Our holiday traditions
We’re feeling pretty festive, so our team got together to talk about each of our favorite holiday traditions! It’s so fun to share memories of this time of year, from beloved family customs of our childhood to those we’ve created now that we’re adults with families of our own. The end of the year is a great time to reflect on the past and look to the future, and we hope that you’ll enjoy learning a little bit about us and how we like to celebrate the holiday season!
Q: What is one of your favorite holiday traditions?
Glenna
“We make and decorate Christmas cookies each year to leave for Santa. It started as tradition from my husband’s side of the family making Sand Tarts (a Pennsylvania Dutch tradition) and cutting out a variety of cookies. Each person picks 3 cookie cutters to use (keeping it fair was very important when the kids were little). Our family tends to like more traditional sugar cookies so we’ve adapted the recipe to our taste. It started out when the kids were little with cookies containing a pile of sprinkles, but now that they’re older and our daughter is a bona fide baker, the decorating has become much more sophisticated and intricate!”
Vivian
“We typically go shopping for a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. It’s a day when we spend time enjoying the outdoors and imagining which tree is going to be the perfect one for the year. We always return to our our typical spot of idyllic fields full of beautiful trees, and it’s usually a wonderful time! We’ll pretend to forget last year when it was much colder than usual, the kids were cranky, and I was not feeling as festive as usual, to put it mildly. But these are the memories you look back on and laugh at long after the time has passed – my husband, an army vet who has no problem going out any time of the year in shorts, already gets a kick out of telling it. Our outing this year was much more fun!”
Lauren
“Growing up, my Nana would buy everyone a personal ornament. Something to do with a hobby, interest, food, etc. and would have our names and the year written on the bottom. My favorite was a tennis player with curly blonde yarn for hair. Since she passed, my mom has taken over this tradition. Having a personal Christmas tree with all of these memories make the holiday season even more special.”
Andrea
“We have a big breakfast on Christmas morning, complete with Bloody Marys (the spicier the better). For decor, each year I dry oranges and make garlands for our staircase and tree. They smell so incredible! My husband and I collect an ornament every time we go to a new place or city. I collect sand from beaches we go to and put the sand in a clear glass ornament. So, our tree has tangible reminders of each place we’ve visited! It’s fun to decorate our tree and remember all the great places that we’ve been together and talk about the places we want to see the next year.”
Carolyn
“A warm memory that I treasure from my childhood is that every year, my Dad and I would string the lights on the Christmas tree together in preparation for the holiday. On Christmas Eve it was a family tradition for us all to decorate the rest of the tree with the ornaments – some were from when we were babies and had special meanings and memories. It was always special to string the lights, just the two of us, and then wait for the family to finish it together the night before Christmas with a fire going!”
Claire
“We have a soup dinner and gingerbread house decorating evening the night before Christmas Eve. We get together as an extended family for homemade winter soup (we usually have 3 to choose from or you can have all!) and then we decorate pre-baked gingerbread houses while we listen to Christmas music and eat the candy decorations.” If you’re curious which soups are on the menu, Claire confirmed: “We just started doing the same three recently; crab mushroom bisque, beer cheese soup, and African chicken peanut stew!”
Faith
“My whole family (nieces and nephews included) go to Longwood Gardens in early December to see the holiday lights and to walk through the gardens. It has such a magical feeling and I love that we have this gem right here in the area. Also, we are English and celebrate Boxing Day on the 26th. We spend the day with fellow Brits/family friends who live in the area and often eat too much, drink lots of wine, and celebrate health and happiness!”
Olivia
“Since my niece and nephew were born, our family does fun things for the kids (and the adults)! Every year we have a “breakfast with Santa” where the kids can eat pancakes before getting photos and presents with Santa at the local club. Seeing the magic in their eyes is priceless. We also attend the Doylestown tree lighting ceremony after Thanksgiving, and then go to dinner as family. Having everyone together is something I never take for granted!”
Jill
“Ahead of every holiday as a kid, my ‘job’ was to polish the silver serving pieces and silverware and set the table. The silver was a combination of different generations, from my great-great grandmother’s to my mother’s with pieces dating back to the 1880s. Even as a kid I loved to do it because it connected me to all of the women in my family before me, all of whom had passed by the time I was 9. When I bought my first house all the silver (and corresponding china) was given to me. Polishing the silver is still my favorite part of hosting. It feels extra special and I love using these heirlooms.”
Nicole
“One of my favorite non-food related customs is burning a bayberry candle on New Year’s Eve. You’re supposed to light it when the first star appears in the sky – although I’m a little flexible on this because the sun sets so early! – and let it burn down to the socket, timing it to go out after midnight. Blowing it out is bad luck! The poem that I grew up with is ‘a bayberry candle burned to the socket brings health to the home and wealth to the pocket.’ The origins are varied depending on where you look, but I always knew it from my Pennsylvania Dutch grandparents.”
Do you do anything special at the holidays? Is there a tradition that you’ve carried on from your family, or a new one that you’ve created? Let us know in the comments!
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Glenna Stone Interior Design is an award-winning Philadelphia interior design firm serving Philadelphia, the Main Line, and surrounding cities. Utilizing her background and training in interior design, architecture, and engineering, Glenna specializes in creating interiors for residential and commercial design settings. We invite you to visit our website, view our portfolio, and catch up on the latest interior design concepts on our blog!