Do you have a favorite Christmas tradition that you have either passed on, or created yourself?

I have a family Christmas Tradition that my parents started when I was a kid, and wanted to share with you today.  It is my favorite memory as a child, and I have continued doing it for my kids!

As a young child, it never failed that I would wake up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve… I would toss & turn, would have to go to the bathroom, but would be afraid to leave my room in case Santa was in the house.  However, when I would open my bedroom door in the middle of the night, I always knew if Santa had been there already because there would be a trail of Hershey Kisses from my bedroom door all the way to the Christmas tree.  My siblings never woke up, so in the morning they would see the Hershey Kiss trail and squeal with joy.  It kept me from worrying if Santa was there or not, and it was the best surprise in the morning if I had actually slept through the night.

When my husband and I were married (before kids), I would get up in the middle of the night, and put out the trail of Hershey Kisses… it just wasn’t Christmas morning unless there was a trail that lead to the tree.
I did it for my husband for about 4 years without kids… and of course I still do it now!
It is a tradition that brings out the true magic of Christmas.  I now have friends who I have shared this tradition with, that pass on to their families!

Christmas morning (below)… you can see the trail going past Graycie!

I then asked some of our AR team if they had any special traditions or memories they wanted to share, and of course, they did as well!

Here are some of our team holiday traditions:

Maureen says, “Every year on Christmas eve, we would go to 5pm Mass, go to our favorite Chinese restaurant, and then drive around and do a long light looking tour of the cities around”.

Becky says, “After opening presents, we have breakfast and spend the morning playing. We have our holiday meal in the afternoon and at the table, each of us has a Christmas cracker to pull open. Inside is a paper crown, a small toy and some awesome jokes.”

Shana says, “I like to host friends who don’t travel on Christmas Eve for appetizers and later we let the kids open one gift from us. I also try to read a Christmas book each night the week leading up to Christmas whether it is the Polar Express, The Grinch or the Christmas story from the bible…”

Sonya says, “Each Christmas Eve we make and leave out cookies and milk for Santa and then to go outside and sprinkle Reindeer Food in our yard to make sure Santa’s sleigh crew is also taken care of!  We let Riley take the lead of course, having him select the kind of cookies we make together each year (came dangerously close to having to put out chicken nuggets last year because he was worried Santa would be tired of cookies by the time he got to our house!) and having him choose exactly where in the yard we should sprinkle all the reindeer food. Once Riley is asleep we drink up most of the milk and eat the cookies leaving crumbs and one half eaten cookie on the plate.  Of course, the very best part is always the expression on Riley’s face Christmas morning when he sees that Santa enjoyed the yummy treats we made for him.”

Libby says, “We jingle giant sized sleigh bells from the outside of the house near the windows on Christmas Eve and watching the kids run from room to room and window to window trying to spot Santa’s sleigh.” (I asked her, who does it and how do the kids not notice – and she said they do it with a big family gathering, and either one of the dads or a grandfather does it… and that there are so many kids running from room to room that they never catch them).

Heidi says, “We head up to McAdenville one night to see the lights.  The girls put on jammies and we bring popcorn and hot chocolate!  Also, we do an advent calendar with Chrsitmas books so each night the girls will unwrap a Christmas book to read at bedtime.”

Carrie says, “Growing up, we would have the same meal every Christmas eve: a spiral ham with homemade spicy mustard dressing, deviled eggs, homemade molasses baked means, soft rolls, my Mom’s amazing Crescent Roll sticky buns.  Also I remember a dessert we always had Christmas Day at my grandparents’ home in Angola on the Lake. Perry’s pink peppermint ice cream in a chocolate cookie crumb crust, with a hot fudge topping and walnuts.”

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I hope you enjoyed reading some of our favorite Christmas traditions and memories…. Do you have any good ones?   We would love to hear!