Hi Friends!
I’m in FULL holiday mode. Our tree is up, the decorations are out and I’ve walked around the Target holiday section looking at ornamenets and wrapping paper 100x 😜
I wanted to stop by to share some of our holiday traditions. When I was growing up we didn’t have a whole lot of traditions that we stuck to every single year so that was something I definitely wanted when Mike and I got married. I grew up celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah (my mom is Jewish, and my dad is Christian) and I’ve always enjoyed never having to choose and celebrating both.
One of the holiday traditions my family has stuck to every year is always receiving a pair of holiday socks. It’s nothing big, but it is always fun to add a new pair of holiday socks to my rotation. It’s fun to see what crazy holiday socks my mom will find, so even though my brothers and I know we are all getting socks, it’s still kind of a surprise.
Another holiday tradition that Mike and I started is doing an advent calendar with different activities/gifts that we come up with. I originally got the idea from Kelly Travis (dog lover from the Bachelor!) when she shared it on her Instagram story a few years ago. Mike and I each write 13 gifts/activities for each other (Mike writes gifts he thinks I would want, and I write gifts I think he would want and one of each of our go in on Christmas Day) and then we mix them up and stick them each in an envelope. The gifts/activities can be anything from opening up 1 gift early, a date night of the person’s choice, or clean the bathroom. (one of my least favorite chores 😂) Each envelope has a number written on it that correlated to the day of December. This year instead of sticking each piece of paper in an envelope, I bought this advent calendar to put the slips of paper in, instead. Last year we hung the envelopes on cute string with clothespins but they kept falling, so this year I made the decision to find something that could be hung and wouldn’t fall down. We begin on December 1st and go until Christmas Day! This newer tradition is one that I love because it’s super simple and a great way to reconnect with Mike throughout the hustle and bustle of the holidays. Plus it’s also a fun surprise to see whose gift it will be and gives us something to look forward to every day.
The last holiday tradition I will share (this post is getting long.. Oops!) is the ornament exchange we do with our neighbors. Every year since we moved into our condo we have exchanged ornaments with our next door neighbors. Almost everyone in our building is older, but thankfully our next door neighbors are the same age as us. Honestly, it’s so nice to have neighbors who you are friendly with. Anyway, each year we pick out an ornament that represents them and vice versa. It’s a super simple tradition but a fun way to make sure we get together during the holidays which can be such a busy time.
Thanks for following along and reading about some of my holiday traditions. What are some holiday traditions that you and your family do? Let me know in the comments. I would love to hear them!
❤️ xo, Skyelar
