8 Fun Christmas Traditions from Our Families to Yours

​1. Passed Down Story Time

“My mother read my brothers and I the story “The Night Before Christmas” every Christmas Eve when I was growing up from an old and tattered book which she had for many years.  There are pages covered in crayon scribbles, torn corners and signs of use through the years.  When my oldest son was born (who is the oldest grandchild) my mother gave the book to me to carry on that Christmas Eve tradition of reading it before bedtime.  I have done so with my kids each and every year and they still will not go to bed until that tradition is honored, even though they are 15 and 19 years old. Hopefully, they will one day read the story to their kids from the same well-loved little book.” – Douglas Venable, Sales Representative

2. Design Studio Christmas Tree at Shea

Every year right before all of us in the office leave for Thanksgiving break we put up the Christmas lights on the office Tree. A few members of our marketing team and our design studio team get together to put up the tree and decorate. We listen to Christmas music and work as a team to make sure the tree looks great!

3. Gift Coding

“My parents could never get my two younger siblings and I to take time in between opening gifts, we were always too excited. One day Santa decided to help Mom and Dad slow us down by coding our gifts. We had to break the codes to figure out who got what, and what order to open the presents in. When we were younger the codes were easy, something like: shapes with four sides went to me, any six sided shapes went to my little sister, and circles went to my brother. As we got older they went to math problems, patterns, or symbols we had to break. We used to get so frustrated, but it made us work together and as the years went on we started to love the challenge. We still do it to this day, only now we code my parent’s gifts too!” – Kayla Kody, Digital Marketing Specialist

4. Elf on the Shelf 

Most of our office participates in this Christmas tradition. One elf in particular will be delivering quite a special gift this Christmas Eve: “When the kids try to find the elf in the morning he will be dangling from our front porch light, over a box. When they open the box they’re going to be thrilled to find their first puppy, a golden doodle that we will be bringing into our family this Christmas.” – Michele Scott, VP of Sales and Marketing

5. Huge Family Reunions

“Every year my entire family travels to my parents’ house in Maine, it’s the house I grew up in. Everyone arrives on the 23rd and we have a huge lasagna dinner with at least 25 members of my family. Three of my family members have birthdays over the holiday on the 23rd, 24th, and 26th so we celebrate those as well. It’s wonderful to have everyone together to reunite and celebrate the holiday.” – Sarah McKinnon, Marketing Project Coordinator

6. Reindeer Get Hungry Too!

“My husband, daughter, and I go to McAdenville to see the beautiful lights the city puts up every year and bring our favorite homemade hot chocolate with us. When we get home we put out Santa’s cookies and milk, but we also make sure to leave some treats for the reindeer! In the morning the reindeer have nibbled on some of their treats.” – Melissa Ehren, Sales Representative

7. The Feast of Seven Fishes

“Every year we cook the feast of the seven fishes. We treat ourselves to foods we don’t normally buy like lobster, and oysters. We make a huge mess but it is always a delicious meal!” – Shannon Lutomski, Purchasing

8. Advent Calendar

“We count down the days until Christmas with our advent calendar. Our daughter pulls out the prize behind each day as we get closer and closer. It’s a fun way to have little celebrations ahead of time and build up to the big day!” – Susan Lamb, Land Development

Share your fun family Holiday traditions with us! We’re on Pinterest.