Christmas Traditions with a Toddler and Baby
Now that our little family is complete, it’s been fun to think of how we are going to create family traditions with our two girls. I have an uniquely great memory, so I vividly remember some of the traditions my parents gave my sister and I. We would do cookie baking, new pajamas on Christmas Eve, decorating after Thanksgiving, and a Christmas Disneyland trip to pick out a new ornament for our “Disney” tree. Some of these traditions we want to keep, some we want to alter, and some are finally being retired.
Here are some of the Christmas traditions we are starting with our girls:
New Christmas pajamas and a new Christmas book on Thanksgiving night. My parents always gave me new pajamas to sleep in on Christmas Eve. I loved the idea of this tradition but if I’m going to buy my girls Christmas themed pajamas, I wanted them to get them most wear out of them during the Christmas season! So our tradition is on Thanksgiving, after we feast and it’s time for bed, the girls will get a wrapped gift with a new Christmas book and new Christmas pajamas to start the season off. We started it this year and it was a huge hit with them. This year’s pajamas are from Old Navy and they got How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Santa’s Cookie is Missing.
The Giving Manger. So we don’t do “Elf on the Shelf”, instead I found “The Giving Manger”. This is a great way to show children that Christmas isn’t just about receiving, but also giving. We started it this year a bit early and Evelyn has immediately caught on to doing good services for others. Plus, I don’t have to worry about moving the elf in any witty and creative ways to set up some shenanigans that he gets into.
Baking cookies together. We have a family recipe that I would bake with my dad during the holidays and now I will pass this recipe on to my girls. If you are a family member of mine, you know about these cookies, Vascochos. The recipe was given to my dad from his mother. My dad is Mexican, but never spoke a word of fluent Spanish. He always called these cookies “Vascochos”. It’s even on the recipe card. However, a little investigating and I found out that like most of my dad’s Spanish, he was mispronouncing the name of these cookies! Bizcochos is the correct name for these cookies. More investigating and I’ve learned that these are really a complete cross over between typical Mexican Wedding Cookies and Bizcochos (Mexican Holiday Cookies). You learn something new every single day. So while we are keeping this tradition, do we keep my dad’s name for these cookies? Or do we correct it?
New tree ornaments. This year we won’t be able to carry on the tradition of a special trip to Disneyland for new ornaments, but we still can go to Downtown Disney. I’ll let each of my girls pick out an ornament to decorate their trees with and that way when they are adults and move out on their own, they’ll have ornaments to bring with them.
Christmas light gazing. We live close to Balboa Island and we typically go there to walk around and look at the lights. We also try to hit up the Newport Beach Boat Parade as well, but that won’t happen this year. However, I still have hope that we might be able to get out this season and check out some lights with hot chocolate and decide which houses we like best!
With both of my girls here, my heart is full this holiday season. These simple traditions are also foundations for our relationships with our daughters. I hope these memories we make together during this time serve us throughout the year in strengthening our family and deepening our love for each other.
What traditions do you share with your children? What is your favorite memory as a child yourself?
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