This is our first holiday season in our new home and second as a married couple. Every family has traditions and as we’ve worked to merge the things that make us who we are individually, finding traditions for our young family unit is just as important.

When I think of the holidays there are a few things that immediately come to mind:

• Christmas Carols
• Decorations
• Visits from Santa
• Hickory Farms

With those key items as guidance we’ll be starting some new holiday traditions this Christmas that ties them all together. The Hickory Farms Holiday Treasure Chest has everything we need for enjoying starting the holidays together as a couple.

Holiday Tradition 1: Listen to Live Christmas Music

I’ve worked too many years in retail to truly enjoy holiday music on the radio but I LOVE live music. So far this year we’ve attended two live performances, one of Transiberian Orchestra and another of a local show choir that my cousin performs in.

A lot of communities offer live performances that correlate with their holiday tree lighting. Bundle up and pack along some Peppermint Snow Mints that you can share while enjoying the performance.

Holiday Tradition 2: Watch a Holiday Movie

Bundling up with someone you love is the best way to enjoy the holiday season and a movie night is the perfect excuse. Peanut Brittle Popcorn is the perfect treat to enjoy as you flip through the channels looking for the perfect movie to make your holiday tradition.

Holiday Tradition 3: Recap the Year

As the year comes to a close it’s nice to sit down as a family and look back on all the things you have to be thankful for and the memories you created.

Drew & I spent a night together deciding what we wanted to include in our Christmas card, looking through all the fun memories we created on Instagram and Twitter.

Tradition 4: Decorating the House

We started out on the quest to pick out the perfect tree this weekend, but the tree lot happily educated us that for a live tree it’s best to buy about 2 weeks before Christmas. This will help ensure that the tree is fresh through New Year’s Day.

Instead we (by we I mean Drew) decided to take advantage of the somewhat warm weather and decorate the outside of the house. While he braved the roof I sliced up some summer sausage and smoked gouda for him to enjoy when he came back in the house. Together we lit the lights, and upon discovering that not all the bulbs were working after fully installed, headed back inside to enjoy the rest of the sausage.

Holiday Light Decorating Tip – Leave the lights plugged in as you decorate just in case a strand/bulb goes bad as you’re are installing.

Holiday Tradition 5: Give a Gift

The holidays are a time for gratefulness and giving. Making a tradition of giving with our time to a community organization and giving to our family with love is something that I feel is very important.

We have been very blessed to have a wonderful family and friends who support and love us as we build a foundation for our marriage. Giving to those we love is one of the small things we can do to show our gratitude and the gift of a Hickory Farms gift set like this is a fun package everyone can enjoy.

We’ll keep creating traditions throughout the holiday season and many over the years to come. What holiday traditions are important to your family, and how did you get them started?

Disclaimer: This post was brought to you by Hickory Farms. All opinions, ideas and writing are my own. I was compensated and received a product sample as inspiration for this post.