12 Days of Christmas – Christmas Traditions I Love

I can’t believe in 12 days time it’ll be Christmas Day! That’s come around fast. I did originally want to do Blogmas but I’ve been so busy with work, stuff to do with LM and getting ready for Christmas, it just didn’t happen. However, I’ve managed to get enough Christmas content to do 12 Days of Christmas on the blog, starting today with Christmas Traditions I Love.

These traditions are exclusive to my little family, we are not religious and although LM looks at the Birth of Jesus at school, and even does a Nativity, she’s well aware it’s simply a story and enjoys it for that. We celebrate Christmas as a time to be thankful for what we have and the people we have in our lives. I have also been teaching her about the importance of showing people how much you care at this magical time of year. We also look at it as time to spend with your family and friends. Because of this, we have no specifically religious traditions.

So instead, these are some of the traditions we do have that I love;

Christmas Eve Box
Possibly my favourite tradition that I made our own, rather than bringing it from my own childhood is that of the Christmas Eve box. On Christmas eve under our Christmas tree a box magically appears for Little Miss. Inside it there is everything she needs to make Christmas eve extra magical. There are new pjs, a Christmas story, a Christmas DVD, a biscuit mix to make for Santa Claus, reindeer food, Chocolate coins and a new friend. Sometimes there is also a letter from Santa Claus/Mrs Claus/Elves explaining to LM that the reason she gets this box is because she’s been so well behaved throughout the year. This year I even picked up a special box from Ponden Mill, it was less than £5 and will last a good few years.

Baking Cookies for Santa
On Christmas Eve morning LM and I bake cookies to leave out for Santa. I always did the store bought ones as a kid but I really enjoy the smell of freshly baked cookies in my house on Christmas eve. I started this tradition the first year LM was born and it’s just continued and now LM helps. This is why she gets a cookie mix in her Christmas eve box. I’m fairly sure this is one of LM’s favourite traditions.

Going to See Santa Claus
When I was a kid I don’t really ever remember going to see Santa Claus. He came to our school party and then I think I saw him at my dad’s Buffalo’s party. With Little Miss though we try and see him as much as possible. Last year I think she saw him four times, this year so far we’ve seen him twice. My favourite is seeing him in an old fishing sheil in my parent’s village. It’s all done out like Santa’s grotto and Santa is always so magical. It really is a magical atmosphere. This year LM even went dressed as Cindy Lou Who from The Grinch.

Chinese on Christmas Eve at my Parents
This is another tradition that’s evolved over the last few years, my parents order Chinese take out on Christmas Eve and we all sit at the table together. It’s always such a good laugh as everyone is in festive spirits and there isn’t any of the stress that comes with Christmas day as a parent. The kids are excited but not hyper and my dad isn’t drunk. When I was a kid my mum used to say that Christmas eve was her favourite day of the whole year, now I’m a parent myself I can see she was on to something.

Visiting Christmas Markets
Little Miss loves a Christmas market, and so do I. Especially when I get to go with my parents. Usually I make it to the Edinburgh market but this year due to money and the fact the weekend we would usually go, we’re all going to see The Last Jedi at the cinema we have to give it a miss. However we did make it to the local one and it felt extra Christmassy in the snow.

Festive Wear on Christmas Day
When I was growing up, and even when LM was really young, we all used to dress up fancy on Christmas day. I guess it went with the idea of “Sunday Best” as Christmas is a religious holiday. However the year we lost my Grandad and my Grandpa was incredibly sick my mum decided we’d go with festive tops or festive colours on Christmas day. It’s so much more comfortable than sitting in a fancy dress with a ton of make up on, and LM wearing her party dress when she just wants to roll around the floor with her new toys. I don’t tend to buy new outfits every year and this year I’ll be wearing the same top I wore last year and LM will be dressing as Cindy Lou with her Christmas present headband on.

I’m sure there are a load of other things we do over the Christmas period that I don’t even think about but they are technically traditions. I love that I’ve managed to make our Christmas a nice mixture of my childhood Christmases and new stuff that’s purely for LM and I. It makes it feel so special.

What Christmas traditions do you love?