I love Christmas. It’s not the opening presents at 7 in the morning while my parents are cranky that we woke them up too early. It’s actually our traditions that we do on Christmas eve. My family takes Christmas very seriously.
We decorate our house the same week as Thanksgiving and start our christmas shopping on black Friday. Our house is very much decorated on the interior. We don’t have much outside beside a few dear and just your basic white lights on the bushes. My mom loves to decorate our house or just change whatever she can change to make our house look nice. Every year I and her decorate our stair railings. We put lights, the green needles, and small little ornaments all over it. I have helped her with that pretty much ever since I was able to walk up and down the stairs. It is always something that I look forward to because it’s a mom-and-daughter opportunity that I and she only do.
Another thing that my family and I do is go to a Christmas eve party. Our family friends that I have known since kindergarten always host an open house where we just eat and catch up with each other. It is with all of my elementary school friends, so it is so fun to be able to have that once-a-year catch-up where we talk for hours. I also have gotten into many conversations with the parents about my future, so I know that this year, there will be a lot of college talk as well as overall plans. I am extremely excited about this party this year because we couldn’t do it last year due to covid and having to take precautions. It is going to be nice to see everyone after not seeing each other for almost 2 years.
Right after we come home from the Christmas eve party, we go home and get into PJ’s. These are the average pajamas that you wear every night though. In my mom’s words “Santa brings us PJ’s so we can all match the night before”. So we are the basic family that wears matching Christmas pj’s on Christmas eve. But it is something that I always look forward to. Walking into the door after the party and just ran upstairs to see how they were mysteriously laid on our beds while we were gone. It still confuses me how they find a way to lay them out while we are about to leave because usually I and my sister are the last to get ready so we are just in our rooms. But it is something that I look forward to every year, and I am even more excited to do it with my kids when I grow up.
Finally, something we also do on Christmas eve is doing a Christmas lights drive. We actually just started to do it about 4 years ago. We get into our pj’s, warm-up hot cocoa in our thermos mugs, get into the car, and drive for about an hour to look at Christmas lights in the area. I never really appreciated how much I love to do this. I sometimes on my own like to just go out and drive around to see the lights. It is something that a few families I know do, but I love doing them with mine because it is just another thing that we can add to a tradition.
My love and appreciation for these traditions before Christmas has continued to grow, especially now that I am leaving next year, these things still make me feel like I am a little kid on Christmas morning.
Hello, Aiyana! Thanks for taking the time to share a little bit about your family Christmas traditions! The lights around here are great (I think I was definitely awestruck when I saw the Naperville Christmas lights by car for the first time), and decorating is always fun 🙂
One of my old traditions used to be waking up in the morning to find a letter from “Santa Claus” next to my presents (usually written by my mom or dad). This was, of course, abandoned once me and my brother found out that Santa Claus wasn’t real, though it didn’t stop us from writing letters to each other.
My father’s birthday also falls around Christmas Eve, so we generally celebrate it together with Christmas. I remember when I moved back to Korea four years ago how my mother gave him both a birthday present and a Christmas present. There’s also been times where we fly out on vacation during Christmas, though with COVID, that hasn’t exactly happened.
Thanks for sharing! Happy Holidays 🙂
Aiyana, this blog post allowed me to experience the comforting nature of Christmas! Personally, we don’t celebrate Christmas in our culture but I love it. I love all the traditions, the music, the family time, and the celebrations, and mostly the gifts. Everything that you mentioned, especially your family traditions on Christmas Eve was amazing. It is so nice to hear about one’s traditions because they are often unique to every family. I hope you enjoy this Christmas with your family and friends more than you usually do since you will be moving to college. Also, Christmas decorating sounds so fun!
Hi Aiyana!
Like you, I love Christmas. I am not someone who enjoys the cold weather, but something about the spirit in the air just provides a certain warmth in this season. My family and I also share a couple of traditions, some of which are pretty similar to yours. On Christmas Eve, we always go to dinner with our family friends. Every year, we rotate who hosts the dinner. A couple of years ago it was us, and I love being able to provide such a friendly, positive, and cheerful environment for everyone. We also start shopping for Christmas decorations every black Friday. My mom loves looking at different ornaments for our trees. Our tree is pretty unique – which is a nice way to put it. It is actually extremely cluttery, but that is because it contains all of the random ornaments that I have made from preschool until now. I love decorating for Christmas regardless, it makes our house feel nice and cozy. I hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday season!
Hey Aiyana, I loved reading about your family’s Christmas traditions. Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas, I enjoy the holiday season. Everyone is in such a good mood that it forces you to be in one too. My family and I also have a tradition of driving around town and looking for the best holiday lights. Last year, we saw a house that had a line that took over 30 minutes to see. The whole cul-de-sac was in sync with a radio station, it was super cool. Hope you get to spend time with family and friends this Christmas!