My little ones first Christmas card photo!

My family has quite a few holiday traditions and now with my own little one I hope to continue those and start a few new ones that we can continue through the years. Last year she was only 4 weeks old so while she celebrated Christmas she didn’t get to participate in any of it. While she’s not old enough to understand Christmas I believe she does know that it’s a special time of year.

For as long as I can remember my family has had the same Christmas tradition. All morning my mom would be preparing pho (Vietnamese soup) for our after mass dinner. Before we left for mass my mom would line us up in front of the tree and take photos in the new Christmas outfits my mom had gotten for us. After mass we would head home to devour the Pho and open gifts.  We were either too impatient to wait until morning or my parents didn’t want to wake up early with us! (As a new mom, I think it’s the later one!)

After my brother was born (he’s 10 years younger then me) he started his own tradition and got to open one gift on Christmas Eve morning. After the gifts we would light a fire and play with our gifts or watch a movie. Then we would leave out the cookies and milk for santa before heading to bed.

On Christmas morning we would wake up and race out to see what Santa had left us in our stockings. To this day we still have pho and open gifts at my mom’s house after mass.

With such fond memories of my family Christmas I hope to provide the same for my kid as well as starting a few of our own traditions. Such as:

1. Buying a new ornament or adding to our snow village each year. My husband and I have been doing this since we got married.

2. Baking cookies on Christmas eve. Gingerbread cookies are one of my favorites and I love having them to munch on during the holidays.

3. Making and using an advent calendar.

4. Decorating the house and tree with home made crafts and decorations.