I won't sugar coat it, Holidays in the midst of infertility are rough! I'm not sure why exactly. I guess it's because most traditions are focused on children and families [as they should be.] Sometimes it's easy to feel a little left behind. Children seem to add so much magic during the Christmas Season so for a while it was easy to feel jaded during our celebrations.
This Christmas will be our seventh one together and I think I'm finally starting to appreciate our Christmases for two! Here are some of our favorite traditions that we look forward to each year! We also look forward to hearing some of your favorite traditions as well so don't forget to leave your comments below!
Let's be honest- when you share a bank account... and an Amazon account, it's impossible to hide those "BIG TICKET CHRISTMAS ITEM" purchases from your significant other. We've tried paying with cash for things... having purchases delivered to the neighbors... in the end one of us [me] usually ends up telling the other person [Tyler] what we bought them for Christmas and it ruins the whole SURPRISE factor. That's why we started the secret stocking stuffer tradition! All season long we fill the other person's stocking with goodies! The rule is we can't look in our own stocking until Christmas Day. Our stockings usually include candy [because... duh!] deodorant + razors [because... adulting] jewelry, lipsticks, and socks [for me] and Star Wars toys, random crap, and more candy [for him].
Christmas Movie Marathon:
Is Christmas movie watching be a hobby? I'm going to go ahead and say yes... [we're pretty good at it around here!] Aside from the obvious Hallmark Movies [not joking] here are a few from our "Christmas Must Watch" list- Jingle All The Way, A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone [1+2], The Grinch [old +new] Holiday in Handcuffs [ok that's really just for me] I'll be home for Christmas, Aurther Christmas, Elf, The Santa Clause, Miracle On 34th Street and of course It's a Wonderful Life!
Christmas Candle Shopping:
Okay okay... Tyler rolls his eyes at this one but... he still participates so I'm counting it as a tradition! Every year, to kick off our Holiday season, we head out to carefully pick our VERY OWN Christmas Candle! [Exciting right?!] Because we never buy a real tree but love the smell, this is our solution! The crazy part is, there are so many candles out there that CLAIM they smell like Christmas when in reality they smell like a cheap knock off with a hint of plastic. So yes, smelling several brands IS nesecary [Target for the win this year + every year.] When we light this sucker the Christmas Season has offically begun [and it burns 24/7 over here.]
Okay okay... Tyler rolls his eyes at this one but... he still participates so I'm counting it as a tradition! Every year, to kick off our Holiday season, we head out to carefully pick our VERY OWN Christmas Candle! [Exciting right?!] Because we never buy a real tree but love the smell, this is our solution! The crazy part is, there are so many candles out there that CLAIM they smell like Christmas when in reality they smell like a cheap knock off with a hint of plastic. So yes, smelling several brands IS nesecary [Target for the win this year + every year.] When we light this sucker the Christmas Season has offically begun [and it burns 24/7 over here.]
Tree Decorating:
Growing up we always had a "fun" tree. It was never one of those "pretty" tree's [you know... the kind you can look at but can't touch?] So, my whole life I swore I'd have a "pretty" tree when I was older. [I was a weird kid ok?] I wanted white lights and glass ornaments laced with beautiful ribbon. Turns our when you're first married you're poor. Turns out after you're first married you're still poor... but that's beside the point. We inherited our sweet little charlie brown tree from a friend and collected all of our childhood ornaments! Our tree goes up every year while we blast Christmas music and it sure is a beautiful sight.
Dinner Party:
Fun fact- We love dinner, parties and friends! So, naturally we love to host holiday dinner parties! After all, that's what the holidays are all about right? Surrounding yourself with family and friends! Believe it or not I own 50 of those gold plate chargers [ask Tyler how thrilled he is about that.] But I have found that gold can fit within ANY holiday color scheme so they get plenty of use [in my brain.]
Christmas wouldn't be complete with out Christmas lights! Weather we are scouting the most lit neighborhood [see what I did there] or walking down town, stopping to twirl under the lights is an absolute must. Grab some hot chocolate and doughnuts and make it a date! The views are always so breath taking!
Pre-Christmas Breakfast:
Most of the time we spend Christmas Day with family but we didn't want to miss out on our own Christmas breakfast. We usually pick a Saturday near the Holidays to celebrate our very own Christmas morning! We were given a Pancake Puff skillet for our wedding and agreed it was the perfect Christmas Breakfast Tradition... and so it's stuck every year!
Romantic Getaway:Sneaking off for a cozy weekend has been our FAVORITE part about getting married in December! If we aren't traveling outside of UT, we like to escape to the mountains! Last year we spent a weekend at The Alaskan Inn and we gave it 5 stars! The views are beautiful, the rooms were homey, and the food was fabulous! We will definitely go back!
Handwritten Christmas Cards:
People just don't send out personalized Christmas cards anymore! I think the trend has been to write a generic letter with all the previous year's accomplishments, stick a picture with it, and send it off to as many people as you can... [but then what's the point of Facebook?] Don't get me wrong we still LOVE to see the letters come in but we decided we did want to send those types of cards out. Instead we pick up a pack of Holiday greeting cards and send them off with a picture and a personalized note. We love to take this opportunity to reconnect with those we haven't seen in a while!
I have no idea where we decided Christmas eve and Chinese food make a good pair [maybe it was inspired by a Christmas story.] Something about the two just make sense! Even when we've been with family for the holidays we've been able to sneak away for our yearly Christmas Eve tradition! Sometimes we stop by Panda Express on the way! We actually really love Chinese food so... it doesn't shake up our weekly routine too much but it's still a tradition that makes us smile and reminds us how lucky we are to spend the Holidays together!
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