At three years old, Hailey is really old enough to enjoy Christmas in all it’s wonder and magic. I love hearing her interpret the holidays. For example:
Hailey (again she asks): Mom, Christmas is Jesus’ birthday, right?
Me (again): It sure is.
Hailey: I think he wants a Frozen cake with Elsa and Anna. And candles. But he can’t blow out the candles because he’s just a baby, but we can help him like this (blows out imaginary candles).
For all the challenges three can bring, it sure brings a lot of laughs with it too.
Back to Christmas, though. At December 10, the season is flying by and I am determined not to let the day arrive without making some magic happen. I’ve been thinking about some traditions I want to create with Hailey and Kaitlyn.
To me, the magic is in the details.
It’s not the big dollhouse I got one Christmas (though that was great too, in case you are reading Santa), it’s the peeking over the balcony with my brother to see if Santa had come.
It’s not what exactly we ate on Christmas eve, but the warm and cozy feeling of all piling into the living room after the meal to exchange family gifts with Christmas music playing in the background.
It’s mom making gingerbread boys and thumbprint cookies.
It’s the story of baby Jesus at the late afternoon service.
It’s the stockings my Nannie sewed.
It’s that little blue reindeer statue that no one seems to care about but me.
It’s the details and the people.
I want to keep that great feeling of warmth and love with my growing family and add it some traditions that we all look forward to every year.
We kicked off this year’s celebration yesterday afternoon with cookies.
Hailey cracked the eggs and acted as quality control for the ingredients (namely the M&Ms and chocolate chips).
Mema held off a tired Kaitlyn as we all bounced around to Christmas music.
It took longer and got messier than if I would have just done it myself.
But the tradition is not in the cookie. It’s in the process. The feeling. The people.
OK, and maybe just a smidge in the cookie itself.
Some other traditions I’m hoping to create include:
Watching a Christmas movie together in jammies with hot chocolate.
Driving around to look at Christmas lights.
Dressing in our finest for church and attending a candlelight service when possible (probably not this year).
I certainly don’t want to overload Christmas with too many ‘must dos,’ but I do hope to create some traditions that will carry on through the years.
What about you?
What traditions did you grow up with?
Which ones are you creating?
Erica { EricaDHouse.com } says
Lol – I definitely think ya’ll need to bake Jesus a birthday cake!
My favorite tradition growing up was going to cut down the tree ourselves. My brother and I were allowed to sit on the open window frame in the backseat of the car as my parents drove slowly around the tree farm searching for the perfect tree. The farm had a petting zoo, santa, and free hot chocolate there as well so I remember it being such a magical place!
Lindsey @ Simply Lindsey says
We grew up doing the last four that you mentioned at the end of your post! One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up was on Christmas Eve, we’d open one present after the candlelight church service (always Christmas pjs) and put them on and hop in the car to drive around town looking at Christmas lights! We’d always eat lots of Christmas cookies when we got home. 🙂 Such good memories!
Dale says
My daughter (4 yrs old) told me that Jesus wants a chocolate cake and lemonade for his birthday! Lol
Michelle @ Fit. Flexible. Fabulous says
Love that pic of your pup in the peanut butter jar!
My mom was a labor and delivery nurse so she would often have to work night shift on Christmas Eve and sometimes Christmas Day, too. We never cooked a big spread as a family on those days b/c she had to sleep. Instead our tradition was to order pizza and cheesesteaks (I grew up outside of Philly). Sounds terrible, right? But it was quick, easy, and delicious!
Pam says
Such a cute post 🙂 I think my favourite traditions were visiting my grandmother’s on Christmas Eve (all the cousins/aunts/uncles would gather there) and driving around to look at lights!
Brynn says
We always went and cut down our tree, drove around to see lights and baked cookies for Santa. Oh, and went to midnight service. I loved that because we would light candles and it was so gorgeous to sing the beautiful holiday songs by the light of the candles. I hope to incorporate these traditions with my new little family!
