This week has been so much fun! I’ve loved seeing everyone’s entertaining ideas, craft projects, recipes and now I can’t wait to see what traditions you share with your family and how you document them.
As our family has grown, it is becoming more important to me to establish a few little traditions that we can all look forward to every year.
I hope that you’ll look up with AP at I Love You More Than Carrots to share what traditions you and your family enjoy!
Gifts
These traditions started on Hudson’s first Christmas. The grandparents give him a collectible gift every year and now we’ll be doing the same with Hayes.
TC’s parents started a Lionel train set for Hudson and they give him a new train car every year. Hayes will also get a train set and a new car every year. I can’t wait to see how this train grows over the years! We’ll only take it out during the month of December for them and they can play with it and appreciate it. I’m so excited to see what cars they get this year.
My parents gave my brother and me a nutcracker every year until we were about 19 or 20. They are starting the same tradition for Hudson and Hayes. We have so many nutcrackers and I love bringing them out every year. We label the boxes with the year so we can remember which year we received the nutcracker. It’s such a fun tradition!
Visiting Santa Claus
Oh yes! It’s a rite of passage for kids, right? Even if they think they’re excited only to get on Santa’s lap and meltdown?
Hudson with Santa in 2009
Hudson with Santa in 2010 (such a brave face!)
Hudson and Hayes with Santa in 2011 (two seconds before that he was so excited to see Santa)
Christmas Cards
I love doing Christmas cards. I love sending them and I love receiving them. I have every single Christmas card from my family growing up saved in my baby book. I’ve been doing the same thing for Hudson and now Hayes.
We did our first little “newsletter” this year and I was excited about that.
We had our pictures taken a few weeks ago and I picked out our favorites. I shared with you all that I was ordering our cards from Minted. I absolutely love the designs from Minted and the customer service is impeccable.
I chose a card that said “Noel.” I loved how simple it was and it just reminded me of Christmas. This is our first year to do a more traditional-looking card and I love it. I love that Noel means Christmas and it just looks to pretty. At least it’s pretty to me!
The colors are so vibrant and the paper quality is wonderful!
For the back, I chose a few different photos to do a small collage.
I’m so pleased with them! Now that I have them in hand, I’m ready to start addressing them (by hand, of course) and mailing them out! Yes- we’re a little bit behind, but in our defense, we didn’t have our photos taken until Black Friday.
Christmas Eve
I’ve mentioned before that we go to church on Christmas Eve and then come home to enjoy some delicious gumbo, French bread and the dessert du jour. Then we’ll be opening up our brand new Christmas pajamas and cuddling up to read The Night Before Christmas and the story of Jesus’s birth in Luke. It’s a magical, very special time. It’s simple and it’s all about enjoying each other’s company.
And it’s bound to come with a couple of toddler meltdowns as most things these day do!
The Candy Cottage
One of my favorite things this year (that I should have given away as part of the Favorite Things giveaway) is The Candy Cottage.
It is a reusable gingerbread house. It is made out of plastic and it can be completely cleaned after each use and reused for the next holiday or occasion. It’s not limited to just Christmas. We can make Halloween, birthday, Easter, Valentine’s Day and beach houses. I’m so excited about it!
I sent one to Callie, Caroline and Molly last week and Callie did a great post about the day she and Caroline decorated the house. It is absolutely adorable!
Hudson and I are decorating the house today when he gets home from school. It’s so easy because it’s already assembled. I just had to buy the decorations– all store-bought stuff. We’ll cover the house in icing and Hudson can just place all the pieces of candy on top. I can’t wait!
What traditions to you celebrate? Link up with AP and share your traditions with us!
Great post, Erin. The Christmas card is beautiful.
I’m so glad I’m not the only one who still addresses her cards by hand!
I love this candy cottage idea. I am going to have to order one for next year so Ethan can do one! We always had the Brio train set when we were growing up that came out at Christmas. My mom always gave us Christopher Radko ornaments each year that I now have on my tree. Ethan has gotten a ton of Christmas ornaments these past 2 years but I plan on doing my own for him soon!
Beautiful card! I love hearing that you have them saved in your baby book. I’m doing the same for my kids, and hope that they will appreciate it someday. I’m not mailing out letters with our cards this year, but am considering writing one just for our children to enjoy when they are older.
Gorgeous card – love the classic simplicity! We also read The Night Before Christmas in my house. My dad reads us (yes, he still reads it to us) the copy that he was given in 1950 as a child. This tradition means the absolute world to me and I look forward to continuing it with our own children one day. Love the idea of the nutcrackers!
I love the candy cottage and can’t wait to do that next year with my little guys!
Love your Christmas card!!
The Candy cottage is great – what a neat idea!!!
I love this post, Christmas traditions are so much fun! I like the idea of giving a different Nutcracker every year because you can find so many different ones out there. Your card is beautiful, I love the photos you chose! 🙂
Love this post, Erin! Thanks so much for sharing! And thanks for sharing your ADORABLE Christmas card! I just love it so much.. And I can’t get over sweet Hudson’s “Brave Face” for Santa!! Too much!! Thanks for linking up 🙂 I’ve LOVED reading everyone’s family traditions!!
I have never heard of the candy cottag. Definitely going to keep that in mind for when we have kids. I mean, does anyone really eat their gingerbread houses anyway? 🙂
I love all of these traditions! Your Christmas cards are beautiful!
That candy cottage is genius! I love the idea of a gingerbread house but never do it because it seems like such a waste for all that work.
The brave face cracks me up!! I can’t wait to see how y’all decorate the cottage today, we had a blast. Thanks again, you are so thoughtful! xoxo
Such fun traditions, Erin, and your card is just beautiful. Merry Christmas!
I will be buying one of those cottages…whoever thought of thought of that is brilliant! Growing up, we spent every other year in Louisiana for Christmas. It was my favorite place to be for Christmas. We would always go to my Nana’s church on Christmas Eve and come home to eat my uncle’s gumbo! 🙂
Love it! I adore Christmas traditions 🙂 Definitely going to do a post about them!
Hi Erin!
I am SO excited that you found The Candy Cottage! They are from right outside Raleigh (where we live), and they debuted at our Junior League’s A Shopping SPREE! last fall. When we saw them again this year, they said they’d be in Columbia at y’alls market, and I immediately thought of you and your boys. So glad you’ve discovered them – they are such a great company!
I love so many of these! I really like the gift idea y’all do. It would be so fun to get something like that for E each year. I just have zero clue what. And that Santa picture? Last years broke my heart because he just looks so brave, but this year made me just bust out laughing!! He’s so over it!
Where did you find the Candy Cottage?
I LOVE the idea of the collectible gifts! My oldest is already 3, but I might still start a tradition like that next year!
your christmas cards are beautiful!! the kiddos are so precious!! 😉