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Monday 10 December 2018

CHRISTMAS: What are your family traditions?

CHRISTMAS: What are your family traditions?
Christmas traditions are a big part of the festive period and with new traditions starting all of the time it is exciting deciding which traditions you personally want to follow as a family. It still fascinates me how different each family's Christmas is because up until meeting my now husband I hadn't realised quite how different they could be. Growing up you only know how your family celebrate during the festive period, so it really opened my eyes when I was lucky enough to witness how my husband's family celebrate. Coming together as parents we have brought our own family traditions together, as well as wanting to create our own. 
I have to admit that I do feel the pressure when it come to Christmas and keeping the magic alive. The pressure not to let anything slip or leave anything lying around that might ruin the magic (note to self: don't leave cardboard boxes that show the gift on out for the recycling...already learnt that the hard way!) is intense at times. As well as remembering the traditions we want to have as a family, luckily children don't really understand for the first few years so there are a few 'practices' before they know what's going on. We've now had all of our practice Christmas' and with Isabella almost being four years old she very much understands what's going on now. We start talking about Father Christmas coming around October (that's the problem with blogging - you start creating Christmas content so early!) time, so by December we are well and truly ready for the final countdown.

As that all important countdown begins, so do the family traditions and these are our ones...


  • New Christmas Pyjamas at the start of December - It's so nice to have new festive pyjamas each year and they get so much wear throughout the whole month. Now that we have two daughters I especially love picking up matching sets.
  • Writing to Father Christmas - This is a new addition this year, as Isabella is now old enough to understand the concept of receiving gifts. This year she asked for a dog, Anna and Elsa Singing Machine and a Small Light, quite the random combination really. It was really nice taking the time to write the letter together and then she decorated it and we walked up the post box to post it.
  • Visiting the Christmas Tree Farm - There is a Christmas Tree Farm very close to where we live, so it is always fun popping down at the start of December. We have brought our tree from there is previous years, but went somewhere different this year. Nevertheless it is nice to wander around, get a hot chocolate/mince pie, visit the reindeers and do the children's crafts.

  • Read a Christmas book a day throughout December - We get all of the girl's Christmas books out at the start of the month and then read one at bedtime each night. It's the perfect way to get into the festive spirit and then they go back away in the new year.
  • Go Ice-Skating - Every year since Isabella could walk we've been ice skating on the run up to Christmas, so it's become quite a tradition. We wrap up warm, head to the ice skating rink at Beckworth Emporium and then enjoy a warming hot chocolate afterwards. It wouldn't be Christmas without a trip to the ice rink now.

  • Christmas Eve Box - Snuggling up on Christmas Eve altogether and presenting Isabella and Poppy with their Christmas Eve Box is such a special way to end the countdown to Christmas. A Very Lovely Christmas is a small independent business set up by the lovely Ami, which sells the cutest little gifts and Christmas Eve Boxes. We were very kindly sent their Christmas Eve Box for two children (£41 + p&p) and they girl's were beyond excited with discovering its content. Inside there were two reindeer food sacks, two Christmas story books, 2 packs of chocolate reindeer noses, one soft elf toy, one magic Santa key and one glass milk bottle for Father Christmas. Everything that is needed to snuggle together, read a festive book and get prepared for Father Christmas' visit. It's so lovely that the wooden box is also personalised, as it means it can be used for years to come. Truly a gift that brings excitement, anticipation and special memories every year. You can also buy just the wooden box personalised or not and a Christmas Eve Box for one child, so it is well worth checking out A Very Lovely Christmas to see what they have to offer. Ami has very kindly also offered a 10% discount if you order through her Facebook or Instagram pages when you use the code 'treasureeverymoment'. 
  • Leaving out a mince pie and glass of milk for Father Christmas - On Christmas Eve we leave Father Christmas a mince pie or homemade biscuit along with a glass of milk and a carrot for the reindeers. Isabella then excitedly checks in the morning to see if he's visited.
  • Christmas stockings and sacks - On Christmas morning the girl's get a sack of presents and a stocking, which is a combination of my husband's family Christmas and mine. I always had a stocking and then presents under the Christmas tree, whereas my husband had a much smaller stocking with the majority of his presents being in a sack. We didn't want to lose either of our own traditions, so we combined them together for our children.
  • Watch Polar Express on Christmas Eve - I'm not sure when exactly this started, but for a long time my family has watched Polar Express on Christmas Eve and I was eager to continue this tradition. It's such a 'feel good' film and the perfect way to kick start the magic of Christmas. 
  • Tree presents - This tradition was started by my Grandparents and we still do it today. On Boxing Day the Christmas tree gives us a small present, now I know that does sound kind of ridiculous but as a child I just accepted it for what it was and have done it ever since. I'm not sure the history behind it, but it's so exciting getting that extra little present after most of them have been opened. 


