Christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year, no doubt about it. It’s filled with so much magic, anticipation, festivity, and childlike wonder. I am definitely one of those people who can’t get enough of any and everything Christmas, and it’s officially the Christmas season now! Bring on all the festive fun, the Christmas decorations and twinkling lights, the egg nog and sugar cookies, the traditions new and old, the Christmas music & The Nutcracker & our favorite Christmas movies, the time with family and friends, the card mailing & hunt for the perfect present & soirees & cozy nights by the tree, the awe, hope and anticipation of Christ’s birth. There are so many ways – some grand, some ordinary yet still magical – to celebrate the magic of the Christmas season. I also hope this Christmas season leaves me more margin to reflect and wonder at the true meaning of Christmas and to intentionally spend time slowing down and reflecting on Christ’s birth.

I have this things with season to-do lists, as you well know by now, and this Christmas is no exception (see past lists from 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2015, 2014, & 2013)! This year, as only appropriate, I put together a Christmas bucket list for us. I am hopeful we’ll be able to thoroughly enjoy this magical and merry season as we prepare for the true meaning of Christmas!

Our 2023 Christmas To-Do List

• kick off the Christmas season in New York City & see lots of festive sights!
• enjoy the Amy Grant & Michael W. Smith Christmas concert at DPAC with my mom (they are two of my all-time favorites; pinch me!)
• send out our Christmas cards, one of my favorite annual traditions (checking the mail is a highlight of every day in December!)
• decorate our home for Christmas
• do an Advent Bible study/devotional with dear friends and read Tim Keller’s Hidden Christmas
• get a favorite hot drink from bakery/coffee shop and walk the beautifully decorated streets & home of historic Oakwood
• leave a kind note taped to our mailbox for our mail deliverywoman to see every day
• send special Christmas cards to our nephews and niece
• host a swanky Christmas cocktail party
• host a girly Christmas cookies & cocktails party
• bake & decorate sugar cookies with girlfriends
• go to The Nutcracker ballet
• make gingerbread houses together
• make festive Christmas crunch mix and then drop them off on front porches for friends and neighbors all over town (plus create cute gift tags for them!)
• craft Christmas cocktails (eyeing a gingerbread old fashioned, cranberry gin fizz, espresso martini, and cinnamon rosemary old fashioned)
• enjoy lots of puzzles and board games together
• Night of Lights drive-through Christmas lights at Dorothea Dix Park in downtown Raleigh
• make hot chocolate and do a Christmas light walk in our neighborhood
• have a Christmas cocktail party at home for just the two of us: dress up, make festive appetizers, and craft cocktails together
• go to the Carolina Inn & Fearrington Village & downtown Pittsboro for Christmas fun
• create Christmas movie bucket list and cozy up for lots of Christmas movies by the light of the tree (with stovetop popped popcorn and egg nog!)
• wear Christmas pajamas and fuzzy slippers
• watch Home Alone while eating a cheese pizza and drinking Coke (a la Kevin McCallister) & wearing our Home Alone tshirts
• celebrate this year & look forward to 2024 with our annual fancy Christmas date night with Rob at the Angus Barn
• have a cozy, Christmas-y Saturday morning with homemade cinnamon rolls, coffee, our record player, and time by the light of the tree
• bake a buche de Noel (this may be a bit of a “reach” goal, but I’ll add it to the list anyway!)
• find meaningful ways to serve and give at Christmas
• have lots of fun spending Christmas in Ohio and then Charlotte with all our families
• joyfully and meaningfully celebrate Christ’s birth, the true reason for the season

I’m determined to make this Christmas season as joyful, meaningful, and memorable as possible. Afterall, Christmas isn’t about a busy schedule, nonstop parties, spending too much money, or feeling stressed and stretched too thin. It’s about our Savior’s birth and the wonder, the awe, and the hope that He brings.

Do you have any favorite Christmas traditions or anything new that you’re planning on doing this year? I’d love to hear what’s especially meaningful for you!