Growing up, my family’s favorite holiday was always Thanksgiving. It was the one time every year where we saw aunts and uncles and cousins all together celebrating family and what we were thankful for. I could write a whole post about Thanksgiving traditions, but for this post, we’re going to focus on Christmas.

We always celebrated Christmas, but it took a bit of a backseat to Thanksgiving. However, our Christmases were also chock full of traditions, and it was those traditions that made the season meaningful. Here are some of my favorites:

→ Throughout the month of December, we would take out our trusty advent calendar and use a little yellow wand to open each door and hang tiny ornaments on a wooden Christmas tree. There were no chocolates or toys, but it was always fun to guess which ornament you would pull since we had all of them memorized.

→ Christmas Eve afternoon was spent at our church, watching the newest batch of little kids act out the nativity scene, complete with wise (wo)men, angels, and a fake baby Jesus. It was fun when we were young and knew some of the kids, but sitting through an extended mass became more and more difficult the older we got.

My sister and I the year that our class acted out the Christmas Eve play. She was clearly stoked that she got to be an angel, and I was clearly displeased at the insistence that I had to be a wise MAN. One of the Catholic church’s many flaws. (Yes, in case you were wondering, my mom did make those costumes!)

→ For Christmas Eve, we would order Chinese food for dinner since no one wanted to cook and there were very few restaurants open in our small town. My favorite dish was beef and broccoli.

→ For just a few years on Christmas Eve night, we were able to open one present, but it had to be a book. I don’t think this tradition lasted very long, despite my desperate efforts to get everyone on board (sad day for book worms).

→ On Christmas morning, us siblings would all gather at the top of our staircase in our pajamas while my step-dad video-recorded us (with a camcorder) walking down the stairs together (fun time capsule of pajama fashion) and then walking into the den where our stockings were waiting for us. We all always got new underwear in our stockings, which became a slightly mortifying experience the older we got until my mom decided to just give my sister and me Victoria’s Secret gift cards.

→ After the stockings were done, we would run to the tree and separate out the presents into piles based on their intended recipients. The kids could only open one present at a time — we had to alternate so that we could savor each present (we weren’t a huge present family compared to most).

Our Christmas haul one year. Yes, I was very much into beanie babies, and yes that is a “BeadMagic” box in my sister’s hands. Because what says cultural appropriation more than little White girls putting beads in their hair? (CRINGE.)

→ My grandma would make a cherry stollen, a traditional Swedish treat that I always looked forward to eating on Christmas morning.

→ After opening presents and eating breakfast, the whole family would bundle up in our warmest winter gear and head to Lake Michigan in our minivan, about a mile from our house. We would walk on the beach, regardless of the weather conditions, until we couldn’t feel our faces. When we had our dog, Tito, with us, we’d head to the dog beach so that he could run free (he was so fast for such a little guy!).

→ My step-dad would make his beef stew on Christmas day for dinner, the only day out of the entire year that he would make it. It’s one of my favorite meals to date, and there was always a bit of mystery as to who would find the laurel leaves in their bowl.

→ Christmas evening, we would all usually watch a movie together, with a holiday theme. I remember someone trying to make the case for watching the same movie every year, but that never stuck. Although I’m pretty sure we voted to watch “Elf” for multiple years in a row when it first came out.

As an adult, I appreciate that these traditions were created because I have such strong emotional memories from Christmases past. But the strongest memory I have, and probably my favorite tradition of them all, was the treasure hunt that my parents put together every year.

After all the presents were opened, my sister and I (and later brother when he was old enough) would search behind or under the Christmas tree for the first clue of the game. My parents would put together clever limericks or rhymes that would lead us around the house, clue by clue. They hid the clues in our washing machine, in our bathtub, sometimes we’d even have to venture outside into the cold to find one hiding under the lid of our barbecue.

My sister and I would race around the house the second that we put together each answer. Every year, there would be just one or two clues that would trip us up, but usually our parents were considerate about writing clues that two young girls could solve. They also tried to make the clues topical if possible, with references to our favorite TV shows, current events, or the boybands that we loved.

