Five Christmas Traditions
1. Christmas Music and Movies (until a normal person's ears and eyes bleed)
I love Christmas music and Christmas movies. So does my wife. We also are both on the "not until Thanksgiving" train, so once it's here, we make the most of it. That includes some weekend binge watching, background carols playing and many evenings of White Christmas on Netflix before bed. A mere mortal may not be able to handle it, but with a little extra Yuletide, we thrive. While it will die down some after Christmas, it's allowed to continue until Twelfth Night, so we'll squeeze in some favorites before the hiatus until next year. I'll listen to the music straight up until the cutoff. Now, if I could only convince my wife that Die Hard is a Christmas movie. It's a classic!
2. Williamsburg
The next tradition I covered just last week, but if you're talking traditions, it needs to be here: Williamsburg. This at the forefront includes Grand Illuminations at Colonial Williamsburg. It includes the traditional decorations on the colonial houses, the candle lighting in all the windows and a fireworks display Sunday night. This also includes purchasing a cup to get us the unlimited cider I've mentioned several times before. However, Williamsburg also mean a giant Yankee Candle Factory store, that is actually really cool with some of the theming and such that they do. This past year it also included the Christmastown Dash 8K for me and the Running of the Chic-fil-a Cows fun run for my wife and daughter. The race was fun, but may hold off in the future until my daughter can run the 8K if she wants.
3. Christmas Jammies
No, I'm not talking about the YouTube video or it's follow up this year (though they are fantastic. I'm talking about a tradition we've started doing that we've adopted from a friend of my wife. Every Christmas Eve, after midnight mass, there is a present under the tree that Santa dropped off early that includes new pajamas for everyone (Christmas theming optional). Then, everyone gets a little bit of Christmas magic early and some comfy new jammies for bed.Fine... here's the video.
4. Homemade Pierogis
Of course there is traditional food on this list. This one is pulled from my wife's family, but fits well into my Polish background as well (the old ladies at my grandmother's church used to site around and make them, Polish equivalent of quilting I guess). For the uninitiated, at the most basic level, pierogis are dough with potato and cheese inside. Every year, on Christmas Eve, we make our own pierogis from scratch. This is a recipe my wife learned from her great grandmother, so it's a tried and true method. They come out so good and we even like to mix it up a little, such as adding bacon.
5. Pajama and Hot Chocolate Party
Ok, so this one isn't a tradition, yet. This past year, we had a pajama party for my daughter and her two best friends. We had pizza, hot chocolate, cookies and a Christmas movie. The parents all enjoyed in these as well. It was a really great time and have a feeling it will be a tradition for these girls, though will likely morph into a sleep over as well as they all get older. We had a blast, though Bailey's is needed for the adult hot chocolate next year.More Exciting News
Last week, I added on some exciting news. This week, I have even MORE exciting news to share.
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I loooooove Christmas jammies and this display at Colonial Williamsburg sounds amazing; I'm so jealous! I hope y'all have a ton of fun and Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteThey make some good videos. I like to think they're as fun as they look in real life.
DeleteIt is quite amazing. That's why we end up back every year. It makes for a fun long weekend trip.
Merry Christmas. Have a great one too!
Die Hard IS a classic Christmas movie! (my DH doesn't really agree)
ReplyDeletePierogies, wow, I haven't had those in ages. Of course, ours were the frozen kind, but still.
Enjoy all your holiday traditions!
Glad someone agrees with me on Die Hard.
DeleteEven Mrs. T's are acceptable. Not as good, but we still eat them. And they're made the next town over from where my grandmother's church would make them, so they're made in the right area as far as I'm concerned.
Love the PJ tradition idea! I think we'll start doing that! :) Also, my husband's family does the Pierogis tradition too, making them from scratch. They're good! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad to spread the PJ joy.
DeleteGlad we're not the only ones. All should know the goodness of pierogis
I've not been to Williamsburg over the holidays but I bet it's beautiful! What a great tradition
ReplyDeleteIt really is beautiful. Especially if you're lucky enough to get a light snowfall, which we were one year. It was so beautiful that morning. Then it melted.
DeleteCute graphic up top! I like the PJ tradition and Pierogis are sooo good.
ReplyDeleteThanks. Thats what happens when 3 year olds decorate their cookies.
DeleteI was in Virginia Beach for a race earlier this year and didn't realize until after I left that Williamsburg was so close. So next time I'm in the area I'm going to have to make sure to check it out - I'm sure it looks awesome around the holidays. Homemade pierogis sound tasty too!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's all in the same little area. Close to hit stuff together.
DeleteThey are. Christmas eve can't come soon enough to chow down on them. Going to do a good bit of running between now and then to earn them. Haha.
I am totally starting that PJs tradition! :)
ReplyDeleteGlad you like it. Feel free to join in on it. :-)
DeleteI love the Christmas Jammies song by the Holderness family!!!! His blog is hysterical too! Love hearing about all your traditions. I love Christmas music just as much as most people. We've been listening to the Pandora Christmas channel lately. It's full of good tunes. Merry Christmas John.
ReplyDeleteI haven't checked out their blog. I'll have to give it a look. I love a lot of their other videos, just as funny.
DeleteI have a huge Spotify list I use. One of favorites and then one that is just every album that has eve a single song I like, haha.
Merry Christmas.
i love christmas music too - it's the best! and your pjs tradition has inspired me. i'm going to institute that this year with my husband!
ReplyDeleteIt really is the best. Can listen to it all day and all night.
DeleteGlad so many people like the PJ tradition. Join the PJ movement!
I think Baileys and Hot cocoa would be a great tradition, I am currently trying to convince my faience on this one but he is not big on the baileys... Oh and pierogis are awesome! I love it when holiday traditions include traditional foods from different back grounds. I know our holiday foods come from a Venezuelan background (not from my side) which is a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteIf he won't go for Baileys, Kahlua also works well with hot cocoa.
DeleteI love when you get that mix of foods in that way too. Sometimes something special you might not eat other times.
We have the Christmas jammies tradition too! Merry Christmas to you and your family!
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas! Enjoy your new jammies.
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