OBL Holiday Traditions
We asked our members to share their favorite holiday traditions. We are sharing them here and including a few of our own!
Christmas time is quite possibly the most favorite part of my entire year! I have always loved it from childhood and as an adult it’s still just as magical now that we have kids to create traditions with! Since moving back to the Midwest, we have started the tradition of going to the local Christmas tree farm and cutting down our own tree. Picking the perfect one takes forever but the kids have become pretty good tree connoisseurs, holding out for just the right one. Not too full, not too scraggly, not too short. This year’s tree did not disappoint, although it airs on the larger side. Ok… the thing is huge but we made it fit!
The Murphy Crew
Only slightly misleading when you see it all wrapped up on top of the car.
A lot of sap in here! Looks great. A little full. A lot of sap.
It’s a beaut Clark, it’s a beaut!
Here are some of the traditions our members enjoy!
We give our kids a Christmas Eve box with new pjs and filled with snacks
Make and eat latkes (potato pancakes) with my family
Midnight mass on Christmas Eve and monkey bread on Christmas morning
Secret Santa gift exchange
Gingerbread house contest
White Elephant
Christmas eve pjs and an ornament to remember the year’s achievements
Christmas Day brunch
ALL the Hallmark movies with my sisters plus cozy blankets and cookies
Opening and wearing Christmas Eve pjs for the whole family
Driving to see all of the lights and drinking hot cocoa
On Christmas Eve, we play board games all night until we go to bed
We open one small gift on Christmas Eve
Visit a real reindeer farm (we live in the country)
Attend a live nativity play
We bake and decorate cookies every year
Watching all of the classic holiday movies like Christmas Vacation, Love Actually, Elf, The Santa Clause, etc.
We do The Polar Express every year where you ride the train in Flagstaff, AZ and experience the story
I make homemade cinnamon rolls every year and bake them on Christmas morning
Christmas crafts like homemade ornaments and stringing popcorn for the tree with dried orange slices. Lots of work but so fun
Baking cinnamon dough ornaments for the tree. They smell amazing!
Writing letters to Santa and taking them when we visit for pictures
I love choosing a wrapping theme each year and making the presents almost too good to tear into
