Christmas Traditions

Our family loves the expectation of traditions. They serve as a guide for our memories during the busy holiday season. Here are our traditions around Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.

Christmas eve

Church service: We always attend a late after Christmas service at church with a candlelight reflection singing silent night.

Go out to dinner: After church we always go out for a family dinner and surprise the server with a big tip.

Sibling gifts: When we get home from dinner, the kids always exchange gifts with one another. It’s a fun way to kick off gifting!

Matching Christmas pjs: Every year, the kids and I wear matching Christmas pajamas. It’s a bit to my oldest son’s chagrin, but he goes along with it for the joy of his mom.

Sleeping together on Christmas: The kids all sleep together on Christmas eve. This is a tradition they love and look forward to every year. They wake up early and have to wait upstairs until I say they can come down.

Christmas morning

Run down the stairs: Our tree is at the bottom of our stairs and every year I film they running down the stairs to see the gifts. It’s so magical.

Stockings first: We always start with a picture with Mama and stockings! Then the wrapped gifts.

Dedicated wrapping paper: The kids’ gifts are each wrapped in their own dedicated wrapping paper. It makes identifying gifts easy and they love it!

Cinnamon rolls: Every Christmas morning, the kids’ dad makes homemade cinnamon rolls.

Celebrate with friends: Our family lives out of state, so our tradition is to always have friends over for Christmas dinner. You can read more about it here.

What traditions do you have on Christmas Eve and Christmas day?