Our Family Holiday Bucket List (and a FREE printable for you!)
The holiday season is finally here! I can’t believe we are nearly through another year. As I reflect back on where we were last year at this time, so much has changed over 2022. I’m planning on sharing more about what this past year has held for our family, but for now, I can’t help but just feel grateful that we are finally in this holiday season and that we can find some joy in the magic of Christmas. In fact, we’re only nine days into December and this has already proven to be the best Christmas season yet.
Mabel is now three and a half and to say she is enthusiastic about everything Christmas would be a massive understatement. From tree crafts and dress-up days at preschool to singing along with Christmas songs in the backseat of the car, she is soaking up every little bit of it. One evening after dinner a few weeks ago, we sat down as a family and made a simple little list on a scrap piece of construction paper of all the things we wanted to do over this holiday season. Our list isn’t complicated and most of the items are things we probably would have just done whether we wrote them down or not, but it was fun to brainstorm together and set some intention around these holidays. Mabel loved contributing ideas and it was cute to see her take some ownership over some of the items she came up with.
We’ve already started tackling some of our items, which is why they are already checked off on the list that hangs on our fridge. But I thought it would be fun to write about it here since this space is not only somewhere to share inspiration, but also to document our memories and reflect on our family over the years. I’d love to look back on this in future years and know that despite the chaos of this season of life, we were intentional in making wonderful memories. If you’d like to create your own bucket list, stick with me for a FREE printable version you can print and fill out below. I promise it’s a little more aesthetic than our scrap-paper list you see above.
Our 2022 Family Holiday Bucketlist
Go to the Santa Claus Parade on Main Street
Go to the town Christmas Tree Lighting and Holiday Market
Set up and decorate our Christmas tree
Take a family Christmas photo
Buy food to donate to the local food bank
Bake cookies and deliver them to some of our neighbours
Have a Christmas movie night
Build a snowman (with Grandma)
Take Mabel to have her picture taken with Santa
Already being nine days into December, we have already completed a few of these activities. The first item we tackled was going to the Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony in the heart of our little town. We had been driving by for days before, watching as the workers plastered that thing with lights. It was magical to finally see it all lit up and now get to enjoy it every evening when we drive home from school. Along with the ceremony, our town organized a beautiful weekend Christmas market with vendors, live music, and food. We walked to the main town park after seeing the tree and enjoyed admiring the beautiful light displays and indulged in a funnel cake. Mabel shouted “this is the best night ever!” It was simple, virtually free, and pure Christmas magic.
Another item we checked off the list last weekend was attending our town’s Santa Claus Parade. For the past few years, they’ve organized the parade in the evening, which adds to the charm and excitement. We had my Mom over for nachos before we walked down to Main Street with hot chocolates in hand to settle in for the festivities. Mabel must have talked about the parade for three weeks before it even happened and it was definitely a highlight for her as she sat on Curt’s shoulders shouting “Happy Christmas, everyone!” over and over again. It was chaotic and loud, but totally worth it.
We also managed to get our Christmas tree set up last weekend. I had suggested it as an afternoon activity, but as the time approached and the excitement around the whole thing built up over the day for Mabel, I started to doubt whether I was going to be able to handle decorating a tree with a three year old. I’m a perfectionist who cried over our Christmas tree the first year we were married and took it all down to re-set it up TWICE before I felt my expectations for the whole ordeal were met. How was I going to let go of the reigns to decorate with a three year old? To my surprise, Mabel was fantastic. In fact, she may even have some of those perfectionist genes in her because once we had finished decorating, she spent a good hour rearranging the decorations until they were just right. I’ve loved watching her take ownership over this as she adds new items to the branches nearly every day and specifically made a jazzy star ornament at Sunday School after noticing that we didn’t have a star to top our tree.
The only other list item we have already completed was taking Mabel to see Santa for a photo at the mall. This was never something I did growing up and don’t have a strong desire to make happen with my kids every year, but I threw it out as an idea when we were brainstorming our list and much to my surprise, Mabel was very on board with it. I decided to take her last Monday, since she was home with me anyways and we made a whole morning out of it. She picked out her own outfit and we travelled to the mall a few towns over after booking a timeslot online. We arrived early and had a bit of time to kill, so I took her into the toy store and let her pick out a toy to donate to a toy drive we had noticed at our local coffee shop a few days before. We walked around the entire store looking at all the options, narrowing it down to a rainbow unicorn Beanie Baby, a mermaid Dreamtopia Barbie doll, and a Minion action figure. She finally settled on the mermaid Barbie. Eventually it was time for our visit with Santa and although she was a little bashful for the photos, she loved talking with Santa and sharing her Christmas wishes with him. She was so excited about the photo that she insisted on taking it to school with her the next day to show her friends and teachers.
I’m telling you, this Christmas has already been pure magic. Experiencing it all through my daughter’s eyes has been nothing short of pure joy.
We’ve still got some items on our list to take care of, but it has been fun to chip away at them each weekend. Maybe we won’t even get to all the items, but that’s ok too. It’s mostly about the intention of enjoying this season and making it special for Mabel in any simple way we can.
Do you want to make some Christmas magic too? I decided to create a FREE and more aesthetic printable list template so you can fill out your own list. There’s still plenty of time to tackle some items and make the most of this holiday season. You definitely don’t even need to have kids to make it count. You could just as easily make it for you and a partner, you and your parents, you and some friends, or heck, even just for you. It’s the most wonderful time of the year, so make it count!
Download the FREE printable here
I’m already so excited for this weekend - we’re definitely going to tackle a few more items on our list. I hope you enjoy this holiday season as much as we have been.
