Christmas Traditions

Theo was too busy with his teething ring to pose with me
 in front of the Christmas tree.

Having a baby has me thinking all about Christmas traditions. Christmas is my favourite holiday, and even though I know it will be a couple years before Theo will start remembering his Christmas holidays, I'm already making lists of all the things I want to do with him. 

1.) Christmas music on Thanksgiving. I know a lot of people have a rule against carols until the day after Thanksgiving or December 1st. But my family would start the songs a day early so that we had something cheerful to listen to and sing while cooking Thanksgiving dinner.  

2.) Christmas jammies. My family never gifted pajamas, but I read about an idea on Barefoot Blonde of giving Christmas pajamas on Thanksgiving night; then you get to wear them during breakfast the next morning while you finish off all the leftover pie. Alternatively you could give the pajamas on the first Sunday of Advent. I like this idea because it lets you wear the pajamas for the whole Christmas month rather than only on Christmas morning. 

3.) Gingerbread cake while decorating the tree. I love this recipe from Epicurious, you can substitute the Guinness for coffee if you're so inclined.

4.) Sleeping under the tree. Some of my favourite memories from childhood were made under a Christmas tree. Getting to spend a night under the twinkling lights with the fresh scent of pine needles and my brothers telling jokes and then ordering each other to go to sleep. 

5.) A bucket of caramel popcorn. We did this a few times growing up and I always thought it was the tastiest and most magical thing. We would get a bucket with different flavours of popcorn but we only got to eat some when watching Christmas movies. We watched a lot of Christmas movies. 

6.) Reading Amahl and the Night Visitors. My mother read this book to us every year, but she didn't just read it, she would dramatize it and sing parts from the operetta that it is based off of. My siblings and I still randomly sing lines from it, we have the book practically memorized. 

7.) A new book on Christmas Eve. I read about this idea on Cup of Jo and just loved it. It's a tradition in Iceland. We always opened a few presents on Christmas Eve but they were rarely books. The idea of having a new book to go to bed with sounds so cozy and delightful. 

What about you? Do you have any favourite traditions? Or new ones that you want to start observing during the holiday season? I'd love to hear them, I'm always looking for new ideas.