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The Day We Decorate:

Christmas traditions begin the day after Thanksgiving in my household. Prior to having children, my husband and I were both business consultants. We both had insane schedules and found it easiest to decorate our Christmas tree on the Friday after Thanksgiving because we were guaranteed a day off of work.

I would spend the day cooking a SECOND Thanksgiving meal - just for us. Yes, I mean the turkey and all the fixings. Bill - on the other hand - would work on getting the tree in order and setting up our outside decorations. Now that we have children, that tradition still lives on.

By Friday night, it will be all about Christmas in almost every room of my house. We are obsessed with the holiday. My children dream about this weekend all year long!

 

Christmas Ornaments:

Another family tradition that we honor all year long is collecting Christmas ornaments while on vacation. In 2011, my family has visited Italy, Disney World, Disney Cruise, the Amish Country, Hershey Park and Turks and Caicos. Every single vacation, we made sure to bring home an ornament! I can’t wait to place those new pieces on our memory tree. It’s always so nice to look back at our travels and to remember all the great times we’ve shared as a family.

 

Christmas Eve Dinner:

One tradition that has been with me since... BIRTH... is what my family eats on Christmas Eve. I’m First Generation American and my mother and grandmother are responsible for cooking our holiday meal. Mind you, I host everyone at my house each year... but I’m not allowed to cook the main dish!! I’m barely allowed in the kitchen and I’m 35 years old. For a while, it bothered me but I’ve since let it go because it really takes a huge responsibility off my list. The seafood pasta dish is served only once and year and everyone looks forward to it. I wrote the recipe down on my blog - Lady and the Blog - if you’d like to check it out: http://qvc.co/SeafoodPasta

 

A Day in NYC:

The last tradition I will share is our annual visit to NYC to see Santa and the Rockefeller Tree. This has been something that I’ve done since birth. My mother never missed a year. We would go to Macy’s on 34th Street and walk through Santaland with our camera in hand. The SECOND I gave birth to my first child, I told my husband we would be continuing on with this one because it was SUCH a part of my life growing up.

Bill and I extend the day a bit and take the kids to see all the fun holiday windows, the Radio City Christmas Spectacular and finally end the day in front of the Rockefeller Tree.

I have to admit - I’m getting very nostalgic writing this post. So many years have passed since we started this journey - my husband and I. 11 years later we are still going strong.  I can’t wait for this season to begin!

 

 So, what holiday traditions does your family share?