The holiday season is all about traditions. Traditions are important because they connect us to our loved ones and our community in a very real and meaningful way. Often times we have taken on the traditions we learned as children, or we are creating new traditions that we will pass on to our children for generations to come. Your traditions can celebrate your religious beliefs and cultural identity, or they can be completely new and unique to you and your family.

At work, your end-of-year traditions might be practical – a desk or office clean up, backing up your files or goal setting for the New Year. Or you might close out the year focusing on fun at work – sharing recipes with your team, shopping for unique gifts for colleagues or celebrating a year of accomplishments with delicious food and drink.

This season, maybe you are looking forward to cooking favorite things, hosting parties, seeing friends and families or giving back to your community. I know in my family, we have a mixture of both new and old traditions. Here are a few of my favorites.

• We gather with our neighbors and go hunting for the best holiday decorations at homes in our community. It’s a progressive décor tour and we map it out in advance. As we stop and admire the holiday decorations, each family shares a treat with the group – it might be gingerbread cookies or hot cocoa with whipped cream. It makes each stop on the tour special and the kids love it.
• We host an annual Christmas party for family and friends. My husband was a bartender for 16 years, so he is the holiday mixologist and he serves up amazing Christmas cocktails. We always do a donation drive too, and ask our guests to bring along a food donation, clothing donation or toy donation.
• We do stockings a little differently in our house. On Christmas morning, we empty out our stockings upstairs in bed (and in our pj’s!) first. Only after we’ve seen what treasures Santa has left for us in our stockings, do we head downstairs together to see what’s under the tree. It’s a great way to slow down the gifts and show greater appreciation for each present.

I’d love to hear about your holiday traditions. Please leave a comment below and let us know what you are looking forward to the most.