Family Traditions are a Big Hit in our home during the Holidays.
How is it that the holidays seem so far away for most of the year, and then suddenly they creep up, and pounce! They are right here, knocking on your door!
If you’re like me, your calendar is a scrawl of holiday commitments, shopping trips, appointments to handle before the end of the year, and all of those holiday traditions you and your family keep during the holiday season. It can feel overwhelming!
To stay grounded and grateful, remember that those holiday traditions on your to do list are the proof that there is more to this hurried season than the hustle and bustle. They need not be fancy or expensive to do, just thoughtful and inclusive to the family.
Embracing the traditions that can sometimes feel like pressure, instead of stressing over perfection and being swept away by raw nerves, can be an important reminder to focus on the spend time with your loved ones, and make those deep holiday memories!
We are a family of some longstanding holiday traditions we look forward to every year, here are some of them:
- Watching the movie Home Alone together while eating a delicious Cheese Pizza
- A Winter Solstice walk on the first day of Winter
- A certain ornament that is put on the tree by all three of us before any other ornaments are put on
- Making homemade vanilla bean marshmallows to serve with Mexican Hot Chocolate to drink on Christmas Eve
- Cookie Day where we get together with our good family friends and spend the afternoon decorating and icing sugar cookies for Santa.
- Writing and addressing Christmas Cards while watching the movie You’ve Got Mail
- Serving a Christmas Morning breakfast platter to eat on Christmas morning
- Having our beloved family dog open her present first before anyone else. So funny and entertaining, gifts are her love language!
I asked Elizabeth, founder of No Qualms Mom, and Tera Langland, NQM writing contributor, what some of their traditions are and they had these to add:
- A weekend in Seattle enjoying holiday shows, the Teddy Bear Suite and life-size Gingerbread House at the Fairmont, shopping, Enchant light festival, ice skating and the Nutcracker.
- Making gingerbread houses and a Lego Christmas Village.
- Christmas Eve meal of Raclette – fondue from the Alps served with potatoes, meat, shrimp and vegetables.
- Shopping Christmas Eve at Pike Place Market for seafood then preparing Feast of the Seven Fishes celebration.
- Christmas Crackers and Reminising about Christmas’ Past.
- Each child opens one gift on Christmas Eve that has something to wear (Christmas PJs), something to read (a holiday book) and a sweet treat. After they put on the PJs, the family snuggles by the tree and reads one of the books and enjoys a small dessert before bedtime.
- Having a get away to a beach house between Christmas and New Years to relax and reflect about the coming year.
Maybe you will add some of these traditions to your family repertoire! And regardless of what fun you choose, all of us at Happy Mom Life Lab wish you a wonderful holiday season!
Wishing you and your family many happy traditions just for you.
~Elizabeth Curtiss, Happy Mom Life Lab Founder
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Feature photo by Elizabeth Curtiss, ©Happy Mom Life Lab. Article images licensed through Elizabeth Curtiss (sugar cookies, Reina carried by a lady, Reina next to a Lego Winter Village), and Adobe (girls and dog running in the snow, couple and dog), all in the context of this article are ©Happy Mom Life Lab.
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