Holidays Traditions

I hate to remind you all but since school is now back in session, this means that the Summer is over, which in turn means that Christmas is in sight. I mean you must have seen the Christmas aisles in all of the supermarkets, no time like the present to get prepared I say :)

This got me thinking about holiday traditions, not just for Christmas but for Halloween and Bonfire night too.

I think in recent years, Halloween has become more popular over here, we have taken on the ideas of the Americans and trick or treating is becoming a traditional thing to do over here too. I try to take the kids out early afternoon as I don't think they are old enough to be walking around in the darker evenings. If the weather is bad then I always organise a type of treasure hunt indoors for them and they then go around the house with their pumpkin buckets collecting the sweeties that they find.

Anyone who knows me will also know that I am a sucker for costumes. Not only do I love dressing the kids up, I have also been known to put on a Witch costume myself.

Just take a look at this post from 2 years ago and the picture on the left is from 3 years ago, scary how time goes by so quickly.

I couldn't find the pictures from last year so I can't remember what the kids were wearing.

My 3 year old has already informed me that she will be dressing up as a cat and I am tad excited about dressing Layla up in a teeny tiny costume.

I wonder if this year's costume picks will be anything like the Halloween costumes predictions in this infographic from fancy dress ball? I'm thinking maybe we could choose a theme for the whole family this year.

Bonfire night isn't a time that I particularly like, I am not a big fan of fireworks, as a little girl I was extremely scared of all the banging and even now I refuse to hold a sparkler. My kids on the other hand love it. We don't have any traditions really, I think we try and go to a different fireworks display each year. Last year because it was raining, so we decided to drive the car to the top of the cliffs and watch everyone else fireworks, meant we got to stay warm and dry and an added bonus for me, it wasn't so loud!!!

Christmas is my favourite time of the year. I am one of those people that wishes it could be Christmas every day. I have even started a board in pinterest  to show just what I love so much about it. Christmas for me starts in November, this is when I break out all of the Christmas films and it is also a tradition to buy a new Christmas film each year to add to my collection. My favourites are Elf, The Snowman and Santa Claus the Movie.

Of course there is the traditions of leaving a carrot for rudolph and whiskey and a mince pie for Santa, as well as stockings at the end of the bed and the massive Christmas dinner which has to include brussell sprouts!!!

Every Christmas Eve I read The Night Before Christmas to my children as this is also what my dad used to do for me and I think it is nice to carry that tradition on.

Oh and not forgetting the costumes!!!

Each year I buy the girls new costumes to wear on Christmas day and sometimes I may go a little over board and they get costumes for Christmas Eve and Boxing day too.

I wear the same Mrs Santa outfit every year.

And last but not least we leave a key outside to make it easy for Santa to get in because we don't have a chimney for him to climb down, got to make sure he can deliver all of those presents ;)

So what are your traditions for the holidays?? Are their family traditions that you have carried on?

xxxx

*This is a PR collabaration*