Holiday Traditions

When I think back on childhood Christmas, it’s not the presents I remember, but special moments and traditions with family and friends that filled my heart with love and joy. Like setting up the Christmas village and train with my step-dad. Or decorating the tree with my mom and hearing her talk about the vintage ornaments she collected over the years. Wearing matching Christmas pajamas with my brothers and sisters, staying up late playing games and drinking hot cocoa. And of course all the holiday baking and special treats!

Now that I am a mother, I get to cultivate the special moments and build traditions for my own family. At Vivian’s first Christmas, Cody and I decided to start a list of family traditions we wanted to carry forward and new activities we wanted to add and make our own.

Here are a few ideas we came up with:

• Decorating the weekend after Thanksgiving – complete with Christmas music, and a holiday beverage like hot cocoa or apple cider. 

• See Christmas light shows: Our local Denver list of options this year includes Zoo Lights, Blossoms of Lights, Hudson Gardens, and Camp Christmas

• Making ornaments for the tree

• Game Night with friends

• Baking Christmas cookies

Here’s how our first attempt at that last one went! Happy holidays, everyone!