Christmas Traditions
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So this is our very first Christmas tree that my husband and I put up together. We bought a fake tree to save money, and with everyone putting their tree up, I was very excited to put up ours!
As we put up our tree we listened to Christmas music, and tried to find as many ornaments and Christmas decorations as we could amid the boxes. Even though this was our first Christmas tree, we still had enough ornaments to cover the tree. I had some given to us by others, some I had collected over the years for this very time, and some we had bought more recently in case didn’t have enough!
Thinking about Christmas, got me started thinking about Christmas traditions… I am sure every family has them. And now as Jon and I start out family it will be our turn to start our own traditions. Christmas has always been a favorite holiday of mine, and I cannot wait to start some wonderful traditions for years to come.
So far one tradition we have started is putting up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. I know a lot of people do that, but we decided to join them! Once I have kids, I will bake Christmas cookies with them every year, and I would love to do a gingerbread house since I have never made one before! I also thinking it would be cool to give our kids and each other one gift to open on Christmas Eve – a personalized ornament. A different one every year for every child.
What are some Christmas traditions that you have or want to start in the future? I would love to hear about them!
You have a beautiful tree. The same situation happened to us our first Christmas (in that we seemed to already have enough ornaments to decorate and fill it). But, I think as long as Curtis keeps getting deployed this time of year I'm going to get really good at putting it up and decorating it all by myself. haha.
I love the idea of making Gingerbread houses, I has the very same idea about it simply because I've never made one before. (We seem to have a lot in common). And baking cookies is a MUST.
I'll have to create a Christmas Traditions post myself sometime in the near future. So, you can read all about my plans soon.
p.s. We're hoping for a girl. What about you?
Loved this post Kathryn. We don't have too many traditions between Russ and I yet but hope to make some soon. (thedonaldsons.synthasite.com)
We have a lot in common as I am a lover of the Lord and also was a military wife for 17 years until my hubby retired from the USN 2 years ago. It is hard but it was and continues to be a blessing in our life. Stay strong. Cheers from SITS đ
Hey we don't really have any special traditions that we have done every year but I usually try to make Nathan a very special Christmas dinner as one of his gifts. Last year I made him steak and Lobster and he loved it! Alot of times it was just me and him so we could spend a fortune on our Christmas dinners lol! Now that we our back home we may start some new traditions. One thing we decided to do is go Black Friday shopping every year from now on because we had so much fun and saved so much money this year!
Your tree is beautiful! We always try to put ours up the day after Thanksgiving but that doesn't always happen. We DO try to at least do it sometime during the weekend after Thanksgiving. We have also always allowed the girls to unwrap one present on Christmas Eve and it has always been a new pair of flannel PJ's, usually something winter-y looking in red and/or green. Then they wear those to bed and have something pretty to have their pictures made in when they get up on Christmas morning. My favorite tradition is that the first person to wake up on Christmas morning has to go out into the hall and yell, 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS!!!!!' This is to not only tell Jesus Happy Birthday but it wakes everyone up so we can go see what Santa brought!
Fun stuff! I love Christmas!
Teresa <><
We give our children and grandchildren a new ornament every year, but we give it to them when we get the tree up. Sometimes before any ornaments go on and sometimes after all previous ornaments are on. We try to get the tree up on Thanksgiving. The one present on Christmas eve is usually pj's. Something to wake up in and take pictures. My girls love the one piece zip up pj's.
Curtis has deployed three times since he's been in. Once while we were engaged (but I was in Minnesota so it didn't effect me the same as it does now). And this is his second since we've been married. Last year he left in August and was back just before Christmas. This time he left in October and should be back in less than two weeks now (fingers crossed). So, it's not so much that he gets deployed this time of year, it's more that he's not been back in time to decorate with me.
Way before I even got pregnant I was just all about having a girl and Curtis says he "doesn't care," but he mostly talks about having a little Princess more than a son to play ball with. haha. He's so cute about it. Plus, almost EVERYONE thinks we're having a girl anyway. My family only says "she" when they speak of our little peanut; however, Curtis' mom is very persistent about it being a boy. haha. My father-in-law says, "The Weiffenbach name will life on!" So it's like families against each other. I REALLY think it's a girl, though.
We're definitely not waiting to find out. I'm too much of a planner to not know beforehand. haha. And it should be about the same time, mid-late January when we find out.
Gorgeous tree. Thanks for stopping by today it's always nice to meet more military wives.
On of our traditions passed down from my childhood is after Christmas Eve dinner my grandmother would dish up the pudding into beautiful pedestal cups. Then she would add 1 almond to only 1 cup, then mix them around. Whom ever got the almond could open a present that night.
The little guy and I (hubby won't jump in on this one) always wear Christmas PJs to our usually late Christmas Eve gathering at my in-laws. This year we are changing date and time but Jack and I will be in our PJs.