The most wonderful time of the year - Christmas traditions
At Hola BB we love Christmas. For most of us it might even be the best time of the year. We are not kidding when we tell you one of our colleagues got her (fake) Christmas tree up early November. In this blog, each Hola BB team member takes you on his or her favorite Christmas tradition. We hope to inspire you to create your own traditions this year.
These Holidays are a perfect time to start creating Christmas traditions with your new family.
When this is your baby's first Christmas it is a perfect time to start new traditions with your family. Children love iteration and predictability. Especially in these busy and perhaps somewhat chaotic times around the holidays, traditions that return every year can offer them a feeling of peace and comfort. It doesn't have to be big festivities, even reading the same Christmassy book each year around this time can be a tradition. By reading on you can have a sneak peek in our team's special Christmas moments. Who knows, you might even get inspired by them.
This is Elise, our Social Media Manager with her husband Arjen and three kids Summer, Filip and Louis.
The best thing about Christmas is seeing family, we often see them apart from each other but on Christmas we get to spend time with all of us together (if allowed). And of course the food, drinks, music and festive energy!
Elise's favourite Christmas tradition: We actually don’t really have Christmas traditions yet, apart from the kids picking a new ornament every year. But now that the eldest two are getting bigger I think I will start a new tradition this year: watch a Christmas movie together under blankets in our pyjama’s while drinking hot chocolate :-)). The youngest won’t be interested yet but I’m sure he’ll love the vibe.
This is Anne, our Customer Service Hero.
I’ve always loved December as a kid because it was Sinterklaas first then my birthday and then Christmas, sooo many presents!I also, unlike many other people, love winter. I love it because you can just curl up on the couch with a blanket and watch Harry Potter for 5 hours without feeling guilty about it.
Anne's favourite Christmas tradition: Traditions are always changing, that’s what I love. I always let myself be surprised, and see what happens. Usually that means I end up with family on Christmas Day anyway, but it takes the pressure off the whole Christmas preparation. Oh I do love my tradition of watching, what in my opinion is the funniest dutch movie ever made, “Alles is liefde” around Christmas time.
This is Aricia, our content manager, with her partner Arend and two kids Thorgal and Noé.
For us, Christmas is all about being with the people we love the most. Normally the entire month of December we draw in more trying to escape a little from the outside world. But this year we want to go out and enjoy time with our family and friends. Since we will be celebrating with everyone separately this year, instead of being with the whole group together. Our two Christmas days will be extended to an entire Christmas Week. Which would frighten me normally. But this year I am really ready for a lot of extra fun, laughter, and chatter. In the safest way possible.
Aricia's favourite Christmas tradition: Each year our kids handpick their own Christmas ball and we hang them in the tree together. The balls serve as a keepsake for the memories of that particular Christmas. Now every year we look at the balls of the previous years and we reminisce about the previous Christmas together. Then we make new memories for this year, to always remember by looking at the Christmas balls the kids picked out this year.
This is Elisha, our Operations Director, with her 2 daughters Eva and Elise. Her husband Kevin is behind the camera.
Elisha's favourite Christmas tradition: Our favourite Christmas tradition is decorating the house with the tree, lights and gingerbread houses, while watching Christmas films and listening to Christmas music.
This is Alex, our Warehouse Manager, with his fiancée Rebecca and their 2 children Isabella & Jacob.
Alex's favourite Christmas tradition: We don't really have any Christmas traditions, we tend to have a very different Christmas every year. We are never usually at home for Christmas, we spend the holidays with family and or friends. One thing I suppose you could call tradition is that we always have a great Christmas wherever we are celebrating.
This is Naomi, our Graphic Designer, with her husband Patrick and daughter Skyler.
I love the twinkling lights and cozy feeling that the December Holidays bring us every year! Snuggling up together on the couch with a Christmas movie, warm drink in hand and not to forget our cat Jane lying so cozy between us.
Naomi's favourite Christmas tradition: Decorating our home together, with Christmas songs playing in the background. Nothing gets me in a better Holiday-spirit! This year will be extra special with our daughter Skyler, who was born in March 2021! Can’t wait to see her little face light up when seeing all the pretty decorations!
