There’s only four days left until Christmas and I can now say that I’m finally finished with my gift shopping for everyone on my list. My husband is not finished yet though and as of now, he’s actually out and about braving the hustle and bustle doing his last minute shopping. I thought we were both done shopping until he told me today that something popped up in his mind so he had to go and get it. He said I’ve given him more ideas meaning he’s going to get me more. How sweet! 🙂
Over eight years of celebrating Christmas here in the U.S., we have created our family gift giving traditions. It started in the Christmas of 2010 and the traditions have never changed since then. I think the only change is that the gifts seem to grow more each year.
WISH LIST
As soon as the holiday season starts, each of us submits our wish list. Our son writes down his wish list on a piece of paper. The techy people that we are, the hubs and I usually just send our wish list to each other on Facebook messenger. Ha! It’s just easier for us since we just send each other the links to that certain item so all we need to do is click it from there and then order it online. Easy peasy, right?
CHRISTMAS EVE
Both the husband and our son (whom I call my boys) opens a gift from me on Christmas Eve morning. And that gift is what they wear to Christmas Eve which we celebrate with my brother-in-law and his family. I always want both of them to look good that evening so, yes, I am the one who decides what they will wear. So far, so good! They both loved what they got in the past years and never complained about it. This Christmas Eve will be the eighth year that they’ll be doing it and I have no doubt they will love what they’re going to get to wear this year. I know what they like so it is always easy for me to shop for them. 🙂
CHRISTMAS DAY
After the previous night’s merriment at my brother-in-law’s house, we get all the sleep we can get and get up a little later than usual on Christmas Day. It’s around 10 o’clock in the morning when we get out of bed and prepare for the special opening of gifts that are underneath the Christmas tree. After breakfast, the chaos begins.
My theme for this year’s decor is red, silver and white. So the wrapping paper that I chose for the gifts were red and white and so were the ribbons and tags.
Do you have family Christmas gift giving traditions too?
Have a very merry Christmas, y’all!
I decorated in red and silver this year as well! We don’t have many traditions except leaving out cookies for Santa and oatmeal for the reindeer. We did start the elf on the shelf this year and hopefully many years to come!
We open gifts under our tree after our special Christmas breakfast. After that the entire family heads over to my mom’s house for a big get together.
Our tradition is always seeing what’s in the stockings before we get to the actual wrapped gifts. It’s a fun way to make the process last longer.
I like annual traditions. We also have a few as well. We flip back and forth each year between our folks’ house. Pajamas are the order of the day at our house Christmas morning.
What lovely traditions you have created with your family! I know you will be enjoying some wonderful family time in just a few days.
I loved hearing about your traditions! My family has one where everyone, adults included get a “santa” gift! These are usually toys even for the grown ups. We have fun playing with them together that evening. Another tradition is making reindeer food Christmas Eve and spreading it on the lawn.
We always let my Son open one gift on Christmas Eve. It is usually a pair of PJs and a movie. We all sit together and watch the movie in our cozy jammies.
We open up all of our gifts on Christmas Eve. And by “we” I mean all of my nieces and nephews. We don’t buy gifts for adults in our family because there are so many of us!
Family traditions are the best! I think it’s awesome that you’ve kept yours for many years! It’s so nice to just spend the Holidays with family and enjoy each moment!
I love seeing other family traditions. Thanks for sharing this!
I love these traditions. Traditions are some of the most important parts of the holiday!
I love our traditions. It just wouldn’t be the same if we all didn’t have our traditions to follow!
Aww it sounds like you have some lovely traditions going on, I have to admit we just open everything on Christmas morning with a nice cup of tea and some christmas music.
Our family’s heritage is German so we do some of the traditions passed down in our family. We get a few little gifts on St. Nick Day (those are ones that we will use through the season – new holiday books, music, etc). Then we open gifts on Christmas Eve. (Santa always came to our house while we were at church). Finally, we get one last special gift on Epiphany in celebration of the wise men arriving at the stable to worship Jesus.
It’s my favorite time of year! I love spending time with family. We are lucky because both my husband and my family live nearby. We spend Christmas Eve with his family and Christmas Day with mine.
My kids are still young so we write letters to santa. On Dec 6 (st nicholas day), he brings each of us a new set of pjs. That way we can wear it all season long. Christmas Eve my husbands parents come over. Christmas morning we wake up early (5am?) and open stockings, followed by presents. Then my parents come for breakfast and dinner is up in the air. We have full on Christmas with my husbands family on Jan 1.