Christmas Traditions

Time is literally flying because there are only 10days and 13 hours left till Christmas! Wow! Since there are only 10 days until my favorite day of the year I decided to share how we spend our Christmas. Last Christmas was our first Christmas as a family of 3! It was David's (my unofficial husband) first experience with the overall Christmas tradition of decorating the tree & opening gifts. So every year it is my goal to make it a memorable Christmas for both David & Nate. 

So we usually go to my dads & step moms house for Christmas Eve. We party with the rest of our family. The night is filled with joy & laughter! We have a couple traditions that have stuck with us through the years & they're some of my greatest memory's. I'm sure David can agree that it's the most wonderful time! 

The first tradition that stuck through out the years was the whole family wearing Christmas pajamas. My stepmom started it when she had us dress in pajamas to the Christmas party one year and the year after that everyone started to join in. So every single Christmas Eve we are all dressed in Christmas pajamas. Best part is there's no changing your clothes before going to bed lol. 

The next tradition was started about 2-3 years ago. We try to do activities so that we enjoy each other's company as a family & kill time until it's time to open presents. This one is a popular game that most people know of. I believe it's called the Elephant game, something like that. Everyone who is playing buys a gift 5$ and below. We wrap the gifts and put them on a big table. Everyone picks a number from 1 to how much people are at the party. One person chooses a random gift on the table & the next person who goes can either grab a new gift or steal a gift from someone who has already opened one. It is filled with laughter because there is always that one gift that everyone wants to steal. 

The next one also started about 2 years ago. Each family group makes a dessert that no one can know about. The family who doesn't participate in it are the judges. They judge on taste & presentation. Last year we threw a curveball & there was a secret ingredient in each dessert which was Marshmallows. I won!!! Woohoo!! It was very exciting. This year the theme is Puertorican dessert. 

We try to open the presents around midnight but usually it'll happen around 1130ish. David, Nate, and I usually sleepover my dads that night. Wake up to a wonderful family breakfast that my dad makes. We then go back home to open the presents under our tree with my mom also known as Nate's Mia. I'm looking forward to spending many more Christmases with my family & creating new traditions that Nate can remember years to come. 

What are your family traditions? I love hearing new ideas!