I have a confession to make. My oldest son is three and I have been woefully lazy about holiday celebrations in our house. Until this year, we've visited family at Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I had an excuse for not creating holiday traditions, because we were always traveling.
But this year, that came to an end. We're home for Christmas. And it only hit me about two weeks ago that I haven't done much to celebrate what a magical time this can be for children. Enter mom guilt galore. I have fond memories of all the decorations that my mom used to put up in our house and how we'd display on the mantle all the holiday cards we received from friends and family. Decorating the tree was a great trip down memory lane, because we'd use glass ornaments from my mom's childhood mixed in with ones my sister and I created every year at school.
To be fair, we always have a tree (which I happily decorate with my son) and a few decorations around the house. And thankfully, my husband loves Christmas lights, so he and my son had fun putting them up this year. So I haven't had to start from scratch. But when it comes to other traditions - things I want my sons to to look back on fondly and consider hallmarks of the holidays - I have some work to do. So this weekend, we'll be missing family, but I'm looking forward to celebrating with great neighbors and starting a new tradition of baking and decorating cookies with my son.
For now, here are a few holiday images from our family so far.
I'd love to hear what your family's holiday traditions are. What do you remember enjoying from childhood? What fun things do you do with your kids? If you need inspiration for documenting your family's holiday celebrations, check out these 25 ideas for Christmas pictures and this hands-free way to document Christmas morning and get yourself in the photos as well.
With any luck, I'll be back next year with some fancy traditions to share. In the meantime, sign up for my email list below to receive tips for documenting your family.