Holiday Traditions
The holidays are our favorite because of all of the fun traditions that come along with them! Our mom is the Queen of Christmas so we grew up doing all of the fun things and we have managed to keep a lot of it up for nearly 40 years. So if you by chance are looking for a fun tradition to add to your holiday itinerary, here are a few of our family favorites, including a pajama fashion show of Christmases past!
Matching Pajamas on Christmas Eve
One of my very favorite Christmas traditions is matching pajamas. I know matching family pjs are all the rage now, but our mother was way ahead of the curve! For as long as I can remember, we would come home from our Grandma’s house on Christmas Eve to find new pajamas on our beds from the Christmas elves. While the elves might not deliver our pajamas anymore, every year our mom still gives all the girls, guys and kids matching pajamas and it’s hard to imagine Christmas without them! This year the kids are wearing these pajamas, we are wearing these, and guys are wearing tees and these.
Christmas Sleepover
Somehow my siblings and I have all still managed to sleep over at my parents and wake up together on Christmas morning. After putting the kids to bed at my parents on Christmas Eve, the adults pour some Bailey’s, stuff the stockings and put Santa’s presents out and it’s never a bad time. Sadly that won’t be able to happen with COVID this year and it will get more difficult as our our brothers get married and the family continues to grow, but it has been such a fun tradition for all these years.
Homemade Christmas Pajama Brunch & Mimosas
Christmas morning is my favorite. The kids are up at the crack of dawn, everyone is in their matching pajamas and we try and hold the kids off their stockings until it’s at least light out. After stockings and a few Santa presents, we have Christmas morning brunch – the same menu every year and one I look forward to all year long: overnight sunrise breakfast casserole, monkey bread sticky buns and mimosas (duh). It’s my favorite brunch ever so I included the recipes for you below.
Sunrise Breakfast Casserole
Ingredients
- 2 packages breakfast sausage links
- 9 eggs
- 3 cups milk
- 1 tsp ground mustard
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 2 packages refrigerated shredded hash browns
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup diced sweet red pepper
- 1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 2 cups salsa, optional
Directions
- Place sausage on large pan and bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until sausage is no longer pink, turning once; drain and slice into small coins.
- In a large bowl, combine the eggs, milk, mustard, salt and pepper. Add the hash browns, sausage, cheese, red pepper and green onions and mix well.
- Pour into a greased 13 by 9 baking dish. Cover and refrigerate over night.
- Remove from the refrigerator 30 minutes before baking. Bake, uncovered at 350 for 65 to 70 minutes or until set and golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve with salsa if desired.
Monkey Bread Sticky Buns
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 dozen Rhodes Frozen White rolls
- 1/2 cup melted butter
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 small package of regular butterscotch pudding
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2-1 cup of pecans or walnuts
Directions
- At about 8 pm the night before, grease a bundt pan. Cover the bottom of pan with chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Put frozen rolls over nuts. Slowly pour or spoon melted butter over each roll.
- Mix the brown sugar, butterscotch pudding and cinnamon together.
- Spoon the mixture over rolls.
- Let sit on the counter overnight. In the morning, bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes. Turn out on plate to serve warm.
I hope this helps get you in the holiday spirit! Do you have a fun holiday tradition that you would like to share with us? We are always happy to adopt new annual traditions to make the holidays even more fun.
