Wondering Wednesdays – Christmas Tradition!

Welcome to Wondering Wednesdays, a weekly post to learn more about me and other bloggers 🙂

Today’s questions is – Do you have any family Christmas traditions?

This is a great question, me being a Christmas lover and all!

Honestly, there are so many things we do year after year after year. They may not seem like a tradition to you, but they are for us. 🙂 So, in no particular order, here are the Christmas traditions of the Baker household!

It all started years ago when my husband and I were frantically wrapping Christmas presents until all hours of the night one Christmas Eve. It’s a Wonderful Life was on, so we watched it, and we have watch it every single Christmas Eve since.

I honestly cannot remember when we started this tradition, but it was inspired by my husband’s grandmother, who made THE BEST Christmas cookies ever. I actually use her sugar cookie recipe every year, but they do not taste like hers. They just don’t. Anyways…..every year I spend an entire weekend in the kitchen. I make cookies, candy, fudge, and other Christmas goodies. In a typical year, there are probably about 15 different things I make (this year I am cutting back – I’m just super tired lately). And then I divide it up. Each family in my church gets some, our own family members, people are work, and of course us! It is a ton of work, but it is so fun and it is so worth it! I try and mix it up every year, with the only staples being sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, and peanut butter blossoms. But this year, I am changing everything except sugar cookies! I think I’ve narrowed my list down to about 7-8 different things this year. Honestly, I feel kind of guilty about it, but I feel it’s a must. I’m really shooting for a “stress-free” holiday season this year!

We read THE Christmas story every morning before we even get out of bed. Caitlin will wake up, come to our room, and we’ll sit there and read the bible. Honestly, we didn’t start doing this until a few years ago. Don’t judge – it’s really over the past few years that I’ve grown a lot spiritually and I’m still learning. But now that we do it, I am so thankful. It just really puts my heart in the right place for the day. Sometimes Caitlin will even read it, and that just makes this mama happy!

Every year since Caitlin was little, we have read The Night Before Christmas together on Christmas Eve. Caitlin is 18 this year, and I’ll bet we’ll still read it on Christmas Eve. And when she has her own family, well I’ll just have to go over on Christmas Eve and read it with her children 🙂

Here’s a quick list of other things we do year after year:

Cinnamon rolls are a must for breakfast on Christmas morning. Some years I’ll make them from scratch, and some years I’ll cheat and Pillsbury will make them!

We literally open one gift at a time, and take turns opening gifts. It makes the gift opening process take FOREVER!! But, my husband insists on it, and truthfully I don’t mind because we get to enjoy watching each other open their gifts.

A Christmas Story is always on in the background when we go to my mother’s house, and I always look for my favorite scene (and quite often miss it) – the scene where Flick gets his tongue stuck on the pole. I have probably watched this movie a million times, but it still makes me laugh so hard!

We have a few movies that are a must watch – Christmas Vacation, The Year Without a Santa Claus (I love the Heat Miser song!!!), The Santa Claus trilogy, Charlie Brown Christmas, Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, and probably more I can’t think of lol. Plus Hallmark Channel – luckily I have a husband who will watch those movies with me!

Okay, I know there are many other things we do year after year, but I need to stop or we will be here all year!

What about you? Is Christmas a month long celebration, a week long celebration, or a couple of months long celebration!?

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