Traditions – they are what make your holidays and events special. Adding Disney to those traditions can make your holidays even more magical. Even if you have a tradition that has been passed down for generations, it’s never too late to add a few new fun ones! This month, we will highlight some of our personal family traditions that show off our Disney side. Want to share yours as well? Read December – Holiday Traditions or email NDM130 for more information today!
With my family living in Florida now and me still living in New York, being together for Christmas is even more important since we don’t have the luxury of seeing each other everyday throughout the year. So if my work schedule permits, I will fly down to Florida for Christmas.
On Christmas Eve night, we like to bake cookies and brownies. My nieces love to be involved so we will let them put all the ingredients in the bowl and let them take turns stirring. While the cookies and brownies are baking in the oven, the girls will each draw a picture for Santa Claus. Right before its time to go to sleep, the girls will leave a plate of cookies with a glass of milk for Santa along with their drawings.
Once the girls are sound asleep, a tradition that my sisters and I still uphold to this day occurs which is staying up late on Christmas Eve wrapping presents. Christmas Eve is such a busy night for Santa Claus, he usually doesn’t have time to wrap all the gifts he’s left for my nieces. So we’ll give Santa a hand by wrapping those gifts. In the background we’ll usually have either Christmas music playing or one of our favorite Christmas movies like It’s A Wonderful Life or White Christmas.
On Christmas Day morning, we usually wake up at whatever time the girls wake up. When they were younger it used to be like 6am but now that they’re a little older it’s more like 8am. I never get tired of seeing the joy on their faces and hearing the excitement in their voices. They are always amazed seeing the gifts when the night before it was just an empty space under the Christmas Tree. They also look forward to seeing how much of the milk and cookies Santa consumed. Once all the gifts have been open, my sister Veronica will put on a pot of coffee and make breakfast for the whole family. Once our bellies are full it’s usually time to curl up on the couch and watch The Disney Parks Christmas Day Parade on TV. We usually DVR it so the girls can watch it over and over again throughout the day.
The afternoon usually involves the girls playing with the gifts or watching the movies they received while the adults start preparing Christmas dinner.
After dinner, we all start to unwind. The girls will get into their PJs and we’ll usually play a game or watch a movie with them before they go to bed. Once they go to sleep, my sisters and I will sit together and recap the day before heading to bed ourselves.
Now that my sisters and I are adults it’s nice that we’re able to incorporate traditions from our childhood with new ones for my nieces.
NDU #6, DVC Member, D23 Charter Member, Disney fan, Broadway fan, and TV junkie! Recent runDisney fanatic! Instagram: markymarc_70 Favorite park: Magic Kingdom
Growing up as a child, of course I watched Disney animated movies. But it wasn’t until my first visit to Walt Disney World as a young adult, that I fell in love with Disney. Since then the love as spread from just the parks and TV & movies to how I visit (current Passholder and DVC Member), to running (runDisney), and to Broadway (Lion King, Mary Poppins, Newsies, Aladdin, etc.)
But the biggest impact Disney has had on me is the people it has brought into my life. Friendships I treasure with all my heart. Some friends have become more like my Ohana (my family). For this I will forever be grateful.
