Our Christmas Traditions
It's no secret around here that I bloody love Christmas. I love the food, the festive cheer and the sparkly fairy lights, but most of all, I love the traditions. There's something about this time of year that is filled with so much nostalgia, and I think that enjoying the same special traditions every year only adds to the magic. Today I thought I'd tell you'll about the Christmas traditions I share with Sam and my family, as well as talking about some that I'd love to adopt - I asked on Twitter the other week what traditions you all enjoyed at Christmas time and I got so much inspo!
Family Christmas Traditions
Christmas has always been a big deal in our family - my Nan always fully embraced the festive season, and her enthusiasm and excitement has rubbed off on the rest of us too. As a result we have a tonne of family traditions that we embrace every year - here are a couple...
We always spend Christmas Day with my Mum's family and there are always tonnes of us - I'm talking 20+! This year we're actually heading to Anglesey to spend it with Sam's family, but we'll be getting together with my family on Boxing Day to continue the celebrations.
My Nan used to always buy everyone in the family a set of Christmas tea towels every year - Sam and I still have the ones she bought us when we moved into our first flat together. It's a tradition we've continued since she passed away and it always makes me think of my lovely Nan whenever I see them hung over the oven door.
My Mum still buys my sister and I matching pyjamas for Christmas eve - because Santa can't see you in the same tired old PJs you've been wearing all year!
We try to go to the Manchester Christmas markets with my family every year - usually we get fed up with how busy they are and end up in a pub instead, but it always makes us feel festive.
My Mum still buys our advent calendars for us, even though we're real grown ups with our own houses and stuff. When we were little we had fabric advent calendars that she would stuff full of goodies, but now she opts for the chocolate or beauty variety.
We always watch Love Actually together as a family - my Dad always pretends he hates it but laughs harder than anyone else at the funny bits.
My auntie lives across the road from my Mum and Dad and ever since we were tiny we've always called over in our pyjamas on Christmas morning to swap pressies.
Champagne for breakfast is a must - in fact, make that champagne all day!
Mine & Sam's Christmas Traditions
Sam and I are both big fans of Christmas (me more so than him, but it would be hard for me to expect anyone to live up to my wannabe elf levels of festive) and we've gathered lots of little traditions together over the year. Here are some of my faves...
Every year we like to add a couple of new decorations to our collection. Sometimes we'll pick something up on our travels, or we choose a couple of new personalised ones together online. (You can see which ones we chose this year here).
We always have a party tea when we put out Christmas tree up, which is basically made up of allllllll the M&S party food and a glass of Baileys.
We have to watch It's A Wonderful Life every year - we try to get to Hyde Park Picture House to watch it, but if not, we dig out our old tatty DVD and curl up on the sofa.
Music always reminds me of Christmas with Sam - Feliz Navidad in particular reminds us of our first trip to New York together when everything was mega festive and the Salvation Army volunteers were singing this on every street corner.
We always fill a stocking full of goodies for each other. I love picking out little bits that I think Sam will love and opening my stocking always makes me feel like a big kid.
Some Traditions I Want To Start
While Sam and I already have a couple of Christmas traditions, I'd like to add a few more, and when better than our first year as a married couple? Here are a few that we're considering...
A few people on Twitter mentioned that they exchange second hand books with their loved ones on Christmas Eve - I love this idea and am definitely going to make Sam partake!
As well as being a musician extraordinaire, Sam also makes a mean cocktail, so I'd love for us to create a new signature drink together for the festive period.
I've always dreamed about hanging a wreath on our front door, but we've never had a pretty enough door! This year we do so I'm planning to start a tradition of making my own wreath.
Okay, so writing this post has made me feel like the most excited Christmas person ever! Do you have any of the same traditions? What are your favourites?