One of the things that I love about Christmas is how each family has their own traditions that make the holiday special. Sure, there are lots of traditions that are the same – setting up a Christmas tree, exchanging gifts, and baking cookies, for example. Those traditions are great, but I really love hearing about the different traditions.
For me, some of the best traditions are the simple ones. When I was growing up, there was some time between the two Christmas Eve church services that we would attend when singing in the choir. During that time, we would always go home and drink cranberry ginger ale and eat cookies. It may seem kind of silly, but to this day, I have to have my glass of cranberry ginger ale on Christmas Eve.
Another fond memory of mine also took place on Christmas Eve. To get ready for company on Christmas day, Christmas Eve was always the “cleaning” day at my house. While she was cleaning the house, my mom would listen to a Christmas concert on the radio from 10:00am to 11:00am. During that time, under no circumstances were we to disturb her. My brother and I would be banished to our rooms so that she could clean and listen to her music in peace. During that time, I would always wrap the rest of my presents so that at 11:01am I could carry them downstairs and place them under the tree. Though I don’t banish myself to my room anymore, I wait until Christmas Eve each year to put my gifts under the tree… After I have cleaned the house, of course.
One of my newer traditions is baking a gingerbread house. I think we may have made them a few times when I was growing up, but it wasn’t a regular thing. As I’ve started to enjoy cookie decorating, though, I’ve also started to enjoy making a gingerbread house each year. Though we don’t eat it (I can’t bear to eat a gingerbread house that has been sitting out for days… Ick!), my gingerbread house has become one of my standard Christmas decorations in the house.
On my house this year I wasn’t in the mood to play around with candy. Instead, I focused on the windows. I had fun adding greens, wreaths, and a Christmas tree that could be seen inside the windows. The rest of the house was fairly simple, but I liked it that way.
This year, I also decided to make some smaller gingerbread house cookies to match my gingerbread house, since I didn’t have the time to make a gingerbread house for everyone on my Christmas list. I’m thinking that will have to become a new tradition, too!
Since Christmas is almost here, I thought I’d host not one, but two more giveaways as a part of my 12 Days of Christmas series! I still have quite a few items that I have received over the past year that I wanted to share with all of you. So, here are the two gift packages that I’m giving away…
- Cookbooks – Sur La Table and Janet Fletcher’s Eating Local and John Besh’s My New Orleans
- Kitchen Assortment – Bodum French Press, Bodum Wine Tumbler, Steak Station Digital Thermometer, Steak Rub, and OXO Corn Peeler
To enter my giveaway, just leave a comment telling me about your favorite Christmas traditions sometime today. I’ll randomly select two winners tomorrow… It’s my early Christmas gift to you!
Congrats to the giveaway winners! Megan was selected as the cookbook winner and Tricia was selected as the winner of the kitchen assortment!
great looking books! my favorite tradition is a christmas eve brunch i’ve had with my best friends every year since i was 12! we rotate who hosts, but it is always the 4 of us together.
We have virtually the same menu each year. The traditional foods are my favorite traditions!
As long as I can remember the week before Christmas the whole family gets together to back cookies but its the next day when the few that are allowed to come back and make the Pinulata. Closely guarded recipes and techniques make this a very special event indeed.
I look foward to this all year long. Eating the results are great too….
Fun giveaway! And your gingerbread house looks beautiful! Love the christmas tree in the window :)
My favorite Christmas tradition is Christmas Eve. We go to the 6:00 Christmas Eve service at my aunt and uncle’s church (where my uncle is the pastor). Then the whole family goes back to their house to eat a big meal, open gifts, and hang out. I love it. It’s what feels like Christmas.
Your gingerbread house and matching cookies are awesome Jen! Love all the little details you added, especially the tree in the window and the holly garland.
Getting together every year on my birthday and eating. My birthday is Christmas eve.
When my husband and I had our second Christmas with our first daughter, we were both really really excited. Christmas Eve came, and we got her ready for bed, and my husband whispered that he wanted to sing to her that night. So, while he was putting her to bed, I was putting gifts under the tree. By the time he was done, he came out and all the gift placing was done. The look of disapointment broke my heart. I hadn’t thought that it was something he wanted to be a part of, and I felt terrible. But, he recovered quickly as he rushed off to the kitchen and I stood by, watching him grab a large paper bag and swing open the fridge door (I couldn’t figure out what in the world he was doing!). In a victorious stance, he lifted his fist up, with a coke tightly clung in it, he wrapped it up in the paper bag and placed it under the tree. The next year we did the same thing again, and our second daughter was born. By the time her second Christmas came, he was deployed to Iraq. But, on Christmas Eve, I recieved a box on the door. When I opened it, there were two brown paper bags, and I could distinctly make out the shape of pop cans within them. Eight years later and we are still carrying on the tradition, even through the deployments! It’s a silly little tradition, but the kids rarely ever get pop, so on Christmas morning they become very excited, because they know there is a can of pop ALL for them! :o)
My favorite tradition is being with my family. It’s never actually on Christmas, but it always feels like Christmas when we’re together.
