Adventures in Traditions ~ Veronica's Stockings

I can count on one hand the number of girls I've met with the name Veronica. 

And today's tradition is brought to you by a super amazing girl, named...

Veronica! 

Veronica is the girl behind the blog Passion, Pink, & Pearls. Her blog's name is a perfect description of her. Passion for the Lord. Pink, the best color! And Pearls - classic and classy accessory, as well as the pearls of wisdom Veronica shares on her blog.  

How great is the name Veronica?! If Veronica hasn't already convinced you, maybe I, Veronica from Passion Pink and Pearls, can convince you! Ha! Yep, we have the same name...hence my possible biased opinion of it being a great name.
I'm not here today to just talk about how sweet the name Veronica is, but really to talk about one of my favorite traditions during Christmas. When Veronica emailed me about this series she wanted to put together I knew instantly which tradition I wanted to talk about. It's a simple on really and as I think longer there are so many more that I could share too but for some reason this one has stuck to me.
What is it? Opening stockings in my parents' bed. I'm not even kidding when I say that I've done this my whole life with the exception of last year.

We almost always end up with something matching out of our stockings.

There's something sweet about sitting in my bed with my parents and sisters all dressed in our Christmas jamies, my sisters and I all bright-eyed and cheery, my parents groggily waking up and trying to bring their energy up to the same level as theirs. As time went on we decided to read the story of Jesus' birth in bed right before we open stockings. The idea was to put our hearts in the right place for the remainder of the day. It was a sweet moment. Then we would all sit in the bed and open parts of our stockings one at a time, my sisters and I swapping items, teasing our parents about their ever so exciting new tubes of toothpaste and favorite magazines. Stockings were fairly simple growing up, we'd find coloring books or a new hairbrush, candy and little trinkets. Nothing terribly expensive just little, fun and surprising!

Matching t-shirts from stockings

I love the memories of Christmas beginning with sitting in my parents' bed an opening stockings so much so that I've already introduced it into my husband and my traditions. Being married is funny especially around the holidays. There are some things each of us are so definite about, others we are willing to change, and others that we want to introduce to be all new. Our second married Christmas is coming up here fast and I'm so excited to see what else we introduce into our typical Christmas time traditions.

Kevin and I opening stockings in OUR bed on our first married Christmas

And just because I couldn't leave without mentioning some of my other favorites:
The Candlelight Service at church (often Christmas Eve) Driving around fancy neighborhoods all decked out with Christmas lights Ice skating with Kevin Buying a real Christmas tree soon after my birthday (which is also my mom's, Dec 6) Placing out my mom's collection of Nativity scenes The baking frenzy
I can't believe the Christmas season is here! This year went by incredibly fast and it seems like it was just last year that my husband and I were celebrating our first married Christmas. I shared last week some things that I just won't want to miss this season, do you have any Christmas bucket list items for this year? 
I'd love if you would pop by my blog and share it with me.  MANY thanks to Veronica for allowing me to bug in on her space today!

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Aren't traditions the best! Since getting married Daniel and I have started a tradition of filling each other's stockings with fun little gifts! If you would like to share a family tradition, you will get your chance on Friday, December 13th! Come on back here for the Adventures in Tradition Link Party! Up next, sharing her family traditions is the author of one of the first blogs I ever followed! Come back tomorrow to hear all about Callie from Through Clouded Glass and a tradition from her childhood!