Creating Holiday Season Traditions

I love the holidays. It’s my favorite time of the year. We get to see family more often, work slows down a bit, and in general I truly believe that people are in a happier mood. I wish we could decorate our houses with lights all year long!

Every week, Toddler Awesome and I go to school together. She’s almost two now, so the class is basically like pre-school, but with all the moms there. She loves it and has been with the same kids since she was 9 months old. It’s nice. Every week the moms discuss topics on parenting, and this week’s topic was holiday traditions. The teacher talked about how it’s so important to create holiday traditions now while our children are small and to continue them throughout our lives. I really liked that idea and thought back to my own childhood and how traditions were so important to me. They were to my husband, too. It’s something we plan to do for our little family. Here are some of our holiday traditions that we have begun to incorporate and would like to continue throughout the years:

1) Decorating for the holidays the first weekend in December – We always get our tree the first Saturday in December. I think it’s nice to always have a set date planned and stick to it. That way you always have it planned and it’s something to look forward to after Thanksgiving. Plus it means you get to enjoy your decorations all month long!

2) Attend the Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks and other community events – The fireworks are one of our favorite events of the year and I want it to be something our family looks forward to for years to come. We also enjoy all the local holiday strolls in our neighborhood. Santa drives by our neighborhood in his sleigh, which I know Toddler Awesome will love when she’s older. Right now she’s totally afraid of him.

3) Give Back – This is the season of giving, and giving back to the community is very important to me. We always participate in holiday toy drives and adopt-a-family programs. I would like our daughter to feel involved in this as she gets older.

4) Shop Earlier – I used to wait until the last minute to buy presents for people. I actually did shopping for several family members in JULY this year. Who am I? I know.

Food is also a big part of the holidays. I went to the grocery store this week and stocked up on snacks and ingredients for foods I want to make. We gave away goodnessknows bars at Halloween to trick-or-treaters and I plan to bring them next week at a potluck I’m going to. Each bar has four portioned squares which makes them easy to serve out of the package. I like them because they have dark chocolate and nuts and feel like you’re eating something really indulgent, but they’re made with no artificial flavors or sweeteners.

Apple almond & peanut, dark chocolate is still my favorite flavor. I’ve been into them ever since I went on a bike ride with them in Santa Monica earlier this year and won my sweet bike. I was watching a movie earlier and had a goodnessknows snack bar with peppermint hot cocoa. It was the perfect after dinner snack.

Overall

The holidays will come and go, but the memories you make with your family will last forever. I am posting this early in the month of December because I think it is important to remember all of these things throughout the season – especially for myself. Enjoy!

What about you? What are some holiday traditions you had as a child? What holiday traditions do you do now that you’re an adult? Post in the comments and let me know.

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of goodnessknows. The opinions and text are all mine.