What are your favourite Christmas traditions?


Feel free to leave a comment - I love reading every single one :)


Helen x

*This post contains PR samples. As always all opinions are my own and 100% honest.
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21 comments

  1. Wow this has really got me thinking! As a kid I remember so many traditions my parents used to do with us but as an adult myself I would say that no Christmas is even the same for us!

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  2. We go for Christmas dinner now on Christmas Eve at a restaurant. We also always buy the Christmas Radio Times and on Christmas day we watch the charity swim in my little seaside town.

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  3. ooooh this has got me all excited! not long now and we share a lot of these traditions with you...it's such a magical time of the year!

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  4. What a gorgeous box and contents! We have a mix of both sides of the family as well in how we celebrate plus some of our new homelands Swedish traditions

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  5. The only Christmas tradition I've ever had and even do it with my own daughter is a fresh pair of PJ's on Christmas Eve and a new movie to watch x

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  6. Lovely post! I love family tradition. We like to watch Christmas movies on Christmas Eve in front of the fire all snug xx

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  7. Such wonderful Christmas traditions. It is these traditions that your children will remember in years to come, not the gifts that were under the Christmas tree

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  8. We don't that many traditions but we do always buy new pajamas and mince piestoo

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  9. We do a Christmas eve box and fill it up for our two kids it is always something we have done and they love it.

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  10. Ah I love this. Our tradition is to buy a new bauble each year in memory of Joseph for our tree. We have some gorgeous ones over the years. We also do Christmas Eve boxes.

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  11. We have took a few of our childhood traditions and incorporated them into Mia’s Christians experience. We get her a new set of pjs for Christmas Eve and a Christmas tree decorations every year as well as a Christmas Day outfit. I love the idea of reading a new book through December.

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  12. Christmas traditions are so important, I feel. My family don't really have any aside from the usual ones and we typically go on holiday at Christmas time. It's so wonderful to hear about your traditions - you have some really great ones - and I hope you all have a lovely Christmas time. This post has made me excited to start a family of my own some day :)

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  13. love your tradition of Christmas eve box , we sadly celebrate Polish Christmas that start on the eve of the 24 , followed by British Christmas a day later

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  14. Our tradition is that we go on holiday once the schools break up, returning Christmas Eve. We go on ‘adventures’ - in search of snow etc

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  15. I love family traditions! We always go ice skating with my whole family and I love it

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  16. We have so many Christmas traditions but my favourite is watching The Snowman on christmas eve

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  17. We don't really have Christmas traditions. We do get new Pyjamas for the month and the usual gifts, decorations and merriments. Love the season.

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  18. We do Christmas Eve boxes, skating and tree decorating as a family. We always had new pjs on Christmas Eve and cook the turkey Christmas Eve so we have hot turkey sandwiches before bed 💕

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  19. These are lovely traditions. My favourite one is buying a new Christmas ornament or decoration to add to our ever growing collection.

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  20. We have always done new Christmas pyjamas too and we always buy a new ornament for the tree

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  21. I am loving the sound of thee Christmas Eve box. I want to do one myself. Hope I have the time to get items in.

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