Every family has different traditions, especially when it comes to the holidays. These traditions can range from watching the same Christmas movie every year to decorating the house a certain way. Whichever traditions make up your family, they’re all special and help to make your family unique from other families. Even though I’m getting older, a lot of the same traditions we had when I was young still apply. Be grateful for the little traditions you have because they’re a part of who you are.

My family and I take a trip to the tree farm to pick out our Christmas tree. We all search for the perfect tree and then my mom sees her favorite and says “That’s the one.” We take pictures in front of the tree before my dad and my younger brother chop it down and drag it back to the vehicle. Eventually we get our decorations out and decorate the tree. When I was younger my dad used to lift me up to put the star on the tree. Who am I kidding, when I was younger? I'm 20 years old and dad lifted me up last year.

Every Christmas Eve my whole family goes to church and then we go to my grandma's house to see everyone and eat dinner. After that, we go over to my aunt’s house to see everyone there and have snacks. My uncle is always watching Scrooge, the black and white one-- it definitely would be different if we went there and he wasn't watching it. Everyone is dressed in nice Christmas Eve clothes drinking eggnog. I look forward to going there every year.

One of my favorite things to do around Christmas time is watch Christmas movies. Our favorites are Four Christmases, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Elf and Christmas with the Kranks. On Christmas Eve, my family watches A Christmas Story. I always look forward to this because it’s just mom, dad, and my brother and I.

Christmas morning we all get up and sit around the tree. We all open our stockings first before we open our presents under the tree. Ever since we were young there were always a couple presents that said “From Santa” and my parents still do that. After we open presents we make a big breakfast and have some family over. We hang out in our pajamas most of the day listening to Christmas music and enjoying our time together. My mom makes Christmas dinner and the whole family comes over. We show everyone what we received for Christmas before we eat.

Your traditions make up part of who you are. I have lived in my house for 12 years and this is where a lot of the traditions came about. This is the last year we will celebrate anything in this house. Even though I don't like change, I'm looking at this new chapter as a fresh start and a way to begin new traditions. Don’t take your traditions for granted; live in the moment.

What are your traditions? What makes your family unique? Think about them this holiday season.