Kelli H (Made in Sonoma) says
Your traditions sound very sweet! When I have kids I definitely want to bake cookies with them.
Growing up, my biggest Christmas memory is waking up on Christmas morning and trying to get my parents to wake up. My brother and I would look through the stair case and see our tree filled with presents. We’d then have to wake up my parents which was a long process. My dad was always so good about “being” Santa and making it look like Santa came in the fireplace so messy. He’d leave ashes on the fireplace and cookie crumbs all over. I loved it.
Heather says
We didn’t have many traditions growing up aside from always getting a tree and decorating it Thanksgiving weekend. We definitely want to create traditions with our children, though. Each year we pick out new ornaments – the kids each get to pick their own, which is perfect for our very eclectic tree. We always decorate Thanksgiving weekend as a family. Typically we host Christmas Eve every year and do some present opening then with grandparents and put on Rudolph to watch or Frosty. The entire month of December we usually watch Christmas movies, although this year we’ve been a bit too busy. WIthout fail, though, we will always watch ‘Christmas Vacation’ on Christmas Day and ‘A Christmas Story.’ Oh yeah, and every Christmas morning after we exchange stockings, I make gingerbread pancakes for breakfast. 🙂
Monica says
I love Christmas & traditions! I just did a post about this topic a few days ago. Now that I have a daughter, I’m trying to get some more wholesome traditions back into our season instead of just my husband and my yearly tradition of watching Bad Santa while sipping on chocolate martinis and opening presents… 😉 We’ve put that one on hold for the foreseeable future… it had a good 8 year run before baby.
http://babystepsandmommymoves.com/2014/12/02/christmas-traditions-new-old/
Laura @FItMamaLove says
Baking Christmas cookies is one of the best traditions! I’m wondering how that will go now that my 2-year-old is old enough to be involved in the process this year. I’m extra excited for Christmas this year now that both of my kids are old enough to enjoy it! We’ve watched a couple of Christmas movies so far and I can’t wait to drive around looking at Christmas lights!
Liv @ Healthy Liv says
Are those monster cookies?! Holiday baking is definitely my favorite tradition!
That, and driving around to look at Christmas lights. This year, my running buddies and I are going on a night run to look at Christmas lights instead 🙂
Laura says
Do you have a link to the chair/stool your daughter uses while she helps you in the kitchen? I’d love to get one for my toddler. Thanks so much!
Josephine says
My traditions;
Decorating the tree as a family whilst listening to Christmas music
I try to watch at least one Christmas movie and sometimes talk my husband into watching it with me!
Reading “The Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve, to my daughter
Attending Church Christmas morning , used to be Midnight Mass, maybe again when daughter is older
Baking something Christmasy like shortbreads or mince pies
Walking down Bond Street in London to see the Christmas lights and going to Fortnum and Masons to witness it all decorated for Christmas
Having champagne and smoked salmon blinis for Breakfast Christmas morning
My husband cooking a whole goose with red cabbage, Brussel sprouts with bacon and roast potatoes followed by Christmas pudding with custard
Regina says
Growing up my favorite memories are of the train that looped around the base of the Christmas tree at my grandparents house and the stockings that were black plastic Santa boots. With two boys I absolutely plan on keeping the train tradition alive.
As for our own traditions:
Our kids are 2 years old and 8 months old. But we want to start early in teaching them that the holidays aren’t about gifts but about experiences, being grateful for each other and enjoying our time together and the extra time were allowed thanks to paid holidays off. Since my husband and I have been together we donate to st Jude’s every year. It’s an organization I’ve felt strongly about since I was pregnant with our first son. We’re blessed to have two healthy kids, and had many scares with our second along the way and even with my husband. I cannot imagine the fear and heartache that goes with watching your child suffer in such a way and no parent should ever have to. So, while we don’t make much money as a family of four on one income in the nations capital, we make a point to give the little we can to help others. As the kids get older well also volunteer our time, as we did before they came around.
