My Family Holiday Traditions
Family traditions create tons of memories around the holiday season, and while growing up, we didn't have too many traditions, we did have a few that have stuck with me even into marriage. I looks forward to these traditions every year and even though I don't get to follow through with each one of them every year, I will never forget them and I will continue to look forward to those years where I can accomplish each one.
Ever since I was itty bitty, my parents bought me and my brother a new ornament every single Christmas to open on Christmas Day and put on the tree. We used to get ornaments like snowmen, soccer balls, bears, etc. When I got older (I believe this started when I was in high school), I started getting specific about what I wanted and my mom began taking me to the store with her in order to pick out ornaments for my dad and my brother. Thus beginning my obsession and collection of owl ornaments. Every year since those days, I've received an owl ornament, and now that I'm married and living on my own with my husband, I still purchase myself an owl ornament each year. This tradition is one of my favorites because it's like a Christmas present that I know I'm going to get but I'm still so excited each time I get to put a brand new owl on the tree Christmas morning. My husband has also learned to enjoy and get excited about this tradition because he gets to pick out one special ornament each year for himself.
One of the other traditions that I would absolutely love to do every year, but I have stopped doing because my pajama bin is overflowing, is to get a new set of pajamas. My mom buys everyone in the house a new set of pajamas every year. I LOVE pajamas so this was my jam-mies (HA!) each year. My mom and I would wrap the pajamas as if they were presents and put them under the tree. On Christmas Eve we would each open our pajamas and wear them to bed that night and all day on Christmas Day. I've put a hiatus on this tradition since I've been married because I have a pajama bin that's about to burst at the seams. One of my goals next year is to clear out the bin and to start this tradition back up for next Christmas. (Ask my husband to sing the Jim-jam song if you love wearing pajamas just as much as I do).
My parents aren't really the traditional type besides the few holiday traditions that we've established as a family, so these next two traditions are going to seem kind of crazy but I absolutely love them.
The first of the crazy traditions has to do with Christmas Day. Around lunch time on Christmas Day, we finally get out of our pajamas after having a huge breakfast containing apple and cheerio pancakes (another small tradition we have created), we head out into the world because NO ONE is out on Christmas, and we go watch a movie at the theater because for some odd reason, movie theaters aren't closed on Christmas. This began when I was in high school and my parents have been participating ever since.
The second crazy tradition, and the last of our family traditions as a whole, comes down to Christmas dinner. While everyone is in their houses eating ham, or turkey, and mashed potatoes, and bread rolls, and all of the other traditional Christmas dinner foods, my family is cooking up some of the craziest Pinterest recipes. Each year we cook up some crab legs, eat a shrimp ring, and try to find some crazy Pinterest recipes to complete the meal. The last traditional-untraditional Holiday dinner that I had with my family was a long time ago and we supplemented our crab legs and shrimp with fried tortellini and a blueberry oatmeal crumble and a veggie tray. I believe we actually had that meal on a Thanksgiving that year because it was just me, my parents, and Josh, so we didn't want to put a lot of effort into dinner but Thanksgiving is still included in the holiday season and we would normally do a meal somewhat to that effect on Christmas.
I hope you guys have enjoyed this short post and I would love to hear about some of your family holiday traditions so let me know how you guys celebrate the holidays in the comments below!
