My Christmas Traditions

This is my favorite time of the year! I wanted to take the time to tell you all about some of the traditions and events that I look forward to during Christmas.

1. My holiday party with my mom's side of the family. My aunt lives in PA so we always try to get together a couple of weeks before Christmas to exchange gifts and spend some extra time together! This year we played around with the Xbox Kinect...have you played the Michael Jackson game? So much fun! Our newest addition to the family, my cousin Melaina, just turned one so she was a lot of fun this year!
2. Shopping for hours with my mom. Oh, my poor mother! I drag that woman from store to store but she's a trooper! A few years ago during Christmas time, she battled breast cancer (and won!) so now I cherish my time with her more than ever!
3. Late night, last minute shopping with my dad. My dad is such a workaholic! He's always on the go and working hard and I admire that about him. We usually see each other more in passing than anything so I love our shopping trips during Christmas time. He's always looking for a last minute gift for my mom or my grandparents!
4. Opening stockings with my brother on Christmas morning. Yes, we are both in our twenties but we wake each other up on Christmas day like we are little kids! The first thing we do is go downstairs and get our stockings and go to one of our rooms and open them together! That's us in the photo above from last Christmas in our matching pajamas! He doesn't ALWAYS make faces like that and he will probably hate me for using this photo :-) Told you that we act like kids...
5. This year, I am throwing my first Christmas Eve party! I love to decorate, cook and being a little hostess but this is the ultimate test! The party is for both my family and my boyfriends family so I hope everyone will have a good time!

What do you look forward to during this time of year? Do you have any family traditions?