Christmas is my favorite time of year! It has always been special, but I’ve loved it to a whole new level as I have had my own home and children. Simeon and I are having so much fun selecting traditions that we hope will forever shape this glorious season in the hearts and lives of our children. Some traditions are ones that our parents did with us when we were growing up. Some are things we’ve come up with on our own. All are anticipated and enjoyed! As the years go by, we look forward to the elements that make up our family’s Christmas traditions.

We are learning that different seasons bring about different aspects of celebration. Some of the traditions and rhythms that we do currently, we might not do forever. There are quite a few that we hope will remain through the many years to come!

These are a few of our favorites that we hope to implement for a lifetime!

*Decorating Our Christmas Tree: We always get a real Christmas tree. There’s something magical about the smell of a fresh pine tree in your house during the holiday season. Every year, we get it from a tree farm on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We spend the evening decorating the tree while listening to Christmas music. That’s the official start of Christmas music echoing through our home. Once the tree is complete (which, in my opinion, is not until presents are piled underneath) we climb onto the couch to watch the Veggie Tales Toy That Saved Christmas.

Each year, we let the kids pick out an ornament to add to our collection. This is something I have fond memories of doing when I was little. It is neat to see the kids personalities come out in their ornament choices each year. Then, we also get a family ornament. It is usually something that represents the biggest thing we did that year. Each of our kids has a baby’s 1st Christmas ornament that is Winnie the Pooh themed. I have each of theirs hanging together on the tree. It is so special to me to remember their first Christmases.

*Countdown to Christmas: Read about our advent calendar tradition here-https://nohighercalling.wordpress.com/2020/11/28/keeping-christ-the-center-of-christmas/

*Baking day: This year was the best baking day so far! Eden and Knox are old enough to help more. . . and eat more! Every year we make sugar cookies (a recipe from my great Aunt’s Mennonite cookbook), peppermint oreo cookies, gingerbread cookies, Andes mint puppy chow and Sim’s favorite, salted caramels.

*Christmas Date: Since the days when we were dating, Simeon and I always have a special Christmas date. Up until this year, we’ve went to see the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra’s Christmas performance. It is the highlight of the season for me! We get fancied up, enjoy a nice dinner together and delight in the beauty and magic of the music. Unfortunately due to COVID, they will not be having it this year. We are so sad, especially since this will more than likely be our last Christmas stateside for a while. We’ve talked about some other things we could do instead. We’ll have to see what we come up with! I know that whatever we decide on will be precious because time spent together always is!

*Christmas Party: We’ve hosted a Christmas party with our friends every year since we got married. There’s almost not a week that goes by that we don’t have people in our home. We love it that way! Hospitality is something I find so much joy in. Our annual Christmas party is the best event we host. We invite over enough couples to leave just enough space to find a place to sit. There is always some sort of contest involved. This was easy the first few years. We did things like ugliest sweater, craziest socks, or best Christmas cookie. We never wanted to repeat a contest, so we’ve had to get creative in recent years. Last year, couples had to wrap a present together while blindfolded. They also had to wrap one arm around each other. The other arm was the one they could use to work together to wrap the present. We voted on who had the best wrapped gift. It was so much fun, and we laughed so hard. Sim and I have a pretty awesome competition in mind for this year, but in case some of the people who are invited read this, I’m going to keep it a secret!

*Twas the Night Before Christmas: I might love our Christmas Eve traditions more that those on Christmas day! Early in the evening, we gather together and read the Christmas story from Luke 2. Then each child gets a present designated for Christmas Eve. It’s always a Christmas themed book that we’ve chosen for them. We read through them before we tuck them into bed. This has been a fun tradition because it builds their library. To keep these books special (and because we don’t want to read holiday books throughout the year), I store them away until December 1st. We spend the whole month reading through the books we’ve collected in past years.

Once the kids are tucked into bed, Simeon pulls our mattress out into the living room, and we sleep by the Christmas tree. We’ve done that every year since we got married, and it’s been such a special thing we do together. It also ensures that our kids don’t sneak out to the presents before we are ready!

*Celebrating Christmas Morning: Sim and I wake up before the kids, and we exchange the gifts we’ve gotten for each other. A tradition Sim’s parents did that we’ve kept is leaving a main present for each child unwrapped sitting in front of the tree. It’s the first thing that catches our children’s eye when they run out on Christmas morning. Sometimes, it’s the most expensive gift; but more often it is the one we know they’ll be most excited about. This year, Eden is getting a glass, princess tea set. Knox is getting a Buzz Lightyear.

Once we are done with presents, we always have a delicious breakfast casserole and homemade cinnamon rolls. This is the link for the cinnamon roll recipe https://nohighercalling.wordpress.com/2020/09/29/from-my-kitchen-cinnamon-rolls/

What Christmas traditions have shaped the way your family celebrates Christ’s birth? I always love hearing how different families enjoy this beautiful season. In whatever celebrations we choose, may we always remember the true reason for the season- the coming of our precious Lord Jesus!