relatives nearby, and it was almost always the five members of my family during the holidays. Now that my brothers are both married and are starting to grow families of their own, things have changed, but it’s good change! It’s not just the five of us here anymore, which means that sometimes I won’t get to see every member of my family every holiday. Their spouse’s family wants to see them just as badly as we want to see them! It’s different, but it’s what comes with change!! Even though we may not get to share all the special holidays together, as long as we can get together at some point, that’s all that matters. I love my family more than anything, and although this season of life is different, it doesn’t mean it can’t be just as great! And that finally wraps up this post. Happy Friday before Christmas friends, hope you have a great one!