Happy Friday!  The Christmas countdown has certainly begun around here. With less than two weeks to go, we have been busy finishing up our shopping, planning our Christmas dinner and also thinking about what we’d like to do on New Year’s Day.

Today I thought I would share with you my favorite Christmas traditions.

One Present…

Growing up, the main Christmas tradition we had was that my brother and I were allowed to pick one present to open on Christmas Eve. All December long I would look under the tree as presents began to appear (we’ve always wrapped and set under the tree as we go. I know some people hide presents away until the night before which is also a fun idea) and I would think about what present I’d want to choose as my Christmas Eve present. It was always a gamble. One year I was so disappointed because I had chosen shoes while my brother had selected a toy haha. We haven’t started this tradition with Julia since we go to her grandparent’s house and open gifts there on Christmas Eve. But maybe when she gets older we’ll let her pick one gift from us to open that night as well.

Christmas Eve

Nowadays on Christmas Eve, our tradition is to go to Kevin’s parents’ house for a get together with his sister and her family, his grandmother, and his parents. There we have sandwiches, appetizers and dessert and exchange gifts. This works out wonderfully because we can’t always all be together on Christmas day and I love that Julia gets to have two days of Christmas fun!

Wrapping Paper Wall

The newest Christmas tradition that Kevin and I started with Julia last year is the wrapping paper wall. I first heard about this from Gwen Stefani. She said that as a child her parents would wrap the entryway / open door that leads to their Christmas tree in wrapping paper. Upon waking up the kids had to crash through the paper to get to the Christmas tree. When I heard this I thought – what a fun tradition! We began doing this last year with Julia when she was a little over 1 year old. I am so excited to see how she reacts this year and to continue doing this in years to come!

What are some of your Christmas traditions? Let me know in the comments below!

As always, thank you so much for reading, and I hope that you have a wonderful weekend 🙂

Sending love, light & holiday cheer,