Mom to Mom: Christmas Traditions

Casey and I both grew up celebrating Christmas with lots of traditions and lots of cheer.  Now with our own growing families, we hope to instill the same excitement and meaning of Christmas that we enjoyed growing up.

{Lauren}

I still love the way my childhood home is decorated at Christmas. My mother could seriously be Martha Stewart and I have no doubt Martha herself would be impressed with my mother’s decorating. Unfortunately I didn’t get as many of the Martha genes as I hoped, but I still love to decorate my home for the Christmas season. Although I’m sure my mom would have rather had a beautifully themed Christmas tree, she knew it would break our hearts not to see all of our endearing homemade ornaments up on the tree. We always decorated the tree together and reminisced about all the different meanings each ornament held (okay maybe not every single one). This is definitely something I am carrying on with my family, and we are actually planning on doing this in a few days. I am adding a tradition from Cody’s family to it, and will be making the same snacks every year to enjoy as we decorate the tree together.

Christmas Eve was always pretty low key for us. We would attend the Christmas Eve church service, come home, get in our pajamas and grab blankets, and with our Williams Sonoma hot chocolate, go driving around looking at lights – with ALL the pets in the car. It was always a fun time, nothing hugely special, just been doing it forever. I’m not sure if our car-seat riding kids will even be able to see all the lights for a few years, but we definitely started this tradition with Kyler last year. So fun!

A few other traditions I hope to start as my children get older are doing an Advent Calendar leading up to Christmas, having cookie baking days, watching Elf as a family, and doing some type of service project in our community. I can’t wait to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas.

{Casey}

I’m already wondering if I’m going to be a two-tree kinda mom. What’s that? Well, my mom had her beautiful, Southern-     Living-worthy tree in one room and then one for all of mine and my brother’s ornaments in another room.  We had our handmade ones, gifted ones, collectible ones that reflected whatever hobby we were currently into, and every other ornament that came our way that my mom saved. I shouldn’t say had because we still have each of our respective ornaments and they are slowly making their way into our adult homes. So since Halle is already coming home with a “handmade” (she’s only 1, so she didn’t do much!) ornament, I’m deciding if I’ll feel guilty by keeping my “pretty” stuff separate from kid stuff. Just typing that I feel selfish! Is it? The truth is, I didn’t notice that stuff as a kid. In fact, I thought it was kinda cool to have my own tree! I do, however, remember the smells, the pillow my mom and I made that we set out every year, leaving notes and snacks for Santa, the thrill of waking up Christmas morning. Those are the things I want my children to remember about our house. I want their memories to be filled with happiness and joy.

This year I participated in a group that made Advent ornaments for our kids. I look forward to hanging one up each day while we take time to talk about Christ each day of December so that hopefully by the time the 25th rolls around He’s not forgotten. I want my family to give give give. My husband and I have been participating in the Angel tree or something similar every year we’ve been married and I look forward to making that a “family-thing.” I love Christmas traditions and I can’t wait until Halle, and her future siblings, catch on to the magic of the season. I really can’t wait until they grasp the meaning of it all and we really celebrate as a family.