There are so many fun things that people do around, on, and after Christmas. Many people have holiday traditions, things they always do every year. It’s really fun to have something to look forward to doing around the holidays, because you know you’ll do it from then on. Here are some of my holiday traditions!

1. We always set up the tree the week of Thanksgiving. Usually it’s the day after Thanksgiving, or sometimes it’s a few days before. Whatever day it is, we always set it up sometime during the week of Thanksgiving!
2. We have a special ornament that opens with a little clasp. When we set up the tree, we put a little piece of candy in it. Everyone usually forgets all about it. Whenever it’s time to take the tree down and pack up all the ornaments, the person who happens to take down that particular ornament gets the candy.
3. We have an Advent reading guide that we work through leading up until Christmas. Every night we read a new section of it.
4. There is a Christmas Eve service at our church, and after we go to the church service, we pick up a pizza from Little Caesars and eat together.
5. On Christmas Eve, after pizza, the siblings exchange gifts with each other. My two brothers, sister, and I all give our gifts to each other. That means that we all get three presents Christmas Eve. It’s really fun because we get a few presents early to enjoy, and everyone is really happy with what they got. We also give our parents their presents.
6. On Christmas Day, my parents never really wrap any of our presents. They lay them out in the living room, unwrapped. Each person has their own little pile or arrangement of gifts. Since they are unwrapped, we always have chairs or something blocking the view into the living room. Everyone comes downstairs all at once, then we open our eyes together and see what we got.
7. My grandmother always comes over on Christmas morning so we can open presents with her. Sometimes, my uncle comes with her, and we all celebrate together. We give them their presents, and they give us our presents. After we open presents, we get to cooking!
8. That’s because we always have a special Christmas brunch with my favorite breakfast foods. Cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, eggs, bacon, orange juice, chocolate milk, sausage balls, fruit salad, and more!
9. Everyone eats at our big dining room table and we use the traditional reindeer plates that we stack our food on. We eat off of fancy plates and drink out of fancy glasses.
10. We relax for the rest of the morning, and in the afternoon, we go to my other grandparents’ house to celebrate!

So those are some things we always do every Christmas. It’s fun to continue traditions and always have something to look forward to. It’s also fun to start a new tradition to keep doing! This year, we started hanging up some extra stockings in our rooms, and sometimes, we find small goodies in them, like candy or a bracelet. Hopefully that tradition can continue!

What are your Christmas traditions? Is there anything fun you do around Christmas? Let me know below!