Tuesday Talk – Holiday Traditions

Hi everyone! We made it through Monday!

This week instead of my usual Twin Tuesday, I’m linking up with Erika and Fancy Ashley for Tuesday Talk! I love Tuesday Talk because we can chat about anything and everything.

In July, we chatted about my favorite shows to binge watch with my husband

In August, I shared some random fun facts about myself.

And today, I’m chatting about holiday traditions. Maybe it’s because I’m the kind of person that likes to plan and hates change but there’s something about family traditions that make me feel all happy and cozy. Josh and I had very different traditions with our families growing up. After Caleb was born, we tried to keep the ones we loved and also create some new ones together. I hope that we can make traditions that create the same feelings for our children as they do for us. My momma heart hopes when they grow up, move away and someday have families of their own they will either continue some of these or come back and celebrate them with us!

Please comment and share with me some of your family traditions! We’d love to find new ones to add!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday and always has been! I love gathering with our family and taking an extra moment to thank God and reflect on all our blessings. Plus, it’s a holiday mainly about food so obviously I’m all about that. 😉

A few years ago, we started a tradition with our 3 year old Caleb and baby Eli. At dinner each night, we write down something that we are each thankful for every day in November until Thanksgiving Day. I cut this silly little turkey out of construction paper that we have used every year and we write one thing for each of us every day on a feather. I hang the turkey in our main hallway so we can all see it and be reminded of it daily.

Here’s our turkey from 2016.

And our turkey from 2015. I know we had one for 2014, but can’t for anything find a picture of it. I love to look back on things we were thankful for in this season of life. (2015 is also known as the year our thankful turkey was slacking – because we had one month old twins.)

This is a silly tradition just for Josh and I but every year I insist on rewatching all the Friends Thanksgiving episodes during the week leading up to Thanksgiving. Those episodes are some of my very favorites and they just get me in the holiday mood!

Thanksgiving morning, Josh and I wake up pretty early, drink coffee together and I make pies to take to my parents later in the day. When the kids wake up, I usually make homemade cinnamon rolls or breakfast casserole and we hang out all morning watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. I love that time with my little family.

After we get back from my parents, we watch a Christmas movie together and let the kids stay up late. I usually do a little Black Friday shopping with my sister crazy early the next day and then we always put our Christmas tree up that evening. Since I love Thanksgiving so much, it’s a tradition in our family that we ‘respect the turkey’ and not get our Christmas decorations out until Friday. (I’ve caved on Christmas music though every year!) We spend all Friday afternoon and evening decorating and getting into the Christmas Spirit.

Christmas Traditions

Leading up to Christmas we do pretty typical family fun things. We see Santa, we drive around and look at Christmas lights as a family and try to jam pack in all the holiday family fun we can.

We always go to a local event with hundreds of beautifully decorated trees up for display. They have activities for kids, live music and a great parade with giant balloons. It’s freezing cold but so worth it! Especially because Santa brings up the end of the parade. 😉

We had a brand new tradition last year when we moved to our new house. One of our neighbors puts on a pretty spectacular Christmas lights show every evening that our kids LOVE to watch. We are constantly outside every night watching it. It’s one of our very favorite new traditions.

We get together with my family and have a Christmas cookie baking marathon day every year. The littlest child always gets to help make the thumb print cookies and I love seeing how that child has changed in photos over the years. It was my teenage cousin for so long, then Caleb, then Eli and now probably Reid and Luke and my niece.

On Christmas Eve, we go to Church and have lasagna afterward. Growing up my family had my mom’s famous lasagna for Christmas Eve dinner every year that I can remember. The first year that Josh came to Christmas with my family he told us that his family always had lasagna every year on Christmas Eve too! Literally the one tradition we share, so of course we had to continue it. 😉 I tried to use my mom’s recipe one year and it was just not the same. So now we go over to her house for dinner after Church instead. Haha!

When we get home on Christmas Eve, all our kids always spread ‘magic reindeer food’ all over our front walkway and yard. Our ‘magic reindeer food’ is oatmeal mixed with glitter that is a treat for the reindeer and guides them to our house. This is a fun tradition my mother-in-law started with Caleb his first Christmas and we have done it every year since!

Finally, we always make sure that all our Christmas celebrations are over by the 26th. We usually can’t celebrate with all of my family and Josh’s family on the 25th but plan to celebrate with them before Christmas instead. We have a Christmas season baby in our house so as of midnight on the 26th, our house turns into birthday zone and Christmas is over. I never, ever want Eli’s birthday to get lumped into our Christmas festivities so we keep this tradition in our house to make sure that doesn’t happen.

That’s it for our traditions. Now I want to hear yours! Comment with any holiday traditions you love to keep with your family!

Thanks for joining me for Tuesday Talk!

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