Merry Christmas Eve! I woke up this morning so excited to spend the holiday with my family just enjoying our time together. I'm ignoring the fact that I still haven't finished wrapping gifts and instead focusing on keeping Christmas movies on repeat and baking a million cookies! I'm sure by now you've all realized that I love Christmas and all of the traditions that come with it. So naturally I wanted to share some of these traditions with you! While my family has a more low key Christmas compared to some, I still think the traditions we have are what make Christmas so special!
Here are some of my absolute favorite Christmas traditions!
Christmas Eve Dinner
My family can't be the only one that really doesn't want to eat in on Christmas Eve. My mom always feels like since we spend most of Christmas Day cooking, she doesn't want to cook or fill the fridge with left overs on Christmas Eve. Not to mention, we always go to Christmas Eve mass so we're already in town around dinner time. So, a few years back (well probably close to 10 years back now) we started going out to dinner on Christmas Eve night. We always go to Piecasso in Stowe for pizza, chicken wings, and a few good drinks before heading home and cozying up for the holiday. It's such a fun tradition and gives us the chance to support a local business around the holiday without having to worry about planning one more meal! I can remember being a little kid and planning elaborate reindeer traps with my dad on the back of a kid's menu and reminiscing on past Christmases with my mom and grandma. It's fantastic to be able to go somewhere and celebrate the holiday with my family and make new memories in the process.
Christmas Eve Presents
Ever since I can remember my parents have given my brother and I each one gift on Christmas Eve. Any guesses on what it is every year? If you guessed festive PJs you're 100% correct! Sometimes they match, sometimes they don't, sometimes she buys them for the whole family, other times just for my brother and I. No matter what though, my brother and I always look forward to finding out which festive PJs we get to add to our collections! It's a fun tradition that the entire family gets very into, and there are definitely times where I try and give some suggestions on which ones my mom should get us. The only rule, we have to wear them on Christmas Eve - Christmas morning; but neither of us really mind that much!
Disney's Prep and Landing
If you haven't seen Disney's Prep and Landing you need to add it to your Christmas watch list. Honestly, add the first and the second on to your list because they are fantastic! Before this came out, my family usually just watched whatever Christmas Eve special was on before heading to bed, but now it feels like we're racing home just to make sure we have time to watch both shows before we all fall asleep! It's a cute, simple tradition but the entire family loves it, so why not watch it?! We don't usually turn the TV on, except for maybe a yule log or Christmas special on Christmas Day, so watching these little shows as a family is a fun way to wind down on Christmas Eve,
Waking Up My Parents & Walking Downstairs Christmas Morning
Since I could walk my parents ad a rule. Well 2 rules really. No waking them up before 7am and no going downstairs before they did. These days my brother and I tend to sleep a little past 7am and most of the time our parents are up before us. But I can remember so many years where my brother would end up ion my room at 4am waiting to be able to go wake Mom and Dad up. One year we were both up so early that we played board games on my floor for hours before we could go downstairs!
We still have the no going downstairs rule though (although Wrigley does not follow that rule at all). My mom has years worth of photos of my brother and I walking downstairs and it's a fun way to relive some childhood memories on Christmas morning! These days, I head straight for a cup of coffee before my stocking while my brother still goes straight for the stockings! One thing's for sure, I don't think my mom will ever give up this tradition!
Christmas Morning Breakfast
I'm not a huge breakfast food person, I like it but it's not my favorite - except on Christmas! Partly because we need some time to wake up and partly because we like to celebrate holidays with food, my family always makes a big Christmas morning breakfast. We have all the usual breakfast foods along with some mimosas or spiked coffee. My mom sometimes lets us help cook - other times not so much, but no matter what we have fun and it's a wonderful way to kick off Christmas Day with the people I love.
Christmas Dinner
As I've said my family celebrates the holidays with food, lots of food! Just like Thanksgiving we cook enough food for days worth of leftovers. I make a cheese board and biscuits while my mom makes Prime Rib, baked potatoes and just about anything else we say we want with Christmas dinner! It's just another way we can enjoy time together wile also enjoying great food!
If you are celebrating Christmas I hope you have a wonderful holiday, full of love, laughter and joy! Oh, ad if you have any fun Christmas traditions make sure to share them on my latest Instagram post!