Christmas Eve Gift Box Tradition
Tradition. Something I think about a lot as a sentimental & emotional being. We have dreamt up our growing family for 6 years now. That is 6 years of ideas & habits & hobbies that we began all with the hopes & dreams of our kids being apart of this one day. Things like camping trips, what our Sundays will look like, daily routines, you name it. Tradition is even more heavy during the holidays. This is just one reason why the holidays have been hard from infertility & loss. You always think that will be the year you get to experience these growing tradition in the eyes of littles ones. Christmas Eve is one of those holidays & these are the traditions I hope we can continue, begin & strengthen in the coming years.
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A simple story of my dreams for this day in our family.
Not so much of a DIY post, more of a heart filled idea that I am writing. I think we all agree that the hustle & bustle of the holidays can be overwhelming. We want to spark the magic yet focus on the memory building. How can you do it all & how can you do it all the right way? There is no exact game plan that makes it perfect because for each individual it is different. Some people work over the holidays, some have family far away, some are grieving, & some are alone. Everyone has different needs during these times.
Speaking on the perspective that we have, it took a mindset shift for me to accept how the holidays will be for us, at least for this year. Learning that you can grieve & celebrate simultaneously, that happiness can live along side hardships helped me come to terms with both taking all the good & joy this time brings & also giving myself space to process the pain. This year we will be celebrating our growing family as well as missing those that are not with us here on earth & that is beautiful. This has encouraged me to incorporate much more tradition into the holidays. Why? Because I want to keep seeing our growth each year through them.
For us, Christmas Eve is usually spent just the two of us. Unless it is the every other year that we travel to be with my side of the family, we are usually spending the evening in our home all cozy, but lonely. If we could shift this day into being all about just our family no matter how small or no matter our circumstances, then to me we have conquered the “right” way for us to do this holiday. Our current tradition consists of the Candle Light Service at church which is my favorite service of all time. That is all. That is our tradition. This year there are a few more things I’d like to add.
Starting with breakfast. We are BIG into breakfast. We go out every Saturday morning. Something I have done as a kid & something I never want to give up. I am not sure if it is morally okay to go out for breakfast on Christmas Eve, but at the same time if the restaurants are open then I think they want service? I am not sure.. After that, I have zero ideas. I like the thought of spending the afternoon doing acts of kindness, passing out gifts to our neighbors, making snowmen (if there is snow), anything winter related. I don’t have all this planned yet, but I also don’t mind leaving space for new traditions to fit into the day. Moving on… We have the evening candle light service at church & then back home for a cozy night in. Just like we usually do. This time with a plan though. I bought stuff to make homemade pizzas which is a favorite & would be so fun to do through out the years. Then, for my favorite new tradition. A Christmas Eve Box. This is a gift for the family to open to know how the rest of the evening would go. In this box I included…
something to do (a game won this years place, but a movie would be fun too!)
something sweet
something salty
something to sip
something to remember (an ornament to represent our year)
something to wear (this will be matching pajamas that we will wear that night & into Christmas morning BUT I was not prepared this year & we just bought ourselves new pajamas so next year this will be a thing!)
It is nothing too crazy, but a fun way to spend out Christmas Eve. Spending time with family, building memories & having something the kids can look forward to every year would be really fun I think. Building our game collection, trying different holiday treats & hanging a new ornament we can enjoy every year sounds like the perfect gift. A gift that builds memories. Exactly how I want this holiday to be for our family. I think this will help keep the importance on the true meaning of Christmas while making it a special family time whether its the 2 of us or when there are some little ones around.