Every year we also get an ornament to represent that past year. First Christmas together, a stork carrying a blue blanketed baby we bought on our babymoon, a framed photo of our oldest son meeting Santa for the first time, etc. it’s so special to look back on them and be transported to those memories.
Christmas movies, all night long. Complete with endless batches of homemade cookies made together, hot coco, milk and warm apple cider and when the snow arrives, a roaring fire.
Gifts of experience. Our kids each get one gift from us each year. One that they can open, that is. The rest of our gifts are experiences from a membership to the national zoo, a trip to the aquarium, gymboree or the little gym classes, etc.
Overall we want our kids to see this magical time as we do, a time to love a little deeper, give a little more freely and laugh with less abandon with those who mean the most to us.
Marnie says
I feel the same way…our three year old definitely gets holidays this year so my husband and I are defining some new traditions. So far we’ve done some holiday events around Denver. We are thinking of building a gingerbread house this year to see how that goes…
Jen says
Growing up my favorite thing was when my mom and I turned on the Christmas music and decorated the tree. I made many ornaments over the years, and seeing them when we pulled them out of the box was always fun.
This year is our first year with a child, and since she’ll be 7.5 months old when the big day comes, obviously she’s too young to know what’s going on. As far as traditions, I think picking out and cutting down a tree will be one (we live in Western NC and there are tree farms a plenty here!), and of course putting on the music and decorating, and maybe even making ornaments every year will become a tradition, too.
Rachel says
It wasn’t a tradition, but my favorite Christmas memory happened when I was in high school, and my younger brother was still young enough to believe in Santa. I stayed up really late with my mom helping her wrap the “santa” presents, and then for some reason we decided to take a walk. I lived in the country so we didn’t really have any close neighbors and there was no traffic, just was a ton of snow on the ground, and it was still coming down. We didn’t even talk, just walked about a quarter of a mile and enjoyed the peacefulness. I didn’t have the best relationship with my mom at that time, so that memory is definitely special to me.
Jodi says
So many traditions to name!! I am in love with this time of year, despite all it’s craziness!! As a kid, I will never forget , Christmas Eve w all the cousins at one of our houses. ‘Santa’ always made an appearance as the nite was winding down. We would see him dash around the yard, peeking in our windows and leaving candy on the front doorstep. We would be screaming running around the house trying to see where he was. It was also the time we thee on our jackets to head home bc Santa was trying I deliver our presents, but we were still up! ( or at least that how our parents got us to go home wo fussing…) we loved it!!! I would love to carry that tradition on, but A and E’s cousins are teenagers and could care less… But man, it was magical!!!
Tanya says
Come to church with us again this year! I believe it’s candle lit, even if it is at 5pm!!
Holly Marie says
We love to watch White Christmas while decking the tree and house, drive around the neighborhood searching for the “best lights” after making sugar cookies(egg, nut, and gluten-free) and homemade cocoa, and of course Zoo Lights with our family! You have such a sweet helper in the kitchen-adorable that she wanted to make a cake for baby Jesus!
Christina says
When my brother, sister and I were young, my father would always set up this very elaborate train set in the basement (complete with miniature replicas of the house I grew up in and my grandparents’ house!). After opening presents, we would race down to the basement to play with the trains for hours. This year, my father is putting up the train set for the first time in YEARS so that my little girl can enjoy it – complete with a brand new miniature replica of our current house! It’s especially sentimental as my parents are downsizing and this will likely be the last Christmas in the house I grew up in, and it seems so fitting to bring the trains out one last time!
Shari says
My favorite Hanukkah traditions revolve around our family get-together — opening the gifts in a circle, having dinner in the dining room, playing with the little ones’ presents/taking pictures/gathering in the living room, lighting the menorah together, having doughnuts and gelt for dessert. It’s my favorite day of the year.
It sounds like you have some beautiful traditions in store for your family! 🙂
Cassie says
Awww, this makes me so happy that I could be part of your Christmas traditions with you. 🙂