Happy most magical time of the year!Tis the season of all things Christmas music + joy + traditions! My favorite time of the year to be honest! It’s so magical and full of snuggle weather!As a little girl I loved the traditions we did. Knowing that each year we were going to string popcorn for our tree, my 3 siblings and I would always fall asleep next to the waiting to catch Santa and that every Christmas we would go to my grandmas house for dinner.So once I became a Mama I knew I wanted traditions to be a big part of our holiday time. Something they would look back on and love and maybe one day share with my grandchildren. Yes sometimes traditions can be a bit much and many opt out of doing them but not my hubby and I!
I LOVE them and look forward to them all year long! Because I love them so much I’m going to share with you the traditions we do!
Real Tree
My husband and I have been doing real since we bought our first home almost 9 years ago. We love it and will never do fake!
Cut down our own Christmas Tree
Yes we love in Florida! And yes it’s next to impossible to find a cut your own tree location. I only know of two. But once we found out about the one closest to us we have been going ever since! I believe my oldest was 1 when we discovered it. We have been going ever since! We all love the magic of searching through the forest to find our perfect tree, cut it down and bring it back to Santa’s workshop for prepping.
Decorate our tree
We decorate our tree… of course! But we only do it when both Mama + Dada can too. We will wait all week with a bare tree if we have to! It’s the way we’ve always done it… as a family and we will always do it that way! Dada always finishes off our tree with the topper… my favorite way to end our tree decorating!
Elf on the self
Yes I’m an elf mom and I love it! Our elf is super lazy and doesn’t do anything crazy! That works for us. Our kiddos also aren’t allowed to touch him so they have their own stuffed elf’s for playing. I have a blog post explaining why we do it and why you should too!
“Elf on the Shelf… why I vote yes!”
Felt Tree
Every year when our elf arrives he brings a felt tree with felt ornaments and felt candy canes for my kiddos to play with! He forgot it this year but I’m sure he will have it with him this weekend. It’s to help encourage them to not touch and play with the real tree.
Matching pajamas
I’m seriously obsessed with matching my littles! It’s just so cute! They love it too and get excited about matching each other. This year we have even decided to get family ones! I’m in matching pjs heaven this year! If your looking for some cute ones I have a post where I share some of my favorites.
“Winter Pajama Love”
Advent Calendar
We are just starting this year and of course it’s a DIY project I’m still working on finishing haha. I don’t plan to make it crazy or anything. Simple is always my go to… unless it’s a list of traditions!
Christmas lights
What kid doesn’t love this part! I remember my parents taking us out for a drive just to find them! We actually found one last year where two homes came together and created a tunnel of lights down the sidewalk for you to get out and enjoy! Best one ever… even better than the music dancing lights!
Gingerbread houses
Every year we’ve done either a gingerbread house or a ginger bread train. Not going to lie… we don’t always finish them but we try. The train one was a lot and required cooling in the fridge. But this year we mastered a village!
Homemade White Chocolate Hot Cocoa
It is the best I’ve ever had! We actually gift it to our family each year and if we don’t we get asked for it! Everyone who has ever had it loved it! I actually make a big batch for us to have for ourselves through the year. I plant to share the recipe soon so subscribe and keep an eye out for it!
Letter to Santa
Letter to Santa is always a must! I will either print a cute letter head from Pinterest or just hand write one myself. In our home we only ever ask Santa for 1 maybe two things but that’s it. Sam
Christmas Eve box
We have been doing this since our first was born and I don’t think I will ever stop! It’s so fun! I plan to make a post just about what we keep on ours and maybe with a free printable so keep an eye out for that post! We always use the same box too!
Leave Santa Milk, Cookies, a note + snacks for his reindeer
We always end Christmas Eve with leaving Santa cookies + milk, a note on our chalkboard plate for him. We also leave out carrots for his reindeer to enjoy. They are such good little helpers and Santa wouldn’t be able to do what he does with out them!
Sometimes we bake them and sometimes we buy them. This year I think we will bake.
Dinner at Mamaws
This comes from my childhood and we will do it for as many years as she hosts it. Everyone goes and we all just have fun and make lots of memories! Dinners usually late too so that’s part of the tradition I guess.
Burn our Christmas Tree
Once Christmas is over we end the year in style and burn our Christmas tree in our fire pit! We did it before kids and still do. They love it! Little baby pyros taking after their dada for sure!
Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed what we do and feel free to comment some of yours below. I’d love to hear them!
Until next time
Xo JESSICA!