Favourite Christmas Traditions

Of course, these will be different for every family, or even every person, but I feel that there are always some things all traditions have in common – especially where Christmas is concerned!

All Credit (c) Chef Messy

1. Advent Calendar

Now this one might just be one of my absolute favourite Christmas traditions – every year we get an Advent Calendar for Sinterklaas (totally 5 days late, but that just means we get 5 days in one go), one of those great ones with a classic Christmas-sy picture, and little chocolates (chocolate, need I say more? 🙂 ) and usually, I take it with me to my dorm, so I get the Christmas-feeling, even when I’m not at home, where the Christmas tree is…

A pretty great alternative to the chocolate-version is this one by Chef Messy– not only do you get the perks of great decoration, it’s actually a sort of ‘gift that keeps giving’ – and you can quite easily make it yourself, and adjust t to your own liking!
This seems like something that would be pretty fun to create with kids (or, if you’re me, on your own, because you’re bored and you want to do something Christmas-sy) this one might be a bit late to make into an actual Advent Calendar, but why not make it a 12 days after Christmas thing? (that’s what I’m doing, anyways!)

2. Wrapping the gifts

Now I realise, of course, that this is the big thing – everybody loves giving more than receiving, these days, and even though I’m just a tad bit sceptical as far as their truthfulness is concerned, at Christmas I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Because, really? Few things feel better than seeing somebody open your present, knowing that you put the time and effort into not just purchasing, or creating something for them, but that you also wanted to give them the experience of getting to slowly see the physical representation of those sentiments appear.
Also – it just gives me a chance to use as much ribbons and glitter as I want, and that’s always a good thing, in my books…

3. Decorating the Christmas tree, Overstuffed

One of the things I love most about Christmas, is decorating the Christmas tree – we do it with the whole family, we have some Christmas music on, and it’s just so much fun! Usually, we only do this a good week and a half before Christmas, because of Sinterklaas on the 6th of December, here (and apparently “we should wait until that’s past”), but I seriously just love it
If you need some inspiration on decoration yours, this link is basically a whole step-by-step blogging series telling you how you can decorate your Christmas tree – you can find the first post here and then the next one is linked at the end of each post. I love how abundant the tree ends up being (especially because the one we have at home ends up looking pretty similar – all the decoration!)

What’s more, you can actually find a lot more Christmas inspiration on the overstuffed blog (and she’s just, basically, a pretty great person)

4. Writing the Christmas Cards

Now you can ask any of my closest family or friends, and they will confirm that I love to write Christmas cards – and I make my work out of it too! Although I’m not one to make my own Christmas cards (if you want some tips on how to do that, though, be sure to check this list of Buzzfeed and these two playlists!), I do love to put a lot of thought into what I’m putting down on that little (usually, very cheesy) card.

I just feel like, more than just about any other period of the year, Christmas is the period to let people know you’re thinking about them, even if you might not have had the time, or resources, to show them throughout the year – and what better way to do so than a well-thought out, nicely phrased message on an adorable Christmas card?

This pic is actually from the English version of Astrid LIndgren’s “De Kinderen van Bolderburen” (The Children of Noisy Village), one of my go-to Christmas reads every year!

5. Couch-hanging

Now this probably seems like rather a weird one – after all: what’s so much fun about just sitting about, on a couch? What about the fact that I spend the main part of my weeks at my dorm, studying, and even in the weekends, I’m usually stuck studying non-stop?

Quite ironically, the couple of weeks before exams start (and unfortunately, those weeks just happen to fall during Christmas break) are usually quite a bit calmer than the school year is. This also means that, in the evenings, when the day’s studying is done, we get to just sit in the couch, together, watching a Christmas movie, reading a book, with a nice drink and the Christmas tree put next to the TV – for me, that’s about as perfectly “Christmas” as it gets, and it is genuinely one of the things I look forward to most, each year….

As tonight is Christmas Eve, there’ll probably be quite a bit of Christmas Card-reading, Christmas gifts-unwrapping and admiring the Christmas Tree while Couch-hanging (and some people wonder why I especially love this day! ) so let me just wish you all a very happy Christmas Eve, and be sure to keep an eye out for the last post!
And be sure to check out yesterday’s post, as well as my other Christmas-posts!

-Saar