I love reading people's blog posts about their Christmas traditions. There's something about sharing in other people's day that can bring you some joy, and even give some cute ideas for the Christmas period.

I thought I'd share just 5 of my favourite Christmas traditions that the Johnston household have. These are a few things we have done each year, for the last few years and although my dad would say that this doesn't classify as a tradition, it is in my books. These are all things I really enjoy about the Christmas period, and I couldn't imagine a Christmas without.

1. Christmas Eve Prep
Christmas Eve is always our major prep day. And for so many years, I always associate the afternoon with filling baking trays with all of the goodies we are going to eat the following day. My favourite of these things is the pigs in blankets. These are a huge part of our day - we're a family of 6 and yet each year we make around 70 pigs in blankets. It's our all time favourite thing to eat, and on Christmas Eve, the three of us will wrap our sausages in bacon and lay them on the tray. Along with this, we'll also prepare the stuffing, cut up the brussel sprouts and my mum will cook the Turkey. The house smells amazing and at night when my mum cuts up the Turkey, we all get to eat little bits of it too!

2. Laying out our stockings
We made be all adults, but that doesn't mean we're not kids at heart. And certainly, when we're all at home, our inner kids come out and we all revert back to being childish together. So that means that our stockings still get laid out in wait of the big man. And every year we have a compulsory photo with our stockings. So when we wake up on Christmas day, our stockings are filled with our gifts from Santa and we have the same excitement of when we were kids finding out what has been left.

3. Christmas Baking
I love Christmas baking. Baking is such a fun, and somewhat therapeutic, activity for me. At Christmastime we fill all of our Tupperware with all sorts of baking - mince pies, peppermint creams, Christmas cakes and more. The house is filled with smells of Christmas spices, and our tummies are filled with homebaked goodness. It's the perfect snack for this season, or as pudding. No matter what, we can never make enough home bakes.



4. Christmas Quiz
As a rule, we're not allowed the TV on throughout Christmas day. It's the one day a year TV is not needed and we focus on spending time together. A few years ago, we started playing games through the Christmas dinner. It's the perfect way to split up the meal, and give us a break between each course while we let our stomachs have a rest. One of our favourite parts of the 'entertainment' is the music quiz that my dad makes up. Each year our knowledge of his extensive music collection is put to the test, and we have great fun trying to work out the names and artists of the songs we've had played in the car for many years.

5. Pajamma Day
Boxing day has for years been classed as another family day. It started off when we'd be playing with all our games that we were given when we were younger, but now a days, it involves lounging about, watching dvds together, playing the wii and eating lots and lots of left overs. We usually stay in our pajammas, or at most will get changed into lounge clothes, but this is a day when comfort is key, and no effort is made. And it's great.

Those are just a few of the things I love about Christmas in the Johnston household, although there are many more that signify Christmas and the festive period to me.

What's your favourite Christmas tradition in your house?

Love,
Emily
xxx

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