Holiday Traditions

The holidays are a time for family and traditions. There's something so comforting about traditions, is there not? I think it's because they're so constant and familiar. Does anybody really like change or new things? I don't think anyone is 100% comfortable with it. So traditions are able to ground us, they are something familiar we can return to time and time again. No matter how crazy your year has been, the holiday traditions you share with your family will always be there. My traditions are something I look forward to every year. Of course, we are always making new traditions, but there are those age-old ones that will be around forever. 

Christmas Cookies

Every year my family is in charge of the cookies. So every year on the 23rd, my sisters and I bust out the Kitchen Aid stand mixer and get baking. We make traditional chocolate chip & peanut butter blossoms. But not just any peanut butter blossoms. We dye one batch of the dough red and the other half green to get that ultimate festive look. We each have our roles when baking. My older sister, Megan, typically is the one making the batter for the chocolate chip cookies. My younger sister, Allie, and I are working the oven, putting the cookies on cooling racks, packaging them up, etc. 

Peanut butter blossoms are my babies. I make the dough while Megan and Allie unwrap candy kisses. We always make the biggest foil ball we can out of the candy kiss wrappers. Then we each go to our stations. I roll the dough into balls. Allie rolls them in sugar and puts them on the tray. Megan runs the oven and puts the candy kisses on them when they come out. 

We also make rice krispie treats and chocolate covered pretzels. Sometimes my mom gets crazy and makes a couple other things, but those are our traditions. 

Pierogis

We are Polish and every year for Christmas we make homemade pierogis. We do potato and onion and we make at least 5 pounds of potatoes Christmas Eve morning. Since we are hosting this year, we'll be making ten pound of potatoes. Get ready, family. Pierogis are a huge, messy process. We use the handy Kitchen Aid to mix the dough, but you still have to roll it out on the counter. The filling is made by boiling the potatoes, cooking up a lot of onion in a lot of butter and then adding the onion, salt & pepper to the potato mixture. Roll your dough out, use a glass to cut it in circles. Then you have to put some potato mixture onto the circle, fold it over, seal it with a little water and use a fork to get that pretty shell look. Then you boil in a pot with some oil. This process takes hours, but we jam to Christmas music, stay at our stations and inevitably end up covered in flour. We eat the pierogis on Christmas Eve which is when our big celebration always is, but we also have a tradition of frying them up in butter on Christmas morning for breakfast right after we open presents. I'm drooling just thinking about it. 

Christmas Movies

I love Christmas movies, but there are three that have become tradition for my family to watch. A Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon version, NOT the Jim Carey version) and Elf. It's not Christmas until I've watched all these movies. I also try to sneak in The Year Without a Santa Claus. 

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

This is a more recent tradition, but TSO comes to Chicago every year around Christmas and we've started going to see them every single year. Listening to them at home is always good, but this is a group you NEED to see live at least once before you die. There is a laser light show and flame throwers and it's just absolutely incredible. 

All Night Gift Wrapping

We are very last minute gift wrapping kind of people. It's generally on the 22nd or the 23rd, but one of those days, my sister and I are staying up all night wrapping presents. Your back is killing you by the time you're done because you've been on the floor for so long, but won't those look beautiful under the tree?? Yes. Yes, they will. 

Those are some of my favorite Christmas traditions! What are some of yours?