7 Favorite Christmas Traditions

Christmas is just around the corner! I don’t know about you, but I just love this time of year! Despite all of the chaos of wrapping up things at work, attending holiday parties, and Christmas shopping, to me it really is the most wonderful time of the year. There is an excited anticipation in the air the entire month of December, and there are so many fun ways to celebrate the season!

Every family has fun Christmas traditions to get into the holiday spirit, and I thought it would be fun to share a few of my favorites! Here are 7 of my favorite Christmas traditions:

1. Advent Calendars

As someone who is very future-oriented, I love counting down to big events. I have been known to make paper chains to count down to an event up to a hundred days out. (A tad over the top, I know!) And you can bet that I have a Disney World countdown app on my phone that I check almost daily to see how far away my trip is! This is why every year I like to get an advent calendar. To me, it makes the whole month of December feel like Christmas because you get a little treat or surprise each day.

Photo Credit: Target

This year, our house seems to be brimming with Advent calendars! Brielle, Nick, and I each have our own advent calendars. When I get home from work we all run to our calendars and enjoy a little piece of chocolate. My friend Sarah also surprised me with a Harry Potter sock advent calendar! Every day for 15 days before Christmas I get to open a part of my calendar and get a new pair of Harry Potter socks...it’s so fun. I even gave Nick a Star Wars Lego advent calendar, which he loves! Each day he gets to assemble a little Star Wars ship or mini figure. I think I earned major points with that gift because sometimes it seems like opening his Legos is the highlight of his day.

2. Reading the Gospel of Luke

Although it may be silly to look forward to a little piece of chocolate or Legos to assemble each day, this season is one of anticipation for the excitement that is to come. But our excitement for presents and holiday treats is just a small representation of how the world awaited the birth of a savior! The true meaning of Christmas doesn’t lie under a tree, but in a manger in Bethlehem all of those years ago.

This is why I think it is so important to read the story of Christ’s life during the Advent season. Luke is the perfect book for advent because it has a great description of Jesus’ birth and just so happens to be 24 chapters long! You could read one chapter a day the entire advent season in December, and then on Christmas you will have a renewed perspective as to why we celebrate His birth each year.

3. Seeing The Nutcracker or A Christmas Carol

I love attending live performances any time of year, but seeing A Christmas Carol or The Nutcracker sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas is such a fun and nostalgic experience. I’ve always loved the story of A Christmas Carol, the Muppet one, the Mickey Mouse one...pretty much any version! There is something beautiful about the story of an old, curmudgeony man who is able to learn late in life to open his heart to love and Christmas joy! I’ve seen it on stage a few times and it never gets old. I’m really excited because Nick’s parents got us tickets to go later in December!

As a kid, I remember going to The Nutcracker for the first time in Elementary school when the local ballet school put on their annual performance. I fell in love with the story, and it even inspired me to try taking a ballet class! (Let’s just say that if you are starting ballet in 5th grade and have never taken dance class, your ballet career is going to be short lived...ha!) One year, my grandma even took me to see the Russian ballet perform The Nutcracker when it came to town, which was an incredible experience that I’ll probably never forget. I can’t wait until Brielle is a little older so she can experience the magic of these performances as well!

4. Looking at Christmas Lights

I’ll be honest, we are not really the type of people who put a lot of Christmas decorations on the outside of our house. I prefer to spend my time decorating the inside of my house because going outside in the bitter cold to stand on a ladder is not my idea of a good time. However, I absolutely LOVE to look at other people’s light displays!

A fun (and free) way to do this is to just find a nice neighborhood and drive through and look at all of the decorations people put up. Some people really go all out, almost like the Whos in The Grinch. I applaud their willingness to go to such lengths to spread Christmas cheer. In many towns, there is also a free or inexpensive light display put on by the parks department or sponsors. Where we live, they have a big Christmas light display set up that you can walk through. You can also do little Christmas crafts and meet Santa there! There are also Christmas window displays in the little shops downtown which are fun to walk around and look at with a cup of hot chocolate in hand.

5. Christmas Caroling!

To be fair, I have not gone Christmas Caroling in several years, but it is a tradition I love so much! In high school, my group of friends decided it would be a fun tradition to all go caroling together every year before Christmas. This is what happens when all of your friends are in choir and/or musicals! We wore santa hats and reindeer ears, and piled into a couple of cars driving around town to serenade our friends, family, and even our teachers. (And, because we are all choir kids we usually sang in 3 part harmony, depending on who was there!)

That little tradition is still alive, even though it has been 10-12 years since we graduated from high school! We are not always in my hometown for Christmas, but when possible I try to get back and go caroling with all of my high school friends.

6. Opening a present on Christmas Eve

In my family, we always opened presents from grandparents, cousins, etc on Christmas eve. Christmas day was reserved for presents from our parents or “santa.” I was so used to this tradition that I didn’t realize that many families do not open any presents on Christmas eve!

I think it is so fun to let everyone open at least one present on Christmas eve...it’s just a fun way to kick of the holiday. If you are the one giving the present to be opened on Christmas eve you could gift a movie or a cozy blanket that could actually be used that evening!

7. Attending a Christmas Eve service

Sometimes it can be difficult to get to church on Christmas Eve because there are so many preparations, family is visiting, etc. As a kid, I remember sitting through this service counting down the minutes until we’d be back at Grandma’s house opening presents and eating a delicious meal, but now I treasure this time.

There is something about pausing in the middle of this hectic holiday to remember what it is really about. I especially love when it is a candlelight service and we get to sing Christmas hymns together. It is such a peaceful way to start out Christmas eve, and I look forward to it every year.

What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? Tell me in the comments!