The holiday season is here and there are so many things we do every year. Personally, I’m quite the grinch. I don’t love Christmas and I don’t get very much holiday spirit. But, that doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the traditions my family loves to do.
In our family, the most prevalent thing we do is put stockings through our entire living room. The house has beams that go across the ceiling and there are a dozen hooks on each beam. On Christmas Eve, one household hosts our Family Christmas gathering. Everyone usually brings a dish to share. Now that our generation is getting older, there aren’t many little kids in our family, so it’s become a quieter event. Things have changed a lot.
I’m at the age where I’d like to start making my own traditions with the family I’m creating. My brothers and I started wrapping presents together on Christmas Eve Eve. Even though I don’t have children, I have a partner, pets, and a full household to make memories with. Here are some of the things I’d like to try:
- Advent calendars – I’ve never had one before and they look so fun. I could find some super cool themes, or event make them for my family members! We all know I love a craft.
- Secret Santa – now that the kids have grown up, I think it would be lots of fun (and cheaper) to do a family gift exchange, rather than spending a bunch on money on every single person.
- Holiday baking – I’m not the person who spends a whole lot of time in the kitchen. Tommas is the chef of our household. But I would love to bake a bunch of goodies and give them to friends.
- Matching PJs – My mother-in-law did this for us once. At first, I thought it was annoying but it made us all laugh and brought us a lot of joy.
- Drive to see the Christmas lights – we do this sometimes, but I wouldn’t call it a tradition. I’d like to find more spots in our area that have great displays.
- Letters to Santa – even though our family has older kids, this would be a fun way to find out what folks actually want for Christmas.
This whole year has been pretty hard on my family. Even though I’m not the most festive, I still enjoy the time spend together and hopefully this season will bring us some joy. Please, feel free to share some of your favorite holiday activities!
Phoebe Dyer Portfolio 