in September/October, I take Brett on a date and we talk about what we’d love our holidays to look like this year. a roughhhh draft of our plans and priorities for the upcoming months, if you will. like, last year we decided we wanted to block off Christmas Eve evening and Christmas morning as time spent under our roof, just the three of us. this year we decided we wanted to do that again, and what about hosting a cozy family Christmas brunch at the beginning of the December to kick-off the season? and do we want to go to that light show exhibit, say, that second weekend - or was it even worth going to? do we maybe want to see my family on this day and yours this day? hey, any requests for what we should eat Christmas morning? taking time to dream about what we’d like the next few months to look like is so much fun (and makes saying no to the things not meant for us so much easier.) I love our holiday-planning date.
we leave the season pretty open to just enjoy. maybe new traditions form, maybe we just do something once this year - there’s no pressure. we also say no to a lot of outings and parties, as we do like our month to be on the slower side. :)
but, we do have a few traditions we keep bringing back each year. and we love them.
day-to-day traditions
On Black Friday, I order a big shipment of my favorite Spiced Wine and Mulled Wine. and I enjoy it here and there throughout the holidays. to me, this drink marks the start of the season!
if time and energy allow, Brett and I like to have a date at this winery, too. we discovered it while we were little dating babies, so going to this winery (and another one of our favorites) instantly transports us back to dating days. and this time of year the winery keeps a big, warmed vat of their Spiced Wine and Mulled Wine, so I get especially giddy. usually we do this date that week between Christmas and New Year’s - that week when no one really knows what day it is and we’re both ending the holidays and looking into the New Year. aka a great time for a nostalgic winery date.
Let me pause and say I’m not big into seasonal decor. (Here’s what we prioritize instead.) We have a Christmas tree from Facebook Marketplace, dripping in sentimental ornaments. And we have a big wreath (a handmedown from my childhood home) on the front of our house. And that’s about it.
Part of my daily rhythm is to wake up before the rest of the house to start my day with some alone time. during this time of year, I play an instrumental Christmas station on Spotify softly in the background. it’s delightful.
play traditions
Click here for our list of favorite Christmas-themed sensory bins, play dough activities, toys, and books!
food traditions
At some point in the season, I make Spritz cookies with my cookie press.
Brett and I have our annual Hyde Park Grill date
Many, many years ago, brett and I were little dating babies in college. and when we went home for the holidays, we’d meet back up around Christmas time at my favorite restaurant - which, given that I’m from Houston, he’s from New Braunfels, and said restaurant is in Austin, was quite impressive. since then we’ve gone every year around Christmas. i love it so much.
Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are spent in our house, just us. So we have special food traditions for those:
Christmas Eve we make an epicccccc charcuterie board with fun drinks. The week of Christmas we go to Whole Foods or Trader Joes or a local cheese shop and have the best time picking out cheeses, meats, crackers, produce, nuts, jams, spreads, whatever -it’s the best, most festive excursion. I may even order some specialty jam/preserves/spreads online earlier in the month. And we so enjoy deciding on our special drink: a cocktail? a mocktail? a special-occasion wine we normally wouldn’t try? The whole experience is SO much fun. Have I mentioned how much I love food traditions?
Christmas morning is some baked good that is more laborious than what I’m willing to do on a normal weekend. So cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, whatever - and I do make it ahead of time so that all I have to do Christmas morning is pop it in the oven. Brett’s alwaysssss into good coffee so we alwayssss have that in the mornings, but for Christmas we splurge on a bottle of Bailey’s or something to add to our good coffee. Happy holidays indeed!
family traditions
Brett reads this book on Christmas Eve and write a one-line summary of what we did this Christmas season, thanks to the brilliance of this family's tradition. (ps there are lots of versions of this book out there - I just love that ours is a huuuuge, sturdy board book!)
gift traditions
whew. I love. love love love this kind of stuff.
i want my kids to grow up and know that their mom loved her daily life, but she also loved holidays, traditions, and birthdays.
and because life is short. and i want mine peppered with joyful rituals and intentional celebrations.
xo
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Cheers to special memories and intentional traditions! Happy dreaming, y’all.
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