I love holiday traditions! I am so excited to start our own family traditions and continue ones from our childhood that we loved. When I was young, every year at Christmas we did an ornament exchange, baked Jesus a birthday cake, left a note and food for Santa, and got to open one gift on Christmas Eve which was always a set of pj’s to wear that night. I feel like I’ve come up with a new idea every day and I need to start narrowing them down to the best.
Some of my ideas:
-Buying a bag similar to this one that Santa leaves out for Brady each and every year. Maybe it will hold a certain thing each year or maybe we will always make it the last present he opens.
–Elf on the shelf. Am I the only person that’s never heard of this? It seems like such a cute idea.
-Advent calendars
-Baking and taking treats to our family and friends
-Going out to pick and cut down a real tree
-Buying Brady a special ornament each year
I’m sure I’ll probably come up with even more ideas before Christmas! Do you all have any awesome holiday traditions I should add to the list? What were your favs when you were young?

Sher Bailey is a writer in the Midwest who believes the power of humor, Mod Podge, and grandkids can fix most problems in life. You can find her at SherBailey.com.
Those bags are so cool! Might have to look into those for my little guys.
every year we go to Hallmark the day after Thanksgiving and each one of us gets a new ornament, it’s become the highlight of the season! I love the idea of the gift bag though! Never heard of it but I think I might try it this year!
every year we go to Hallmark the day after Thanksgiving and each one of us gets a new ornament, it’s become the highlight of the season! I love the idea of the gift bag though! Never heard of it but I think I might try it this year!
I love the bag- my best friend’s family did the ornament tradition that Kristen mentioned and they loved it.
My dad always has the hardest time not letting us open presents and one year when we were little, he let us each pick one present to open Christmas Eve night. We’ve done that ever since, one present the night before, all the rest on Christmas morning. Don’t know why I love that tradition, but I do!
On Christmas Eve, we read the Christmas Story out of the bible and have hot chocolate.
One of my most memorable traditions from my childhood was moving the three wise men around the house. We would move them closer and closer to the nativity as Christmas approached.
I also remember leaving carrots out on the front porch for santa’s reindeer.
Love the Elf of the Shelf and the bags! Great traditions!