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Holiday Traditions: Family Movie Night

movie night

All year long, I look forward to Christmastime. I visualize long, cozy evenings sitting by the fireplace, tucked into a corner of my sofa with a novel and a cup of hot cocoa at my side. I stop every once in a while to look up and gaze into the mesmerizing lights of the Christmas tree. Christmas carols are softly playing in the background and children are quietly doing homework nearby.

RIGHT??? Is this the vision of December that dances in your head?

And then it’s here, and it’s all hustle and bustle and shopping and activities and decorating and parties. Every year seems to get noisier than the rest. I’m learning that I have to carve out time for our favorite traditions or the season will whoosh by and leave me wondering where the time went.

We did exactly that earlier this week. Personal Creations invited us to take a night off from the hustle and bustle and have a good, old-fashioned family movie night. We didn’t need much encouragement! This is one of our favorite things to do. Every year we look forward to watching our favorite Christmas movies . . . Elf, Santa Clause, and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation are among our favorites.

They sent us a box of goodies to make it even more festive.

personal creations

I mean, really, how stinkin’ cute are those snowman mugs? The kids couldn’t WAIT to use them for hot chocolate. Fortunately for them, I had everything washed and ready to go when they got home.

We also each received a pair of personalized pajamas. Who knew kids would get such a bang out of those!??? I highly recommend these for gift ideas. They were a hit, especially with my girls. Unfortunately I guessed wrong with the sizing, and R’s are quite large. I was afraid the child sizes wouldn’t be big enough so I had them send her an adult small. She was practically swimming in them, but she was a good sport.

rebecca

Everyone else’s fit perfectly. They are unisex, so sizing is a bit odd, but for a point of reference, mine are a medium. They’re roomy, but in a good way. They’re also super soft and cozy. I’ve worn them a few times already!

I wanted to make our movie night extra special so I made my homemade hot chocolate and homemade popcorn — the good stuff, popped in coconut oil… nom nom.

How to Have a Family Movie Night: freshly popped popcorn & homemade hot chocolate

The big question of the night was, of course, what movie to watch. With kids ages 9, 12 and 15, it’s always a bit of a challenge to find something they can all enjoy together. We finally settled on Santa Clause 3. I think my son eventually lost interest and ended up on his tablet, but it was just fun to hang out in matching pajamas with popcorn and hot chocolate and enjoy a silly movie. And of course Savannah had to be part of the action.

How to Have a Family Movie Night: freshly popped popcorn & homemade hot chocolate

Definitely carve out some family time in your busy schedule this month! Whether you recreate a long-standing tradition or make a new one, these are the times the kids remember. Mine are already asking to do it again. Cheers!

caroline

This post was written in partnership with Personal Creations. All thoughts, opinions and experiences are my own.

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13 Responses

      1. I have a Beka…we spelled hers “wrong” on purpose. It turned out to be the perfect name for her, she is always following her own path, the one less taken. We were going to spell her name “rebekah” as it is in the Bible, but in the months before her birth that I spent writing and doodling her name I decided that since the H is silent pretty much I dropped it. And that made her name have the same number of letters as her sisters and when you are 24 those things seemed important! I would do it that way all over again, even here in my middle age 🙂

  1. what a sweet deal! thinking of getting personalized jammies for the nieces & nephews next year now. caute!
    we have the same December dream, mine doesn’t come true either 😉

  2. We did movie night last night and watched The Grinch as a family. Then my husband and I watched National Lampoons Christmas vacation and had some egg nog. I love those snowmen mugs.

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