i can hardly believe christmas is less than a week away. i still have one gift to buy and several to wrap. m and i will be going our separate ways for our last christmas as non-marrieds (crazy!), so i am headed off to chicago later this week and he to north carolina. it’s amazing to think that next year, we will be each other’s new family. i’m geting excited about starting new traditions with him. this year, we are celebrating together tomorrow with a christmas dinner and some gift opening (i can’t wait to see him open his! wish i could tell you what it is).

then my sister and i fly to chicago where we will spend the next week with my mom’s side of the family, playing with baby cousins and eating my mom’s incredible cooking. we all go over to my aunt’s house on christmas eve for a cookie decorating contest (my uncle, who owns this design firm in chicago, always wins.) then head out to church (where we always have a candlelit singing of o’ holy night – my favorite). before bed, we all, including adults, get to open one gift from my nana and gampy, and it’s always pajamas or slippers to wear to bed that night. (i love the below nightie from jcrew).

do y’all have any christmas traditions? they’re my favorite and i would love to learn about yours!