the holidays are approaching and my favorite time of year is very near…christmas!
i love christmas time. we all get to take a break from our busy schedules and get to spend time with those who matter most to us. it’s a time for us to be grateful for those who we are surrounded by and feel the joy that is created by all the memories that are made. now that i have my own family, i especially appreciate this time of year and continuing traditions with them and creating more.
here are some of my favorite christmas traditions that i enjoy with my girls:
advent calendar
every year around this time, we buy two advent calendars, one for each of my girls. it’s a fun way for them to count down until christmas, and one of the very first things they like to do every morning.
here are some of our favorites:
- 12 days of socks from justice
- lip smacker advent calendar
- 12 days of beauty advent calendar
- bomb cosmetics the bomb advent calendar
elf on the shelf
we started this fun tradition probably 6 years ago, and every year i question why we ever did because it can become quite a hassle, but my girls LOVE it, making it SO WORTH IT.
you can find more about the elf on the shelf tradition here, but in short, every night between thanksgiving and christmas when the kids go to bed, parents move the elf into a new hiding spot. the idea is that elf is santa’s little helper, and goes back to the north pole every night to report to santa if the kids were naughty or nice throughout the day.
i’d recommend buying the elf on the shelf bundle, which comes with the children’s book that explains the story. you can buy your own here.
christmas lights scavenger hunt
i’m like a little kid when it comes to this family tradition; i enjoy it probably just as much as the kids!
for the past few years, around the week of christmas, i print out some fun christmas lights scavenger hunt lists that i find online, we all load into the car, and drive around marking ones that we see off our lists.
you can find the one’s that i plan on using this year here. simply kierste design’s blog always has the cutest things!
christmas music and decorating
the weekend after thanksgiving, we take down all of our fall decorations, blast christmas music and put up everything christmas! it’s one of my favorite parts of the holidays and i just love how festive our home becomes.
cookie baking day
ever since i can remember, my mom, sister, and i would spend a full day before christmas baking what seemed like millions of christmas cookies. we’d make trays and trays of them and deliver them to our neighbors, teachers, friends, and family.
it was a tradition that i looked forward to every year, that time with my sister and mom. and now, my girls are involved, and they get to join in on making these special memories with the three of us.
chrismas movies and popcorn on christmas eve
after all the christmas eve day festivities are done with, we always invite grandma’s and papa’s back to our place. we pop some popcorn and throw on a christmas movie. it’s always a toss up between the same two movies every year…elf or the grinch.
it’s something as simple as watching a movie together; it makes memories that you’ll never forget.
build a gingerbread house
this tradition, i’m not necessarily involved with but one of my girl’s favorites. during the beginning of the holiday season, they will go over to grandma’s house and make a gingerbread house. it’s so fun to pick them up, see what they’ve made, and their huge smiles across their faces.
Okay To Be Shay 