Christmas Eve Family Traditions
Christmas Eve is a special time here in our home…it’s a day that’s almost just as special as Christmas itself. When my brother and I were little kids, my mother always made “eve” a special time just for us, the kids! A time for us to be together before we spend time on Christmas Day with the rest of the family.
When we were kids…it started out with just a nice sit-down dinner for the three of us. After dinner, we were allowed to select one gift from underneath the Christmas tree and open it. We would sit and watch any of the holiday specials that were on TV and sip on hot cocoa and eat some specially prepared snacks & treats. Right before bedtime, my mom would give each us a new pair of pajamas and we would wear them to bed that night. It was always a lot of fun snuggling up with mom on Christmas Eve while she read The Night Before Christmas book to us. This was one night of the year that my brother and I didn’t mind hopping into bed at 7PM in the evening! LOL
Fast forward to when I became a parent and had a child of my own and we pretty much did the same tradition and routine with Jenelle, except we also added attending midnight Mass into the mix. So, none of us got to bed early and she would always fall asleep in her car seat on the way home from Mass. We did the special “just us” dinner, opening one Christmas gift, wearing special holiday pajamas, etc.
Now that I’m a grandmother…I’ve started a few new traditions. Since the grandchildren don’t live with us, I had to change up my routine! We now have Christmas Eve dinner together as a family, we give them one gift and my husband always reads them a holiday book. Afterwards, they head home to their own home as we head out to Midnight Mass. A few years ago my husband and I added a new thing to our tradition and routine. Once we get home from Midnight Mass, we sit down together and pray by candlelight for 20 minutes before going to bed. Yes, we pray for our family & friends, but we also pray for others we’ve never met. It’s important to remember those people too.
So, Do you have any Christmas Eve traditions? Got a holiday routine established that you do year after year? If so, I would love to hear about it. Merry Christmas Eve to you all!
