Every family has their own Christmas traditions that they stick to year after year. Today, I'm going to share mine.
1) Our biggest tradition that we have yet to stray from (other than one year when we were on holiday) is that we always have to decorate our Christmas tree on my mum's birthday which is the 11th December (precisely 2 weeks till Christmas day). It's a really fun tradition and makes the day even more special for my mum. As my sister and I have gotten older however, waiting until the 11th is getting too late for us. If we had it our way we would decorate it on the 1st or at least the first weekend like a lot of people do, but it's something we all look forward to each year.

2) A relatively new tradition of ours is that we have to go to at least one Christmas market. We usually opt for Winchester because it's relatively local, less busy than Winter Wonderland and also, because it's simply beautiful. It's nestled next to Winchester Cathedral and has lots of cute chalets inspired by German Christmas markets as well as it's own ice rink. Honestly, I just feel as though Winchester is the ultimate festive town to go to, so I'd definitely recommend going if you're near. I'm actually going twice this year, so check out my youtube channel if you want to experience it all with me.

3) I tend to watch Christmas films as well as all of the traditional 'family' films that are on TV over Christmas Eve (last year was cool because Skyfall was on). I don't tend to watch it at any other time during the year, but I love watching any of the Chronicles of Narnia films on TV as it just reminds me of childhood and I always associate it with Christmas. One of the films always tends to be on during the Christmas period so look out for it.

4) So I'm basically a child at heart when it comes to Christmas. For the last few years, my family and I have watched the International Space Station fly over aka Santa's sleigh. We stand outside in the freezing cold, all wrapped up and just stare into the sky for what seems like forever. You can find out more information about it here for this years journey. I remember last year in particular, it was quite a clear sky and we could see it flying directly over our house. I also track Santa throughout Christmas Eve using the NORAD Santa Tracker which is so fun to do!

5) My Grandad always comes to stay with us for Christmas and one of the sweetest traditions we have is that he has to stick the 'Santa stop here' sign in the front garden in the evening on Christmas Eve. I don't know why, but we just always do that.

6) Our Christmas morning routine begins with opening our stockings in my parents' room. After this, we get dressed (I usually wear a Christmas jumper although when I was younger we used to dress up a bit more), eat breakfast and then the present opening begins. Jess (my sister) and I will hand out all of the presents from under the tree. We'll then go around and take it in turns to open our presents. I really like how we don't just rush to open our presents or open them all at the same time as it makes the day last longer. I also love to see everyone's expressions at their gifts. We're usually still opening presents in the early afternoon so my dad will get some snacks out like pringles (aka my one true love) and peanuts as well as champagne.

7) My Dad used to be a chef and still works in the food industry so Christmas dinner is a beautiful, beautiful meal (and that's coming from someone who doesn't usually like roast dinners). Last year, we sat down to a 5 course meal...it was amazing. We usually eat Christmas dinner at around 2/3pm and are sat at the table for a number of hours. Dad cooks us potatoes, yorkshire puddings, turkey, stuffing, pigs wrapped in blankets and a variety of vegetables.

So those are all of our Christmas traditions that I can think of. I kinda feel as though I just explained our Christmas day routine towards the end there haha. What are your Christmas traditions?