With the holidays rapidly approaching, now is a time for reflection, love, good food, tradition, and of course recalling incredible holiday memories. From drinking hot cocoa, bringing your honey home to meet your family for the first time, or Secret Santa gift exchanges, this is the season to celebrate love, gratitude, growth, and family. With that said, members of the Black Love team, and our BL online community, have shared their favorite holiday memories and their most cherished holiday moments. Check them out below!

• 1. 1. “Three months into dating when Tommy came to TX to celebrate Christmas 2013 with my family, and the Christmas tree that he insisted we buy in L.A.” — @codieco, blacklove.com’s creator and editor-in-chief
        

        Tommy & Codie Oliver at Christmas

     2. “Building gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve!” — @beautifulmissv
        
     3. “Drinking hot chocolate and watching Christmas classics with my brother” — @__missytay
     4. “Every Christmas, I’d fall asleep on the couch while waiting for Santa, and every morning I’d magically wake up in my bed, which really just meant I had the added thrill of racing my brother into the living room to see our presents. My favorite holiday memory came from the euphoria Christmas brought, rooted in being surrounded by family as the aroma of breakfast and pine tree wafted through the air while Nat King Cole played through the speakers. Knowing my parents did so much to make the holiday special for me and my brother was the real present.” — @sweetanddlo, blacklove.com’s web producer
  

  credit: Fotolia

  1. 1. “Eating dinner at the table, no cell phones back in the day!” — @simplideni
     2. “Bringing in the New Year out of town for the first time with my boyfriend. We bought tickets to a party on the pier and had a ball! I call it my first ‘real’ NYE (New Year Experience) — it was full of music, drinks, connecting with other people, and lots of confetti.” — @tayheart, blacklove.com’s social media manager
     3. “Mine has to be going and cutting down our Christmas tree. Then, coming home to decorate in the PJs I made for my family.” — @thecurlycoopers
  

  Courtesy of Pexels.com

  1. “Tradition, Christmas music playing while putting up the tree and sipping hot cocoa in comfy PJs and socks.” — @louisianasfinestshay
  2. “One of my favorite holiday memories was going to watch night service on New Year’s Eve 2009 and joining the church as soon as we rang in 2010.”  — @tajrani, blacklove.com’s managing editor
  3. “I love playing “White Elephant” Christmas with my family. When your number is drawn you get to choose a gift and unwrap it. This is where the fun starts: when the next person’s gift is drawn, they can either choose a gift or steal yours! With the vast variety of gifts (cost, size, cool factor) the game gets pretty competitive.  Never underestimate a grown man’s ability to steal NBA tickets from a child! It is one of my favorite Christmas games to play with my family.” – @arynetta, blacklove.com’s senior editor
  

  Courtesy of Pexels.com

What are some of your favorite holiday memories? Be sure to let us know in the comments and share with us at @blacklovedoc on Instagram!