What Are Your Holiday Traditions?
I talk a lot about traditions here on the blog–they’ve always been incredibly important to me, a way to fix memories to a specific time and place, no matter what else is changing around me. These particularly came into play during the height of the pandemic. Keeping our traditions was a way to feel normal when everything else felt like the world was ending. And now that things are more back to normal, it’s so nice to hold tight to these traditions, to celebrate the peace and joy these special moments bring.
I wanted to do a post this year on your traditions–how do you celebrate the holidays? Which aspects of your celebration are unique to you? I’d love to hear from you as we get into the festive spirit 🙂 Happy holidays!
Love your blog! I just discovered it and so happy I did. My partner and I are slowly making our own Christmas traditions. The night before we begin traveling to see our families, we make a small Christmas dinner of roast vegetables and meat pie or savory pastry (tradition from his family) and go to the ballet (tradition from mine!). Sometime in December we also make sure to get dressed up and go out for cocktails with close friends. We spent the past few holiday seasons in New Zealand, where we managed to keep our traditions despite the hot weather! Now that we’re back in snowy Canada we are both so excited to have a real tree and a white Christmas again.
Hi Rowan, thank you so much for your kind comment! I love your Christmas traditions, especially the ballet. We always used to go see the Nutcracker when I was little and that’s something I look forward to starting next year. It’s always so special to have a night out, and I love how you’ve combined your families’ traditions 🙂 Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season 🙂
Hi Sarah! Some of our favorite holiday traditions are the yearly brunch with Santa at my parents’ club, decorating the tree together, spending Christmas Eve with my in-laws and coming home to find pajamas from Santa on the hearth, and having cake for breakfast on Christmas Day 🙂 It’s been so much fun to create more traditions as my daughter gets older and understands the season a bit better.
These are all such fun traditions, Sara! I especially love the Christmas pajamas 😊 it’s so fun to create traditions with little ones, too!
Getting the tree with my daughter. Hanging the ornaments, many with memories of our trips. Clam chowder Christmas Eve. My Daughter’s choir’s Christmas concerts. Treats from Vermont Country Store. Kringles for Christmas breakfast. Hiding the baby Jesus’s in the nativity scenes until Christmas morning. My large scale German train under the tree. Christmas acapella choir music from Oxford and Cambridge colleges.
I love these, Randy! I might have to adopt the Christmas Eve clam chowder for us, that sounds delicious!
Discovered your blog via Muffy’s blog (SWNE)! One of our more “odd” traditions is wrapping color indoor lights around an antique German dining chair. Nah, it’s ok, but it might get weirder! 😉 My husband was deployed our first year of marriage in 2008 and when he came home for a visit in spring of 2009 I had his Christmas presents ready to go but clearly didn’t have a tree. (I grew up in the PNW and I need a real Christmas tree). I was looking for something non-permanent and taller to wrap lights around when the dining chair volunteered itself. We had a small Christmas under “Christmas Chair” and now we set it up every Christmas in remembrance of those in our military that are far from family during the holidays.
Thank you for stopping by! I love that tradition. My father was also in the military and recently retired after 30+ years of active duty. He was missing for many of my childhood holidays, so the traditions instilled by both sets of grandparents and my mother were crucial and most are continued today! It’s so kind of you to continue the tradition in honor of our service members who are far from home!
Starting in 2020, we began the tradition of The Solstice Pineapple in one corner of the kitchen. Just before the solstice, my wife brings home an unripe pineapple. We decorate its foliage with a very short string of lights, chuckle about it for a few days until ripe, and then chunk and enjoy it once it is. Typically right before or just after Christmas Day. Looking forward to doing so for 2022 in just a few more days.
Kind Regards,
H-U
That is such a fun and unique tradition!! I love it 🙂 thank you for sharing!