Christmas/Advent traditions

One for me growing up was choosing a new ornament each year that represented the year. Another is baking Christmas cookies. And an annual Christmas Party at church. We will continue all of those, but I'm hoping for some other ideas too.

We as a family haven’t Made any traditions yet and it makes me sad, as it’s my most favorite time of the year. We’ve just not been financially able to! 😢 but hope to make some soon!

We have a cross Christmas tree (in addition to our regular tree) that we decorate together with a crown of thorns, nails and a sash with some fake white roses and we read Christmas bible stories every night around it during the month of December

So what I started doing when my first was born was giving a present on Christmas eve that is a new set of pj's, their current favorite snack and drink, and a Christmas movie. Then after dinner we all get into comfy clothes/new pj's and have a movie night.

So we put up a stocking for each family member and I buy a few things from Walgreens or the dollar store. We are very tight financially and live in an apartment. So thats about all we do, though we also try others. We also try to do something with chocolate and Chick flick movies! And last year we went and saw the lights. But this year, we'll be starting work on a big project and probably will keep it very simple.

We have a Christmas program at church every year accompanied with a meal! We're also trying to start our own "home" tradition on Christmas eve, inviting our families over

We make cookies before Christmas and then go caroling during the Christmas octave. I love sharing the plates of cookies with our neighbors, and people seem so genuinely cheered by the singing. We also love going to midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. It feels like being a shepherd called to gather ☺️ It’s cold and dark outside, but the church is lit with candles and decorations and the Christ child is so peaceful in the display manger… Idk. Something about it is so beautiful