Today I am sharing my favorite Christmas traditions with you!
Growing up one of my most favorite Christmas memories was stockings on Christmas mornings! 
My mom made sure that our stockings were always the best memory of Christmas. She would always put some a toy, candy, ornament, an apple, and an orange in my stocking! The ornament was usually the latest Hallmark Wizard of oz ornament and this is a tradition my husband has continued!
Another of my favorite Christmas traditions was that we didn’t put gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve. My parents did this because when I was a baby I would roll around under the tree and unwrap things. Also they didn’t want to run the risk of me unwrapping things when I got older. So I still find it weird when I see gifts under the tree before Christmas.
I always loved going to Christmas Eve service at my church too! It was always a special service and just knowing the reason we were there was to celebrate Jesus made it even more special! One of my favorite parts of this service was hearing O Holy night sung by Eric. He is an opera singer and that song always gave me chills when I heard him sing it. I still miss it! Last year my mom called me from the church choir party and left me a voice mail of him singing it! I still have it saved on my phone!
Anyways, at the end of the service, we all take communion, take a candle, and make a circle around the whole sanctuary. When everyone has taken communion our pastor lights his candle and we pass the flame around the entire church singing Silent Night. We started out in the dark, but on that silent night many many years ago we found the LIGHT OF THE WORLD!
After Christmas Eve service we would go over to my grandma’s house to “carol” to her! We would sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as loud and obnoxiously as we could complete with a chorus line! She always said she hated it, but we know she secretly LOVED it.
On Christmas morning, we would open presents at home. We would also go to my grandma’s house to open presents there and have breakfast. My mom usually made a breakfast casserole to take over and we would have that and hot chocolate.
One of my favorite Christmas memories is the year I got my Ollie Belle. I woke up at about six in the morning because I swear I heard a cat meowing. My parents told me I was crazy and to go back to sleep. About an hour later I heard it again. They decided that it was time to open presents then. I wasn’t allowed to go to the living room before them so I waited until they were ready. I came out and my mom was sitting in the chair with my Belle! Fifteen years later she is still my favorite Christmas gift!
Another favorite Christmas tradition is driving around town the Friday before Christmas to see all the lights!
One of Mr. RCGG’s favorite Christmas movies is A Christmas Story. Fun fact about the movie: It was released in November 1983 the day AFTER my husband was born! He always watches the marathon showing of it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day! My parents gave him this for Christmas a few years ago!
I collect nativities! I think they are beautiful and tell the story of what Christmas is all about in such a simple way!
Also in the above picture is my wreath I made several years ago. This year I took off the darker red flowers and moved the others around a bit.
There are so many traditions that I want to keep going for our future children and so many that I want to start for them! Like starting tomorrow night, Mr. RCGG and I will hang our stockings on Christmas Eve. I want to do this with our future children and tuck them into bed after leaving cookies for Santa! Another thing I want to start with our children is similar to Elf on the Shelf. Instead of the elf coming in every morning and leaving to report to Santa I want to do something with the 3 Wise Men. I’m going to take a children’s play set nativity and hide the wise men every night until they finally find Baby Jesus on Christmas morning.
I think having traditions for holidays are so important to instill in your family. They create so many memories and are so much fun to keep going even when you have moved away from home.
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
