A Week of Giving Back, Day 3 – Family Traditions

What are the holidays all about, if not tradition? This is such a special time of year for so many, since it is a time of year built around memories made with loved ones. As a child, our family traditions around the holidays were something I looked forward to every year, and now as an adult they are something I look forward to sharing with my daughter!

So, what are your favorite household traditions that you participate in every year with your family? Here is a list of some of the traditions we have, that I am sure I will continue as long as my family is willing to participate 🙂

Annual Christmas Ornament

This is a big one in our family. My grandmother has sent us a Christmas ornament every year, for as long as I know. I have decades of them now, labeled with the year and all. They are special to me as some she picked up on a vacation from around the world, and I remember some which are from years before my grandfather passed away. We had our first child a few years ago, and I made sure to commemorate the holiday by picking out our first ornament as a family that year. I would love to pick up more as we travel too around the holidays, so that we can look back at all our memories in years to come!

Shop Annual Christmas Ornaments

Baking Cookies for Santa

A day or two before Christmas, we would stay up and bake loads of cookies, frosting each one special for the big guy. We would pick out a plate of our favorites that we would insist be left out for Santa himself. Ideally, we would do this on Christmas Eve, but now that I have a toddler I see how this may be difficult for some. I say Santa probably doesn’t mind one bit if they were baked on the 23rd instead 😉 Our cookie recipe was of course a tradition of its own, and we used the same one every year.

Burton & Burton Cookies For Santa Christmas Gift Set With Plate & Milk Bottle, Red

Christmas Eve Presents

This is a new tradition that I heard about and liked, so I adopted it for our new family. Every year on Christmas Eve, the family gets to open two presents. The first is special Christmas pajamas that everyone gets to wear to bed that night, so when you wake up in the morning you are wearing cozy new threads. The second is a Christmas book – a new one to add to the collection! We put on our new PJ’s and snuggle up with some hot coco in front of the fireplace to read our new story, along with some others from years past.

Mad Dog Concepts Polar Bear Fleece Holiday Pajamas—Matching Family Set (with Bonus Non-Skid Socks)

So, what are some of your favorite Christmas traditions, or is there a new one you want to start? I would love to hear it!

X.O. Abbey Co.

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