my favorite christmas traditions

Another Christmas in the Terminello household is coming to a close. It has been another wonderful holiday full of oh so many traditions. It was not until this year that I really took note of just how many traditions our family Christmas is dependent on. Here are my top reasons to love the season:

Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve

This is actually a relatively new tradition for our family (only 2 or 3 years old). We used to go to mass on Christmas morning, but now that the boys and I are older we go on Christmas Eve. This is definitely deserving of the #1 slot of my favorite Christmas traditions because the true meaning of Christmas lies within.

Christmas Breakfast

Every year for as long as I can remember we have had cinnamon rolls and our famous "wagon wheel" for breakfast on Christmas morning. We always eat breakfast after stockings and before diving into the Christmas tree (which leads into my next favorite tradition).

Stockings and Presents from Santa

Although Mike, Dan, and I are all older now, we still keep Santa alive in the Terminello home. No gifts are to be seen under the tree until we are all tucked away in our beds on Christmas Eve. Sometimes we even leave a few cookies and some milk for Santa by the fireplace.

Snowball Cookies

Our favorite Christmas cookies will always been our Grandma, Angel's, snowball cookies. We usually end up making them more than once during the holiday season because they always seem to disappear in a matter of hours!

Christmas Village

Over the years we have collected many treasures for our Christmas village, which is displayed in the living room or dining room. Although the location of the village changes every year, the hustle and bustle of "Christmas in the City" is always shining bright for winter time. I will always remember helping my Mom put out the Christmas village and being super careful not to break any of the porcelain pieces.

Secret Santa with the Fab4

Since the 4 of us have gone off to college, we have started doing a Secret Santa as the Fab4. Throughout high school we did Secret Santa with larger groups of friends, but we have really made the Fab4 Secret Santa our own. We always go out to dinner (usually somewhere in Reston Town Center), take pictures by the tree, bake cookies or something festive, and exchange gifts! I am so lucky to get to celebrate Christmas with these lovely girls every year.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!