It’s the most wonderful time of the year and we definitely need it after all of the twists and turns of 2020. One of my favorite things about the holiday season are all of the Christmas traditions. I love hearing what other families do every year, introducing ones of my own to my fiance and even creating some new ones together that we can do every year as our family grows.

One of our favorite traditions is getting matching pajamas for me and my fiance to wear on Christmas Eve. I find so much joy in finding a cute set of pajamas and can’t wait to see how it continues as we add little ones to our family over the years.

Another tradition that ties in perfectly with the pajamas is taking photos on Christmas morning in said PJs. It will be great to have the photos to see how we’ve changed and how much our family grows as we continue the tradition over the years. We also love having the photos for the memories (and of course Instagram).

With lots of families to see over the holidays we’ve also created the fun tradition of opening our presents on Christmas Eve. I love going to my mom’s house bright and early to see my 5-year-old niece open her presents, so we started opening our presents to each other on Christmas Eve and it's become a fun late night tradition after we’re pooped from all of the holiday parties.

Stockings are a Christmas must and here at the Jenkins’ we take it pretty serious. Alex and I select small gifts that we know each other will love like snacks and treats, card games, small gadgets, and even video games (yes ladies I have gotten video games too). We fill them long before Christmas Eve so it’s super exciting to see what’s been in there all those weeks.

We always make sure we don’t forget to take some time to relax. While the holidays can be hectic, filled with travel and lots of parties, it’s important to also take some time for yourself. My fiance and I both save our vacation time from work to take some well deserved time off, and kick back and relax. Typically, we would spend some of that time traveling to Alabama and to spend time with Alex’s family, but since we aren’t able to travel this year we are excited to spend some time together at home.

During our long winter break we plan to complete the final, and probably my number one tradition, of watching all of our favorite Christmas movies. I don’t know about you but I can watch the Grinch 10 times in the month of December and will still never get sick of it.

The mixing of two families calls for learning new traditions and making new ones that you create together. My fiance and I love learning about each other's families and can’t wait to continue to make more traditions of our own over the years. What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

Xo,