Our Christmas Traditions

When we were little my sister and I used to stay at home with our Gran on Christmas Eve, while my parents went out for the day. We thought they were speaking with Santa about last minute gifts or to see if we were on the naughty or nice list. 😅 … They were actually Christmas shopping and going out for lunch!

Now that we’re older we get invited to go with them! But we still have other Christmas traditions we do every year which I touched on briefly in The Christmas Tag.

Outdoor Lights

Every year since I was in secondary school my parents have decked the outside of their house with Christmas themed lights and fairy lights. I fondly remember a giant inflatable Santa and Snowman in the garden, but they have both been retired. They were damaged after high winds one Christmas.

Our outside lights always go up for the 12th December (or the closest Saturday to that date).

Pantomime

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a trip to the Everymann theatre in Cheltenham for their yearly pantomime. It’s a Christmas tradition we’ve had for as long as I can remember and one I thoroughly enjoy.

In recent years, the Everymann Theatre has seen the introduction of Tweedy the Clown at their shows. He’s a great performer and engaging with kids of all ages (and those that are big kids at heart – we’ve had a few high fives over the years).

Pre Christmas meal

The week before Christmas we all go put to one of our local pubs for a pre Christmas meal as a family. Christmas jumpers or t-shirts are mandatory. 😉 It’s a great way to spend time together especially if not all of us are around on Christmas Day.

Stockings

Every year we have a stocking placed at the end of our bed. They’re usually full of things like stationery, jewellery and chocolate coins, with the occassional DVD thrown in as well. Stockings are probably my favourite part of Christmas Day (except for the food 😉) as we all go and sit on my parent’s bed and open then together.

The Coca-Cola Christmas truck

No matter whose watching the TV, it will always get paused to snap that first photo of the Coca-Cola Christmas truck! As children it was always one of the early signs for us that Santa was on his way and, I still enjoy seeing the advert on TV.

We’ve also been lucky enough to see the Coca-Cola truck on tour a couple of times. The photo above is from Swindon in 2016; there’s elves, Christmas carollers and some free soft drinks.

Boxing day jacket potatoes

No matter where we spent Christmas Day, my sister and I will always go over to my parents house for Boxing Day. We have jacket potatoes, left over meats and stuffing from the day before, served with crusty bread rolls. Yummy!

Christmas baking

From building gingerbread houses to decorating the Yule log, it wouldn’t be Christmas without a little Christmas themed baking.

Christmas tree

12 days before Christmas, we pick up a real tree to decorate, which I’ve spoken about in depth in my previous post (Christmas tree, O Christmas tree). We pop on some Christmas music and all decorate it together, followed by a Christmas movie.

Getting ready for Christmas Day

On Christmas Eve we lay the table for our full English breakfast and leave out a mince pie for Santa. Yep, even as adults we have that little tradition.

In my relationship with Artur I learnt of a couple of Polish Christmas traditions that we’ve adopted, opening one small gift on Christmas Eve and leaving a empty chair at the table to honour loved ones no longer with us and in case an unexpected guest arrives.

Once the table is set we’ll eat some gammon steak while having a couple of drinks. There’s often some cheese and biscuits brought out as well.

What Christmas traditions do you and your family have? Let me know in the comments. 😊