Celebrating Our Holiday Traditions

Highlighting our holiday traditions, both old and new.
Please note, this post is sponsored by Wayfair. All opinions are my own.
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This year’s holiday traditions are a little different, primarily because Tim and I now live 1000 miles away from our family. This means that instead of a short 2 hour drive on Christmas Eve morning and another 2 hour drive to Tim’s family on Christmas day, we’re an 18 hour drive away from home.

Yes – that’s right. We’re driving back. Perhaps it’s because we’re a glutton for punishment? Or, really it’s because we want to have our car up there while we’re home for two and a half weeks. Working remotely means that we have the unique opportunity to head home early for the holidays and drive back after the new year since we’ll be able to work from Massachusetts. Talk about a dream, right? No rushing to catch flights, no scrambling to figure out how we’re getting to and from the airport, and no stuffing gifts in suitcases and hoping they don’t break (who am I kidding, no one is getting a breakable gift this year).

Now, since we’re living far away from home….and the north in general, that means that other holiday traditions are a little different, too. Instead of heading up to a cozy, wintery Christmas tree farm, we opted for a more southern city option.

While we missed the excitement of driving up to northern Massachusetts to walk through the rows and rows of Christmas trees, we thought the little tree setup over at Ponce City Market (thanks to King of Pops!) was the cutest darn thing we’ve seen in a while. In fact, the King of Pops team is even dressed up in elf gear! I can’t get over it, it was all so cheery. Oh and did I forget to mention that they were there with their signature holiday flavored popsicles? Obviously we toted a few home with us to enjoy while we decorated our Christmas tree.

Celebrating Our Holiday Traditions

So, keeping in mind that we’re going to be gone for about two and a half weeks in December AND that we have fairly minimal storage space (aka non-existent), we opted for subtle holiday decor. We knew we didn’t want to skip out on celebrating our holiday traditions, so instead we pared down our collection. We stuck with a tree decorated with ornaments from our travels – so far we have Charleston, Atlanta, Barcelona, and Gouda in the Netherlands. FYI: It’s pronounced how-duh and yes, it IS where all of that delicious Gouda cheese is from!

We also ordered some, dare I say – adorable, holiday decorations from Wayfair. We selected the:

• Fullmer Christmas stocking for me
• Winter tree (don’t be fooled, this isn’t our big tree – it’s tiny!)
• Timberland Christmas stocking for Tim
• Snowball candle
• Holly leaf pillow
• Frosted blue Christmas tree
• Fir scented candle…because I simply can’t get enough of those winter candles!

We placed our small decorative items around the apartment, set up our tree, and even baked a cast iron skillet chocolate chip cookie(!) to really make it feel like home. Recipe to come, I promise.

One of my favorite holiday traditions that I simply cannot wait for when we get home is opening our stockings on Christmas Eve. We all pile into the living room and open up all the fun little gifts that were placed in our stockings. Because there are so many of us now, we actually pick names and then we’re each responsible for filling that person’s stocking. It’s a tradition we’ve participated in for years and I’m already excited for Christmas Eve at home with my family. While the stockings we ordered for our home in Atlanta aren’t the ones we’ll be opening on Christmas Eve, we at least have a little more time to enjoy the holiday season in our own apartment! I simply couldn’t not decorate.

What’s an Upside-Down Christmas Tree?

Now that you know some of my favorite holiday traditions, I want to hear yours! But first, do you know what an upside-down Christmas tree is? Well, it dates back to a holiday tradition in the middle ages when Europeans used upside-down Christmas trees to represent the Trinity. Now, it’s all the rage this holiday season. Have you seen them in store displays or online? If you’re looking for one of your own, it’s your lucky day.

An Upside-Down Christmas Tree Giveaway

My friends over at Wayfair are giving away one $100 gift card to a lucky winner! All you have to do to enter is share a comment in the comment section below with a link to your favorite upside-down Christmas tree. Best of luck to everyone! I can’t wait to see which ones you all pick out.

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