As a parent, I have more of a desire to establish family traditions. I find myself wanting to be intentional about the ways we celebrate birthdays and holidays and Christmas is no exception. As our daughter grows up, I'm caught between wanting carry on some of the memorable traditions I grew up with and make our own family traditions.
Some of my favorite traditions from childhood Christmases:
- my mom bought an ornament for each of us every year (and several of them hang on my tree today)
- we listened to John Denver and Muppets when we decorated the tree
- we ate shrimp for Christmas Eve dinner and went to church
- reading from Luke as a family about Jesus' birth on Christmas Eve and then opening one gift
- a new pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve (when I was young, my mom used to hang them in my closet as a surprise)
We haven't done too much to create traditions with Maggie, but I hope to cultivate more as she grows up. This year we have a live tree decorated with white lights and a collection of ornaments. I wanted to get an ornament for Maggie that wasn't the usual "baby's first Christmas," so I made an cinnamon dough I found via Pinterest to make an ornament with an imprint of her foot on it (they smell amazing and dried in about 30 hours).
I look forward to teaching our girl about the importance of giving in this season, whether it's buying gifts for others or volunteering our time and energy or baking/cooking to give the goodies away.
What are your favorite Christmas traditions?
We always did new pjs, and I still do that with my boys, plus a new ornament each year. Our family tradition is to have a big Christmas breakfast with sausage, biscuits and gravy. I love that footprint ornament, so cute!
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