We all have them. Those fun traditions that we do around or on Christmas that really put us in the holiday spirit. However, there is definitely a hierarchy at play here. There are some traditions that just rise above the rest. This is only my opinion, but my opinion is always right.
The Best Christmas Traditions are:
1. Decorating the Christmas Tree
Yes, this includes the whole process. Picking out the tree from a bunch of other similar looking trees, turning on that oldie but goodie Christmas music (or the Justin Bieber Christmas album, am I right, ladies?) and fighting over whose ornament is whose.
2. Praying with the Family For Christmas Dinner
The prayer is usually said by my dad at our house, and it is always such a great time to recenter and refocus on God and His provisions. It is a blessing to be able to be around family, and honor God together as a family.
3. Eating Christmas goodies
Those of you with grandmothers who bake know exactly what I am talking about. There is nothing like a warm gingerbread cookie with ice cold milk or cinnamon praline cookies with ice cream. Calories don't count on Christmas, so you have to indulge and try everything at least once.
3. ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas
Disregarding the strange name change of the channel to Freeform, this channel is on point with their Christmas movie schedule. To get in the spirit, grab a friend, a blanket, and a couch, find your remote, and get ready to never want to leave your house again. Oh, and to watch a lot of Elf.
4. Driving Around and Looking At Christmas Lights
Have you ever seen anything so magical before in your entire life? Whether people in your neighborhood go light crazy or not, you must drive around to to biggest, flashiest neighborhood in town and check out their decorations. I always Google and see if there are any local lists of good neighborhoods to check out. You never know what you might find.
5. Hanging Your Stockings by the Chimney with Care
I love how we do stocking stuffers in my family. Throughout the year, we all gather together silly little gifts for each other and then on the night of Christmas Eve, we all open them together and laugh about what ridiculous things we all found for each other. Gifts are meant to make people smile, and these gifts do that (hopefully).
The Worst Christmas Traditions
1. Fighting with Your Siblings
Yes, you know it happens. You come home from college, they say one thing that pushes your buttons (like only they know how), and you feel like you are five again. Gosh darn, we are lucky that we end up laughing it off, Little Brother.
2. Eating Too Much
Remember how I said Christmas calories don't count? I don't think I have convinced my body of that yet. I usually have such high hopes of eating healthy at the beginning of break. But those Christmas cookies? WHAT ARE THOSE?
3. Not Knowing What To Get Someone For Christmas
There is always that person who is incredibly hard to shop for. You can know them super well, and still have NO IDEA what to buy them as a gift. Maybe they are really picky, or maybe they always just get themselves something if they want it, so there is nothing left for you to get for them.
4. Having to Pack and Unpack All the Time
Especially if you travel over the holidays, you can feel like you are constantly packing and unpacking your life. You pack your stuff and take it home from college, where you unpack it at home but then repack it for a trip and unpack there and then repack to come home, where you unpack, and then repack to go back to college. Ugh, just writing that sentence made me tired.
5. Missing Your College Friends
Don't get me wrong, I love my family and my friends from high school. But having lived with my college friends for 3 years now, leaving them for a month is not fun. I guess that is what makes coming back from break so great!
