Something I love about Christmas is the traditions that my family and I have. Over the years we remember the old ones, begin new ones and revive the best ones from year to year. In this article, I'll share my favorite traditions of Christmas past and present.
Driving through town to look at Christmas Lights.
When my brother, Jeff, and I were little, Mom would drive us around Johnstown to look at Christmas lights on houses. Our grandma would come with us sometimes, and we would listen to Christmas tapes. Now, our town puts up a huge tree in Central Park every year with lights that dance to Christmas music that we visit every year.
Decorating the Christmas Tree.
Since I was little, I loved helping my family decorate the tree. Like my Gram, we give our tree a theme and decorate it with different ornaments every year, like Disney ornaments. This year, we decorated the tree with snowman and snowflake ornaments.
Christmas Movies.
One Christmas movie that's close to my heart is Frosty the Snowman. I loved it since I was a toddler, and I would watch it even in the middle of summer! I sometimes refer to Frosty as my first celebrity crush. Needless to say, Christmas movies have always been a big deal in our household. Our house shuts down when a 25 Days of Christmas special is on. Our family favorites include Christmas Vacation, Elf, A Christmas Story, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and A Year Without a Santa Claus.
Baking (and Eating) Cookies and Nut Rolls.
As a family that loves food, we can't not include cookies in our Christmas festivities. We always make the classic sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, and peanut butter cookies, but we like find new recipes every year. Once we found a recipe for mint chocolate chip cookies, and we loved them so much we make them almost every Christmas now. On my Mom's side of the family, baking nut rolls is a Christmas tradition. Grandma always used to make them, so now Mom, my aunts, and I get together and bake them each year.
Christmas Parties.
On Dad's side of the family, we practically spend the whole Christmas Day together, but we also have a Christmas party a weekend or two before Christmas. This is when my cousins and I have our Secret Santa gift exchange. This year, our baby cousin, Ellie, participated for the first time. My brother pulled her name, and gave her the cutest bath toys!
Christmas Eve Mass.
My family always goes to a beautiful Christmas Eve mass at Resurrection Parish. The church always looks gorgeous during this time of year, decorated with lights, trees, and an enormous nativity scene. I loved looking at the nativity scene when I was little, and I still do now! My favorite part of Christmas Eve mass is the music because we have so many talented singers and musicians at Resurrection. I think it's beautiful how they use music to give Glory to God, especially during Christmas.
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? Tell me about them in the comments below! Have a holly jolly Christmas, everyone!
