Tis’ The Season! Making the holidays special for her and our family is very important to me. While I love and honor the Christmas traditions I had as a kid I also love the Christmas traditions I am starting with my family. I want them to be special and reflect my family and what we love to do. What is great about starting new Christmas traditions is you get to make changes along the way. I love finding ideas on Pinterest or Instagram and trying them out in real life.
My Christmas traditions are driven by food and fun, of course! I’m going to share with you all the Christmas traditions and activities that we do during the holiday season. Some are small and some are large, but the important part is that we do them together and love seeing the magic of the season in Lizzie’s little face.
Christmas Traditions Chicago Style
Holiday Activities
Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights
Chicago holds a magical day of events downtown, ending with a parade to light the lights down Michigan Avenue. Various hotels and stores along the Magnificent Mile hold events such as tree lightings, caroling and fun wintery snacks. We spend the whole day enjoying the city, our go-to line up for events is cocktails and Christmas Carols at the Knickerbocker Hotel, check out the parade for a little bit, head to the Ritz-Carlton hotel for the tree lighting and champagne, and finish up at an Italian restaurant in the Gold Coast. After being virtual last year it was live this year. Mark your calendars for 2022!
Visiting Santa
It’s not Christmas until you visit Santa and the Shops at 900 N Michigan Ave have the best Santa around. He is straight from the North Pole! He is still coming this year and reservations are required, you can sign up here.
In previous years we visited Santa at the Swiss Hotel in the Santa Suite and boy was that magical. They are taking private reservations this year, but I think it’s more fun when it’s open to the public. You can check out the details here and see my full behind the scenes tour here.
You can also see Santa in the following places this year.
- Gallagher Way Santa Visit, find more here
- Macy’s on State Street, find more here
- Water Tower Place, find more here
Driving Down Lakeshore Drive
Chicago is a walkable city and that’s usually how I enjoy it and get around. I do, however, go joyriding once a year and it’s during the holidays. Late at night, when there isn’t much traffic we start on the far north side and cruise down Lake Shore Drive and Michigan Avenue to take in the lights of the city and holidays. Most high-rise buildings lining this route do beautiful and tasteful light displays on their property. It’s fun to see the city from a different view and in its holiday best.
Zoo Lights
We head out to Lincoln Park Zoo to take in the Zoo Lights. It’s usually super cold so we grab hot chocolate and warm up by making smores.
Chicago Botanic Garden Lightscape
This is a new event for us this year and I’m so excited to go. I’ve seen pictures and they look amazing. Unfortunately tickets are hard to get right now. But mark your calendars for next year as tickets go on sale in September and sell out within days. Here is the site to check out the event.
Best of Chicago Decorations
A few of you recently asked for things to do in Chicago at Christmas. While I highly suggest all of the above activities I also wanted to give a quick reference guide for the best trees (to take pictures in front of) and restaurants in Chicago to visit during the holidays.
Best Trees
I love seeing the trees around the city at Christmas. Some of the best spots to take photos in front of a Christmas Tree are:
- Water Tower Tree – 806 N. Michigan Ave.
- Wrigley Building – 400 N. Michigan Ave.
- Walnut Room at Macy’s
- InterContinental Hotel Tree – 505 N. Michigan Ave.
- Waldorf Hotel – 11 East Walton
- 900 N Michigan Ave Shops
- Millennium Park Christmas Tree
Best Restaurants
While a majority of the restaurants on my list decorate for the holidays, some of them have minimal decorations, but such a cozy vibe. These are my favorites around the city.
- Walnut Room at Macys – Most dates are sold out now, but keep checking for openings
- The Gage
- The Brasserie at The Waldorf Hotel
- Mon Ami Gabi in Lincoln Park
- Afternoon Tea – Several hotels offer a great Afternoon Tea
- Pavillion at the Langham Hotel
- The Lobby at the Peninsula Hotel
- Palm Court at the Drake Hotel
- Bar Pendry Tea
- Social Lounge at Four Seasons
- Bridges Lobby Bar at London House
- Kostali at the Gwen Hotel
Holiday Baking
The baking award in our house goes to Mike, he bakes just about all of our Christmas cookies and they are amazing! Unfortunately we go overboard and make way too many kinds of cookies each year. We end up freezing a good portion of them and enjoy them well into the new year. It’s a fun treat to break out Christmas cookies in February on a cold day. All my cookie recipes can be found on my Pinterest Page, but I’ve linked them below for you too.
- Linzer Cookies
- Cannoli Cake
- Milano Cookies
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chewy Gingersnap Cookies
Holiday Meals
I told you food was a huge part of my holiday and that not only means cookies, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day meals. I’m more of a snacker so I enjoy having little things to munch on all day.
Christmas Eve Dinner
This is the meal that snacking is king! We typically have a bunch of apps and finger foods for dinner, it’s actually my dream dinner. Things do change from year to year, but here is a sample of what we typically have.
- Cheese Ball (my mom’s recipe is coming to the blog soon, beware measurements are sketchy because all of mom’s recipes have no measurements :))
- Shrimp Cocktail (you can get fresh shrimp, however I enjoy the frozen jumbo shrimp at the grocery store)
- Charcuterie Board
- Kielbasa and Coke (the recipe is simple, slice the kielbasa and cover in Coca-Cola, cook on medium until the Coke is reduced to a glaze, serve warm)
- Finger Sandwiches (a variety of finger sandwiches with ham salad, egg salad and tuna salad)
- Salad
- Lasagna (my go to recipe is the Barefoot Contessa’s, you can find it here)
Christmas Breakfast
The only way to have Christmas breakfast is with a make-ahead egg casserole. Prepping breakfast the night before is such a time saver and lets us enjoy the mess of Christmas morning.
Holiday Spirit
Christmas Tree
We put up a faux tree every year and decorate it with family ornaments. The majority of the ornaments are from trips we have taken over the years. No matter what time of year we travel we pick up an ornament from our destination to add to our tree. I also pick up a hallmark ornament with the year on it every year. You can take a closer look at all the ornaments I’ve collected over the years in this post here.
Outdoor Tree
A new Christmas tradition this year is our outdoor tree. We live in the city and have a small urban oasis that is not used in the winter. So we’ve bought a tiny tree and put lights on it. We have a “tree lighting” with Lizzie every night when it gets dark and she gets a huge kick out of it.
Stockings
Lizzie has her own personalized stocking that hangs on her bedroom door until Christmas day. When Santa arrives he fills it with lots of goodies and he places it under the tree for her.
Hand Written Cards
I pride myself on sending hand written Christmas Cards every year. Sending and receiving a classic note is what the season is all about. So if you are on my card list you will not receive a picture card from me. You can read more about why I don’t do picture cards in my full post here.
Adopt A Family or Person
The holiday’s are about giving back and each year we select a person or family to buy gifts for. There is nothing more exciting than knowing I am making their Christmas dreams come true. We usually find our families through work, church or daycare and sometimes we pick a person from each place.
This post has been included by Twinkl among their top picks for their favorite Christmas traditions
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