As I’ve shared before, Christmas is HUGE in our family. It’s celebrated for 2+ months with lots of festivities and traditions older than I am. I thought I’d share some of my favorites in case you’re looking to start one with your own family.

1. Building gingerbread houses. I’ll be the first to say that we’re not very good at this one but we definitely enjoy it! In addition to the village I bought at Target yesterday, we’ll also be building one at my parent’s house on Christmas Eve. By build I mean my husband will probably eat the contents before it’s put together.

2. Visiting the Cincinnati Festival of Lights at the zoo. The lights there are absolutely amazing. They also have a train ride, tons of hot cocoa/other treats and a 4D Polar Express show that is a must-see. We bring the entire family along for this one. We also love to just drive around our town with Starbucks and look at lights. Charlotte usually ends up asleep and we get a little date night out of it. I remember doing this with my parents as a kid as well. We’d go in our pjs which made me even more excited.

3. Watching Christmas movies every single day. Whether it’s Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Polar Express or Miracle on 34th Street, there’s always a Christmas movie playing. And usually hot cocoa to go with it.

4. Visiting beautifully decorated homes at a local Christmas tour of homes. This is a tradition older than I am and one that’s very special to me. I’ve always went with my parents and it’s a night spent sipping cider while admiring gorgeous, historic homes.

5. Our annual Christmas party. This is a newer one. Andrew and I started having our own little Christmas party a few years ago. We host it early in December so there’s something to look forward to even before Christmas. We spend hours baking every dessert we find on Pinterest and usually accompany it with pizza. We allow our family to open gifts on this day as well. We announced our pregnancy at last year’s party but I know that having Charlotte there this year will top that.

I’d love to hear about your traditions and how you make the holiday season special. Merry Christmas!!