She’s Just Creating Traditions
Now that we have a little family of our own, I’ve been thinking about what I want the holidays to look like in our house. This is our first year really building our own family traditions, not just following the ones we grew up with, but creating little moments around the holidays that feel like us. I want cozy, simple, but meaningful memories that we can create. While our baby is still small and probably won’t remember this year’s holiday season, it doesn’t mean we can’t start some traditions and see what brings the most joy to our home. I want to create the kind of traditions that our kids will look forward to every year - the kind they’ll talk about when they’re older and remember them as our thing. The small familiar traditions that make home feel extra special and one day, nastolgic during the holiday season.
1.Pumpkin Bread and Coffee on Thanksgiving Morning
Before all the chaos of cooking and family gathering, I want our Thanksgiving morning to start slow. I want the fam to wake up to the smell of fresh pumpkin bread being pulled out of the oven and enjoy it with coffee (or hot chocolate for the littles) while we giggle and chat around the kitchen. It’s simple, but it feels like the perfect way to keep Thanksgiving memorable and a little less chaotic.
2. Christmas Ornament Tree
The goal is simple. Each year, every family member gets a new ornament that represents them or something about them from that year - could be a hobby, milestone, or even a little inside joke. Over time, everyone will have their own little tree in their room that they can fill with all of their personal ornaments. Or maybe we just have one big tree filled top to bottom with all the personal ornaments. Not 100% sure yet. I love the idea, that when they’re alll grown up, they’ll have a box full of memories from each year as they grew.
3. Christmas Cookies and our Favorite Movie
I love the idea of a dirty kitchen, flour everywhere, Christmas music playing in the background and our little family gathered around decorating Christmas cookies (even if the baby’s contribution these first few years is just eating the icing off the spoon). Every Christmas Eve, we’ll make cookies, maybe even have a little friendly decorating competition, and watch our favorite Christmas movie. It just seems like such a sweet, simple way to cozy up with the fam the night before all the Christmas morning chaos.
4. Matching Christmas Pajamas
It’s a classic for a reason. I love the idea of waking up on Christmas morning with everyone in matching Christmas patterns and living in them for the first half of the day while we play with all of our new presents! I know it’s so cliché, but it’s one of those small details that makes the holiday season just a little more magical. It also makes for a cute family pic ;)
5. Trips Not Big Gifts
My husband and I have always struggled with Christmas gifts for each other. Mostly because my birthday is right before Christmas and our anniversary is right after. That being said, we have recently decided that instead of doing big gifts for each other, we put that money towards a family trip for the upcoming year. It takes the thought out of an already stressful, chaotic season, and gives us something to look forward to when the holidays are all wrapped up.
I still plan on doing all the fun classics - Elf on The Shelf, advent calendars, themed wrapping paper, and Santa’s cookies, but these new traditions feel like the start of our own story. This is only year one, and its mostly for me and Logan, but I love knowing that these little things will grow into the memories that our kids will talk about when they grow up. Tell me about your favorite holiday traditions!
XX Shelbi