Then, at the end of the hunt, we would find our treasure. Like I mentioned before, our family wasn’t huge on presents, but we were big on making memories. So our “treasure” was always tickets — tickets to a Broadway musical, tickets to the American Girl Doll Place for high tea, tickets to Disney World, tickets to Australia, etc.

This store had every imaginable outfit and accessory for our dolls, as well as an entire theater where little girl child actors would tell us the backstories of our dolls, AND a high tea experience for just $16 per person (yes, my mom put the tea menu in my scrapbook.)

Some years I was thrilled (Disney World, hello), others felt like a letdown (I was not a theater kid, but my sister and mom were). But the emotions that I felt during the treasure hunt itself usually made up for a slightly disappointing ending if that happened to be the case. To this day, I describe myself as a non-competitive person (it’s why high school sports were really not for me); however, I was SO competitive when it came to these hunts. I wanted to be the one to solve the clue, to one to find the little piece of paper taped the inside of the laundry shoot.

I am convinced that these hunts and my competitive nature during them evolved into a love for escape rooms as a 30-something-year-old. My family will warn you to WATCH OUT if you get locked into a pirate-themed room with me because if you slow me down in solving the clues, I’ve been known to physically push people aside so that I can figure them out faster. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I’ve also never lost at an escape room, so you tell me if it’s really that bad 😬

In order to knock this task off of the list as an adult, I had planned to create a treasure hunt for my husband for his birthday in May. I had never put together one myself, so I thought that it would be fun to be the one to create the clues.

However, my husband beat me to it! Although my birthday was back in February, the birthday present that he bought for me was backordered until now (mid-April). He asked me if I wanted him to put together a treasure hunt so that I could relive my Christmas day memories.

Uh, doi. Yes, please!

My husband spent a while, giddy with excitement, putting together the clues that would lead me around our house in search of my belated birthday present. He exiled me to a guest room when he was ready to start placing them in their spots, and then eagerly led me to my first clue.

When I read the first one (“This clue slides to hide prying eyes”), I realized that this probably wasn’t going to be the same experience as when I was a kid. My husband’s brain doesn’t work in limericks and rhymes. He’s more akin to The Riddler’s style of “I’m so clever that these clues are going to be impossible for anyone else to understand. One reason I love him.

But also, this was going to be a challenge. After finding the next clue on the back of our sliding barn door, the clues became more and more difficult. On top of that, we had just walked outside for an hour and spent time at the pool, so I was low on energy. I could tell he wanted me to run around the house like I had as a kid, but my competitive nature in clue-based games was dwindling (yes, I can admit I’m a sore loser). For one clue, he talked about “climbing a ladder to win the game” and I could not for the life of me put together that he was talking about the ladderball set that we had purchased for my birthday party. Brain no work-y.

There were some extremely funny clues (one that I can’t share, but it really was *chef’s kiss*), but I think the most impressive thing that he put together was the final clue. On the back each individual clue, he had created even more clues that spelled out the combination to his safe, the answer to the final clue and the location where my present was hiding. (I realize that I should probably have memorized that combination already, but he was smart to assume that I had not.)

There were 12 clues in total plus the extra clue on the back of each one.

I’m glad I remember how combination locks work (you have to go past the second number in order to get it right), because it was very satisfying to turn to the giant knob and open the door to see a present sitting besides our valuables.

Y’all, my husband knows me well!

Sitting on the top shelf was a galaxy light machine. Swoon! This fancy machine projects colorful galaxies and stars onto ceilings and walls and can be piloted by an app on my cell phone. You can set up “moods” with it (ie. calming, romantic), and have it rotate through different scenes and color palettes.

If you remember my trip to the planetarium, I purchased a super lame star light for $20 that didn’t move and had just one pattern (boring), so this was a big upgrade.

I feel like I let my husband down with my lack of excitement for his clues (and just not freaking understanding some of them), but I really was impressed with how into it he got putting it all together for me and being so creative in the process. He’s not a big romantic gesture kind of guy, so reflecting on the experience now, 12+ hours later, this will always be a super special moment for me.

I still might put together something for his birthday, show him what our family treasure hunts looked like and maybe even start a new tradition of our own. But for now, I’m going to bask in the light of my galaxy machine and give thanks to having such an incredible husband.

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