This is Esther, our Marketing Manager, with her partner Bart and almost 2 year old girl, Fenne.
As it is also my birthday in December, I have always looked forward to this month. It is just my favorite time of the year, as all my favorite people come together for big celebrations, very cliche but so true. So hopefully we can go back to a normal festive season next year.
Esther's favourite Christmas tradition: Growing up in Germany, Christmas Eve has always been the most exciting day of the year. We always celebrated it in Germany at my parent’s house, spent time with family, friends, Lebkuchen and Glühwein. We had a nice Christmas dinner and presents underneath the Christmas tree that we always bought with our dad on the last possible day, when only the 'ugly' things were left. Since becoming a mum, we have slowed down the traveling and traditions have changed slightly as we or my sister and her husband now host Christmas in The Netherlands.
This is Sandra, our store manager, with her partner Christopher and their 3,5 year old son, Aiden.
For a long time, I had a difficult time with the month of December, struggling with surgeries, hospital visits and moving. But this year, I finally feel the Christmas magic coming back. Our house is decorated with twinkling lights, a Christmas tree, and we have lovely plans for Christmas.
Sandra's favourite Christmas tradition: This year we chose our Christmas tree as a family, our son Aiden fell in love with all the Christmas ornaments.Our tree really symbolises each of our personalities. We let him choose his favorite Christmas balls, a big twinkling reindeer with a sleigh, and a snowman that are now in our garden. We will continue to let him choose a Christmas ball every year, and decorate the house together. With him dancing around to Christmas music. We will enjoy our Christmas days with family, having dinner, gifts and most of all sharing beautiful memories of the past year and creating new memories together. I can not wait to have my Christmas spirit back every year.
This is Olivia, the Founder of Hola BB with her husband Ben and her son Bo.
Being English, Christmas starts for us on the 1st of December. I don't know anyone who loves Christmas more than my husband, for the last 14 years, the morning of the 1st. I've woken up to the year's Christmas playlist he's made. I love the whole month, the songs, the decorating, the baking, eating, drinking, dancing and general spirit.
Olivia's favourite Christmas tradition: As a child we did Sinterklaas on a very small scale (my grandma was Dutch) but since moving to Amsterdam and especially since having Bo, Sinterklaas had become a bigger part and we now hold off putting up our tree until he's sailed off. Besides the Christmas songs my favorite tradition is picking and putting up the tree. We always get a real tree and my husband loves the giant ones. This year we had to chop off the top to get it to fit in our house. It's almost as big as the one we have in store! Over the years we've collected tons of Christmas tree decorations, from a craft market at William Morris's house by our old house in London to sewn hearts from our trip to Budapest when we were 21. We also have some of Bo's great grandma's from the 50's. I love history and stories so getting them out each year and telling him small anicdotes about our past is a real joy. We also encourage him to choose one or two each year, each with their story we can tell him in future years.
Nhi is our Customer Service Specialist. She lives with her partner Dongshu and two kids Noah & Philou.
I love Christmas, we sing jingle bells throughout the year anyway but when December arrives the song gets lots more meaning, love, and togetherness. I get butterflies in my stomach as we sing the songs extra loud or have the songs play in the background while doing my things. Also spending more time with family and friends during the holiday season makes me feel extra lucky to have them near me.
Nhi's favourite Christmas tradition: My parents would always make a festive dinner on Christmas eve after we come home from Church, just the 4 of us with candle lights. Having my own family now I’d like to make our own traditions. We bought our very first big tree this year in our new home! As the kids grow more aware (2 and 4 y/o) I’d like this to be our tradition. Picking out our real-tree and decorating it together with my partner doing the peek while playing Christmas songs. It may get chaotic and me being afraid that the ornaments break, but that’s also the funny part.
How lovely you made it all the way to the end of this blog!
We hope you keep getting to know us a little better.
Have you seen our cosy (online) Christmas market yet?
Looking for inspiration for beautiful, sustainable gifts for under the Christmas tree? Check out our Gift Guide here.
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