I have been WAITING for this Let’s Look prompt ALL YEAR LONG! Today I am going to give you a quick peek (and I really just mean it – a PEEK) into my FAVORITE holiday traditions. Eeeeeep, Christmas season is my absolute favorite time of the year and I’ve had so much fun building traditions with our kids and husband over the last 12 years. I’m super excited to share what we do!

First of all, you already should know that the North Pole breakfast is one of the first things we do every year to kick off advent. I did a whole post detailing this breakfast yesterday so take a look if you missed. I love this tradition so much!

I also shared in that same post yesterday our trip to the Christmas tree farm which is another favorite tradition of mine. We’ve been going to that same tree farm since J & I were newlyweds so it’s a special place for our family.

I also love to do the matching family Christmas jammies thing every year …

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And obviously, we decorate gingerbread houses and decorate cookies every December too!

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Another favorite tradition that we don’t necessarily do as a family but more do as a group of family friends is we have an annual Christmas party with the same group of people every year. THIS, we’ve been doing since 2009, when we were all newlyweds!! 😮We’ve had Christmas parties when we had no kids, when we were pregnant with each and every one of our babies, postpartum, ALL the things! Some of the families have changed as some have moved away but the core group (now down to just three of us families) is the same and we rotate hosting the party every year. The host family gets to add a few people to the list if they want so the size of the party can also change year to year .. I hope that isn’t confusing. Basically, a core group of us started having annual Christmas parties together every year and that core group is always invited unless they’ve moved away and the core group also takes turns hosting. We do a White Elephant gift exchange and the kids do a Secret Santa .. we eat … hang out… it’s an all around good time. Look how little our kids were the last time I hosted; it’s my turn to host again this year and I swear we’ve added something like 6 more kids (from different families).

A slightly newly tradition that we started doing last year but that I think we’ll continue is this drive-thru light up show that’s about an hour away from us. I’d always heard about it but never went until last year … it’s so cheesy but OUR KIDS LOVED IT 😂 So we’re going back this year, too. If they still love it then it’s officially going to be a family tradition and we’ll go every year.

During December, we also do a lot of family movie nights together (especially once winter break hits) and we always watch a different Christmas movie every night. Last year, that’s how we stumbled across Arthur Christmas and I decided after watching it last year that it was my favorite Christmas movie. It made me cry!

Another thing we do every advent is the Jesse Tree with felt ornaments. I fill this sweet advent calendar I got years ago from Pottery Barn Kids with a card from Crew & Co’s advent card set. My kids take a turn each night picking the card and reading it aloud and then hanging the corresponding ornament. It’s a fun way to talk about Jesus and how He’s the real reason why we celebrate.

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In years past, I’ve also put a candy for each kid (small hi-chew candy) along with the card in the above advent calendar but this year, I got this one from Anthropologie to use instead (it lights up but the batteries are low so I don’t have it on in these pictures). Imagine my surprise when I brought it home and opened the drawers and realized it was way too tiny to hold three candies for my kids! Sooooo starting this year, what I’ve done is filled each day with a riddle/clue to a spot in the house where their candies are hidden. We do this right after we read our Bible advent story and the kids save their candy for the next day. It’s so much fun!

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On Christmas Eve, we also have a tradition of going to church for Christmas Eve service, coming home and eating prime rib dinner (made by J!), decorating cookies for Santa, showering and then setting everything out for Santa and his reindeer. We also read Twas the Night Before Christmas together and it’s so sweet and snuggly.

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The way we do Christmas and Santa in our house is .. Santa comes and leaves his present unwrapped by the fireplace. All the other gifts that are under the tree are from mom & dad/other family & friends. Santa also fills the stockings! Santa doesn’t come to give us gifts because we’re nice or naughty – we talk a lot about how if that were the standard then NONE of us would get presents because we’re ALL naughty. None of us deserve presents. Santa brings presents to celebrate Jesus’ birthday! It has nothing to do with how good or bad we are; it’s part of how we celebrate Jesus’ birthday … because Jesus’ birthday is the ONE birthday where instead of giving gifts to the birthday person, the birthday person gives US gifts. His birth, death, and resurrection is our ultimate gift but we also get fun material gifts to celebrate the season together. So… yes, my kids believe in Santa and the Tooth Fairy and all that. We have a lot of friends (actually I think all my friends) who don’t do Santa and I’m always terrified one of their kids will spoil it for my kids LOL.

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Similarly, the Elf on the Shelf in our house isn’t there to spy on us and report to Santa how we’re behaving. She’s just a part of the Christmas magic .. she moves each night. Sometimes she brings fun treats… sometimes she’s doing crazy stunts. This year she brought a new reindeer pet to accompany her 😂

Christmas morning our kids run to the fireplace first to see what Santa brought and to open their stockings. THEN WE EAT BREAKFAST. Yes I’m the mean mom that makes them wait to open their big cache of presents 😂 I need to be fueled and caffeinated, ok!? Once we’re all breakfasted and ready, we go to the playroom and open gifts. I’ve always made the kids take turns opening – E opens ONE, D opens ONE, A opens ONE, etc but last year it took over an hour so … hahahaha I don’t know. I might not be able to do that anymore. We’ll see … I like prolonging and savoring the moment but J said part of the fun when you’re a kid is just ripping wildly into everything. He does have a point …. 🤔

The last thing holiday tradition we do every year is we have birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas. Yes, we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus every year 😂

Does your family do any of these traditions too? Something different? I’d love to read about it; drop me a comment and share it!