Christmas Traditions

December 21, 2016 by Brittany Boone

Photos by LA PHOTOGRAPHY

It is 4 days until Christmas!!! I seriously can’t believe it. The last couple of days I have been catching up with my friends and celebrating our little Christmas festivities together. Last night my girlfriends and I tried a new restaurant and did a little secret Santa exchange. That is one thing that we have never done before and it was so fun and easy with an app that picked the names for us. It is always so hard to try and keep gifts a secret because I want to tell them so bad and secretly I want the gift for myself as well. This time of year it is all about new traditions like doing the secret Santa with my girlfriends and still keeping to my favorite Christmas traditions I grew up with as a kid. There is something just so magical about this time of year and I love hearing about Christmas traditions with everyone’s family. Below are some of my favorite Christmas traditions.

Looking at Christmas Lights: My mom and dad and I always drive around the neighborhood and look at lights together. Normally this is done after Christmas Eve service or we will just make an extra trip before together. Lights are so magical during this time of year and enjoying it with some hot cocoa and Christmas music is what I really love.
Watching Christmas Movies: This is one of my favorite parts about this time of year. I love being lazy while watching all of the funny or cheesy feel good movies. My favorites being Christmas Vacation of course!
Going to Christmas Eve Service: It has always been a tradition to go to church on Christmas Eve all together. It is my favorite service of the year with everyone dressed so pretty and singing and worshiping together. Such a great way to start the Lord’s birthday.
Baking Sweets: No wonder people always say they are going to start their diet after the holidays because you eat way too much great food. I love baking little sweets that are easy like my Christmas Peppermint Bark Chex Mix. My favorite little dish to bring to any party during the holidays though has to be crackers with a block of cream cheese topped with pepper jelly. All time favorite there!
Videoing Coming Down the Stairs: Ever since I was little my mom would video me coming down the stairs in my pajamas and going straight to my stocking and Santa’s presents. It is always so much fun to watch these home videos year after year after as I get older too.
Mother/Daughter Christmas Activity: Each year my mom and I like to do something special and Christmas themed together. When I was little that would mean going to the Galleria together and ice skating around the big Christmas tree. We have also gone to see the Nutcracker, the Rockettes, and shopping at the Nutcracker Market. Just having us time together during this holiday has always been special to me.
Stockings: Like a lot of people we do stockings and that is the first thing we look at after Santa’s gifts of course. My mom is very creative and like my outfits when I was younger, she also made our stockings as well. They each say our names and are sequined and each have a beautiful scene on them. Along with little knick knacks, they always typically include some type of fruit in the stocking as well.
Celebration all Day: On Christmas day it is actually my nephew’s birthday as well so we try to keep the celebration all day long. We are only 9 years apart and I remember my dad telling me it was time to meet my nephew at the hospital when I had just started riding my new bike that I got for Christmas years ago. Now I look forward to the day so much and that afternoon/night we celebrate my nephew’s birthday. This year he will be 18 which is even more special.
Volunteering: Sometimes I wish I did not work just so I could volunteer more. With the work week being so crazy and then on the weekends you just want to relax, sometimes volunteering can be really hard. Throughout the year I try to do some volunteer work but always make an effort around Christmas time. My mom volunteers every week at our church’s soup kitchen and I wish I could too. This year I got to volunteer at the Salvation Army Warehouse and have caroled at nursing homes and rang the Salvation Army bell in the past. With everyone’s busy schedules it is nice to give back during this time of year.
Eating Tamales: Each year the nuns at my parents church make homemade tamales which are so good during this time of year. I never order them when I go out to eat at a Mexican restaurant, but enjoying them at Christmas time is what I love to do. I was even on a little ABC segment with Katherine Whaley a couple of years back where we were filmed together learning how to make homemade tamales at this famous tamale restaurant!