Christmas Traditions

It’s hard to believe that we are half a month away from Dec 1, which in my mind, is the official first day of Christmas! I’ve had a lot of iterations of my Christmas traditions over the years but they’ve really solidified since we had Liam.

Christmas officially starts for us after American Thanksgiving. In fact, we always go down to Woodside for that full week which usually includes my birthday, American Thanksgiving and the first day of Christmas. We’ve dubbed it Thanksmas and the day after Thanksgiving we pretend it’s Christmas since we don’t spend actual Christmas day in California.

On Dec 1, we get our tree and deck out the house and start playing Christmas music 24/7. We have amassed quite a few decorations every year but each year we get a few new ornaments (usually from Pottery Barn or The Cross) and this year we’re getting a new tree skirt. We’re also considering getting Liam an electric train to set up around the tree since he loves trains so much.

In Vancouver, we love to check out Van Dusen Festival of Lights as well as Reflections’ Holiday Pop Up Bar.

Christmas Eve is usually at my in laws (my MIL is an incredible cook). We always have baccala since it’s traditional in Italian culture to eat fish on Christmas Eve. Last year, my girlfriends and I started a tradition of doing a group facetime since we’re rarely together over the holidays. It was so much fun!

Christmas morning is quiet with the three of us. We exchange stockings, drink Bailey’s in our coffee (my late aunt’s addition to our tradition), and my mom comes over for a little breakfast.

Then we head back to my in-laws to exchange gifts and have a big Christmas dinner with my husband’s extended family! It’s the best. We also started a new tradition last year of giving all the kids the same Christmas PJs. It was my turn to pick them out this year and I can’t wait to share what I picked 🙂

What are your Christmas traditions?