Christmas Traditions

My wife and I both come from families where Christmas was the biggest holiday of the year and when we married we pulled together the best traditions of both, and over the years added a few of our own. Our Christmas traditions start in November. Our traditions are for us, not the other way around. If life is feeling too hectic we will skip a tradition to make sure we keep a Merry Christmas.

Trip to the Mall

This tradition is all us. We invented it and each year we enjoy our annual Christmas trip to the Lakeline Mall in Cedar Park, Texas.

Professional Photos: Each year we get our picture taken professional. The whole family gets dressed up and we get our picture taken for the family Christmas card. We get the first slot of the morning so that the wait isn't horrible.

Mall Santa: While we wait for the photos to process we visit the Mall Santa. We plan the mall outing the first weekend that Santa is there just so we can meet him and get pictures with him with the girls dressed pretty. Each year the mall hosts Santa who has a real beard (of course) and since he is in Texas wears cowboy boots.

Hallmark Ornaments: After visiting Santa we then go to the Hallmark store. We were starting to get way too many ornaments so we limited the ornament buying a number of years ago to 1 ornament each per year. So each year we each pick out a hallmark ornament for the tree. On the box we write the year and who picked it out. Someday when the kids are grown we'll let them have the ornaments they picked out (maybe).

Texas State Capitol Ornament: Each year we get that year's Texas' Capitol ornament from the Bob Bullock Museum.

Thanksgiving Day Milestone

Thanksgiving Day is a milestone for our Christmas traditions.

Christmas Cards: Each year our goal is to have our family Christmas cards out by Thanksgiving Day. Along with the card we include a letter to close friends and family describing what has been going on for the past year and a picture of our family. We hang Christmas cards and letters from others in our foyer as they come in.

Christmas Lights: We love Christmas lights. Well my wife loves Christmas lights and I OCD on Christmas lights. We put a ton of lights on the house and our goal is light them up the Wednesday before Thanksgiving each year.

Christmas Decorations: We consider Thanksgiving to be the day when you can start putting up Christmas decorations in the house (and not be made fun of). So we often will setup the Christmas tree and Christmas town right after Thanksgiving. Sometimes that same afternoon.

Artificial Tree - Growing up we both always had live trees, in Pennslyvania we even planted ours. Now that we are married we always (with rare exception) have had an artificial tree. They don't drop needles, they don't need water, and most importantly they won't burn your house down. In 2010 I finally gave in and we put up multiple trees including a white tree in the play room.

Christmas Town - Each year in our living room we assemble Christmas Town out of miniature buildings, people and snow. We add to it, each year and we hook the buildings up to Mr. Christmas so they sing and dance.

Christmas in the Neighborhood

Visit from Santa - Our neighborhood has volunteers that help Santa visit kids in the neighborhood. Around mid-December each year Santa pays our home a visit. The kids get to tell him what they want for Christmas, ask him some Christmas questions for answers that only Santa would know, and he brings them a treat.

Winter Festival - Each year the Lake Forest neighborhood has a winter festival where everyone puts luminaries (paper bags with candles) along the street making for a beautiful display. Add everyone's Christmas lights and it makes for great Christmas light looking. You can even take a hayride around the neighborhood.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Movie - One tradition that we had to put off while the kids were little was going out to see a movie on Christmas Eve.

Santa Check - Each year we have the Santa Check. On Christmas Eve we walk through the house with a video camera to see how clean the house is. This way we make sure we record our decorations and how the house looked that year. Plus we make sure that the house looks nice for Christmas pictures and videos.

Stockings - We hang stockings on the fireplace. We start with the youngest and work our way up to the oldest. We get a picture of the person hanging the stocking and then with their stocking after it's hung.

Reindeer Food - This tradition came home from school with the kids. They prepare a baggie of oats and other things that they think the reindeer will eat. In the afternoon the kids spread the deer food over the lawn. They include glitter in the food so the deer can see it from the air.

Sheppard's Dinner - This tradition was the same from both sides of the family. On Christmas Eve we have a Sheppard's dinner of deli sandwiches, cheese, shrimp, little smokies, and other finger food that looks good to us. We eat the leftovers for breakfast on Christmas morning.

One Gift on Christmas Eve - Each Christmas Eve the kids, and sometimes the parents, get to open one gift, and the gift is always pajamas. This was we make sure the kids aren't wearing old pajamas in their Christmas morning pictures.

Christmas Light Looking - In the evening we load up into the car and drive around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights. This is to help tire the kids out.

Reading Night Before Christmas - In the evening we read an old copy of "Twas the Night Before Christmas" that was Kit's from before we were married.

Snack for Santa - Usually the last thing before going to bed the kids put out cookies and Diet Coke for Santa. In the morning they find only crumbs and a crushed can proving Santa was there. It is also not uncommon for the kids to get a visit from Santa during the night where he gives them a candy cane. Sometimes they are up for much of the night after this.

Christmas Day

Waking up - Yeah we get up early. Often before 6 AM.

Stockings - We start with the stockings. We used to include an orange in the toe, which over the years turned into a chocolate orange. For the parents we get scratch off lottery tickets. We also get an assortment of candy and some small toys.

Gifts - After stockings we unwrap gifts that we keep under the tree. We take turns not starting with anyone in particular. We mostly have the kids take turns since they have more gifts than us and we jump in there every once in a while. We try to time it so everyone finishes at the same time.

Unpackaging - After all the gifts are unwrapped we go about unpacking the gifts. This is hard work and requires pliers, a box cutter, and a screwdriver for batteries. By lunchtime we have the whole mess put away.

Christmas Dinner - For Christmas dinner we usually do a ham plus some of our other favorites.

Cleanup - Usually we pack everything up on New Year's Day. Nothing is more over than Christmas.