Well, the traditions change every year so I am not sure they are traditions but they are still fun. One tradition is to make a strata on Xmas eve and they have it Xmas morning. We are far away from our families so it is just the two of us.
I love Christmas breakfast and a late night snack of the left overs. Holiday calories don’t count, so its a great excuse to pig out!
Well, I’m recently married, so we haven’t really made anything a tradition yet. However, I remember when I was a kid, we’d watch the weather man on Christmas Eve, because he was on Santa Watch. When Santa was reported to be close to our house, we ran to bed! Secretly, my siblings and I would talk/giggle all night about Christmas. It was fun. :)
Loved reading about your Christmas traditions. :-) One of ours is to go and get a Christmas tree every year near the beginning of December. We go out to a farm and pick one out, and then come home and set it up. So much fun!
One of our Christmas traditions is to have chocolate milk shakes and cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Our boys are 20 and 23 and they still love having SUGAR for breakfast. It is the one time of the year that I allowed this to happen. I always make an egg casserole too! Merry Christmas. I discovered your site from the daughter of a friend of mine and LOVE reading it. Thank you.
We have to have two celebrations every year, as our oldest son’s birthday is Dec 24. I love doing a large turkey on the smoker-grill outside.
our favorite xmas tradition is grabbing hot chocolate, wrapping ourselves in warm clothes and heading out to view all the gorgeous lights on candy cane lane. candy cane lane was around when i was child (a long, long time ago). it is 5 very long streets, nestled in a very small suburban community and almost every house is decorated from the top to the bottom. sometimes you can find santa handing out candy canes or some of the homes sell cookies and hot cocoa. the decorations are amazing, some vintage, seriously creative and totally festive. Happy Holidays – kitchen addiction, I love visiting you and getting to know you through your creations!
I go to Christmas eve service and then come home, and finish my yule log cake for Christmas day. There might be a glass of wine or two involved! ;)
Merry Christmas Jen!
Love breakfast with my family on Christmas morning :] Great giveaway!
My holiday tradition is hosting baking and cookie decorating parties! My gals get together, sip wine, bake a little and listen to a lot of Christmas music.
I love opening our stockings on Christmas morning and eating a great breakfast! The past two years I’ve made blueberry french toast, I think that is going to continue!
Attending a Christmas Eve service at our church–my favorite service is the one at 11pm. It is a candlelight service with communion. At the end of the service we process outside with our candles lit singing Joy to the World. It always makes me feel warm inside!
Merry Christmas! My favorite Christmas tradition is my dad reading the night before christmas on Christmas eve (even though my sister and I are now in our 20s!) :)
Christmas Eve we make about 25 different treats, drink spiked eggnog and go caroling.
I think one of my favorite Christmas traditions is that we still have the order of events on Christmas evening as Christmas dinner, re-enact the Christmas story (my sister is pregnant this year so the perfect Mary and my favorite past memory was the year my aunt wore white to Christmas and became the star guiding the wise men – we wrapped a string of lights around her!), singing carols, having a prayer, opening gifts, and then the late night service. I have so many good memories with these from over the years.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions my Grandma started. She made up a big goodie bag for all the grandkids with their favorite candy and food and little stuff. My mom now does that for my kids (though I don’t get one anymore
KellyH
When I was little my family never had any Christmas traditions. Now that I have my own family, I love to bake cookies and write a letter to Santa on Christmas Even with my little girl, she loves out time in the kitchen together.
One of my favorite Christmas traditions has been watching the movie, White Christmas! It’s now my all time favorite movie; I’v watched it 5 times already this season! I’v also loved the tradition of giving out my Christmas presents to friends at the Christmas Eve service at my church. It’s so much fun!
I guess it’s tradition that my family really doesn’t have a tradition! I like to decorate every year. My mom also makes a strawberry punch, which I look forward to every year too!
From the time I was young I remember these amazing chocolate-y, powdered sugar-y cookies showing up around the holidays, made by my grandmother. When she got too old to make them, I thought those wonderful cookies were gone forever. Until I found the recipe a few years ago in a cookbook. The tradition has been revived and is particularly special now that she’s gone. Thanks for encouraging us to share these stories!
my favorite is Christmas day, staying in our pj’s all day, playing games, reading new books and watching our favorite movies…
Can’t pick just 1..
Christmas Eve with clam chowder & opening 1 gift. Just 1..
Christmas morning HUGE breakfast..
Christmas dinner of leftover clam chowder & sandwiches..
I miss when I was a child and my father and I would go to the Christmas tree farm, shake all the snow off the trees to find the right one. Have not done this in Many years, however I do reflex on it each and every year as I miss this very special time with my dad.
My favorite tradition is eating breakfast with my family. When I was growing up, we always had a huge breakfast on Christmas morning…and now that my brother and I are grown and have families of our own, but still live in the same area, we STILL get together with my Dad and have Christmas breakfast. I love it!
We live in CA…here we do not get snow..so my husband goes up every Christmas Eve and fills his truck up with snow and bring it to me for Christmas morning and builds me a snowman..i love it..
My favorite Christmas Tradition is opening ONE present Christmas Eve. Always exciting to get that sneak peek : ) Merry Christmas Jen!