Christmas Traditions

Ever since I became a mom I have been thinking about Christmas traditions. Everyone grows up with the traditions of their own families. Then marriage happens and traditions tend to bend and meld a little bit.

I had plenty of traditions growing up.

The season started with a visit to what is now Macy's 8th Floor Santa Land. As a kid, it was Dayton's 8th Floor Auditorium, and it was fantastic. Every year there was a new theme, Cinderella being my favorite. Dayton's became Marshall Fields, became Macy's and now, it is the 8th Floor Santa Land. The 8th Floor auditorium at Macy's in Minneapolis is converted into Santa's workshop. You can see the elves waking up for breakfast, feeding the reindeer. Some elves are the teachers at flight school, teaching reindeer to fly using hot air balloons. After getting through the entire story, there was a place to take a picture with Santa, and then the bakery. Oh, the bakery was so delicious.

Another favorite tradition we had was packing some treats and driving around looking at the Christmas lights. There are more than a few houses around my area that go all out with the Christmas lights. It's such a treat!

My husband also had traditions growing up. Now, we get to make memories with our own children and build traditions. Kid is old enough now, to get excited about Christmas and the Christmas season. He has been wearing Christmas jammies since Black Friday.

I'm excited to start traditions with my little man (and lady, too). Again, Kid is old enough to "get it."

I am holding on to the Macy's 8th Floor Santa Land tradition. Our plan is go early on Black Friday. So many people are busy shopping that the lines are nearly non-existent.

Cookie decorating. This year, we met at my parents house to decorate sugar cookies and have some lunch. It was so fun to get all of the cousins together. Kid has a cousin that is a few weeks younger-oh, goodness, watching those two "decorate" cookies was quite the sight.

Cookie making: this tradition comes from my husband's family. Each year, they all get together for a baking day. We make lefse, sugar cookies, spritz cookies, chocolate dipped pretzels, among many, many others. Kid (and the little chica) will probably enjoy snacking on all of those sweets on baking day!

Tree decorating/movie night. I love decorating the tree. We typically make appetizers and watch a Disney movie while decorating. Unfortunately, Disney movies are still a little too scary for the little ones, so we had to watch the Curious George Christmas movie this year. Eventually, we will watch the Disney movies again, but for now the toddler-friendly movies it is. But, oh. the joy on my sweet boy's face when we brought out our tree (yep, a fake one!). The next day, he asked if we could pack the tree in his backpack for daycare.

Oh, my heart.

What holiday traditions do you have in your family?