5 Christmas Traditions I Look Forward To Each Year

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Today I am flying home to Columbus for a week to celebrate Christmas with my family! There is no where else in the world I rather be to celebrate the holiday. It takes me back to being in a kid and just feeling over the moon excited for Santa and to spend time with my family. As many families do, we have a few special holiday traditions that we partake in each year. Some I will long for when I am much older, some have only developed in my teenage years, and some I will continue on with my children. And some traditions died hard– like the year my entire family made an album where we all sang our favorite Christmas songs. We named it Down Home Family Christmas. We gifted the CD to my grandmother who now plays it ever year during our Christmas dinner…….. whhhhyyyy! My mom and my aunts want to make another album……. I did not sign up to be a part of the Partiridge family. It was a hard no from everyone. Another tradition that died hard: the talking stick. My aunt decided to buy a toy microphone so whoever had the mic during dinner was allowed to talk (we are a family of talkers). Of course that meant my aunt didn’t share the mic, but we still talked over her. The stick mysteriously disappeared after that evening. My favorite traditions, however, are filled with fun, sentiment, and a good old family competition.

1. Family Wrapping Competition: I have already talked about this in a past post here. Every year my family picks a theme for the wrapping competition. On Christmas day we each put our boxes, creatively decorated, on the kitchen table and pick a winner who will go on to choose the theme for the follow year. Themes can range from favorite Christmas movie to Harry Potter to sports teams. It is probably the best part of Christmas because it brings my entire family (aunts and uncle include) together for laughs. This year’s theme is your wish for Christmas. I have a few ideas but we usually do not decorate until Christmas day… unless you are my mom and my aunt’s who spend an entire month working theirs. Or you can be like my uncle who shows up every year with a white box and wishes for silence.

2. Sibling competition and decorating the Christmas Tree: Every year my sister and I somehow always end up in some sort of a competition. It starts off by trying to get our elementary school star ornament as close as we can to the angel on top of the tree while decorating. Whoever’s star is there will be front and center. This leads to a more physical competition. Whether it’s who can still do the splits, who can hold their leg in the air the longest, or who can do a certain jump, we try to outdo each other. And each year someone ends up in either a headlock or a face is being smooched to the floor. It’s probably an unspoken tradition and one my parents would rather not have, even so, they will watch and take pictures. Nothing says Christmas like a little sibling play fight.

3. My dad reads The Polar Express: I could be 50 years old with kids living in another state and I will FaceTime my dad to read this book to me. On Christmas Eve right before we go to bed my sister, dad, mom, and I sit on my bed while my dad reads The Polar Express. This is a tradition I want to continue on with my children someday.

4. My Neighbors Christmas Eve Party: After dinner and church we head to my parents neighbor’s house for their annual Christmas party. It’s nice to see friends who I have not seen in a while and catch up with my neighbors. We have late night snacks, one too many glasses of wine,  and have lots of fun.

5. We watch White Christmas: Hands-down the BEST holiday movie ever made. You can have your Elf and Home Alone movies, I’ll take Bing Crosby singing and Vera-Ellen dancing over any of it. A little fun fact– Bing Crosby was my grandfather’s doppelgänger, same mannerisms, same way of speaking. Almost to the point that most of my childhood was spent believing my grandfather starred in White Christmas. Sometimes when I am missing him I will listen to Bing sing. Anyway, after Christmas dinner, when everyone has left, we watch White Christmas. It is a family favorite and will always be our favorite.

Would love to hear some of your family traditions?!

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