💬 Thursday Thread: What are your favorite holiday traditions?
And what makes them your favorite?
Jolabokaflod is an Icelandic Christmas Eve tradition that involves exchanging books as gifts and then spending the evening reading them
We are knee-deep in the holiday season, which means engaging in old and new traditions that make us feel a sense of connection and comfort. We celebrate Christmas and my family decorates the tree together every year with ornaments we’ve had since my kids were little—some they made themselves in school. We don’t put gifts under the tree or fill the stockings until after the kids go to bed, even though they’re all in their 20s and 30s. And my husband cooks a traditional turkey dinner for everyone with my favorite side dish, sweet potato casserole.
I know many of you have your own favorite holiday traditions, either from childhood or new traditions you’ve created with family and friends.
👉 For today’s Thursday thread, here’s what I’d like to know:
What are your favorite holiday traditions and why?
Welcome to the Thursday Threads, a weekly chance for us to connect with one another in the comments. Join me and other readers as we navigate important discussions. And a note: a difference of opinion is always okay, being unkind to one another is not. Let’s keep these conversations respectful.
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We have some that come from my childhood, some that have started with my own family. Since I was little, we've always watched The Grinch (the original) before we open presents. We recite lines together, and as we've become adults, we've added in mimosas, and... cheesesticks? (None of us can remember when or why the cheesesticks came into play.) It's so fun to have my kids involved in this tradition with my family now as well.
With my own husband and kids, on December 1st we watch Elf to kick of the season. When we decorate for Christmas, we blast Christmas music through the house while the kids and I decorate inside and my husband decorates outside before we all come together to decorate our tree. Christmas Eve we drive around and look at lights and watch the original Rudolph before the kids go to bed. Once they're in bed, my husband and I watch Love, Actually.
When our 4 daughters were very young, we would have them secretly draw each other's names to see which sister they would buy a Christmas ornament for. They are now 27 and the tradition has continued every year with them putting great effort into picking out ornaments that represent something about a sister's life for that year. Now that they are starting to have their own homes, they have a whole bunch of ornaments to put on their own trees.
We also have a bunch of tealight candles on our table for our special Christmas meal and we go around the table and name someone who we want to light a candle in remembrance of who we lost that year.