Family Traditions....Christmas and Other Hollidays

We make cookies for Santa on the 23rd. We go look at Christmas lights. We watch "Muppet Christmas Carol" on Christmas Eve.

Christmas morning we open presents and call family far away then have a big breakfast. We'll go play at Zilker Park and then have a nice dinner the night of the 25th. :)

For Christmas I read the night before christmas on christmas eve to all my kids. My mom did this to my brother and I untill just last year when she decided it was time for me to take over and do it for my children instead of her doing it. We also open one present on christmas eve night, then we make a snack of my children's choice for Santa and leave him a drink of their choice also. After that the holiday is all about spending time with family. We also have the tradition every year the month of december we clean out the toy boxes and give anything they do not want or play with that looks good still away to a family in need for the holiday.

To keep the real "reason for the season", we read the Nativity story. Along with the story, we have a Nativity figure set the kids can set up. Each figure comes in a gift box and they open the box as the story is told. They love to put Baby Jesus into the scene! This creates so much excitement in the house. In fact, we have four Nativity scenes.

We take the kids to "Happy Birthday Jesus Party" at church.

Also, my brother in law dresses up as Santa each year and comes to our house Christmas Eve. He stays for about 15 minutes and gives each child a small gift. We have finger foods and good company to make for a good time.

We hang stockings and put lots of stuff in there.

For Thanksgiving, each person writes what they are thankful for and we put it away in the china cabinet to be read next Thanksgiving.

Merry Christmas!!!!! Happy New Year!!!!! Ho! Ho! Ho!

We celebrate Christmas, but we aren't religious at all, so we don't do the whole Jesus' birth thing. We also never taught our kids about Santa. We celebrate Christmas as a time for giving and being close to family and friends. We celebrate by baking Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve, that is one way we celebrate family togetherness. We often give cookies to friends and family in the spirit of giving. We like to go looking at Christmas lights and sing holiday songs together in the car. On Christmas morning, we have a big breakfast (not a holiday dinner) and then open presents. We have one of the kids pick the first gift (it has to be for someone else, not themselves), then we all watch that person open their gift and play with it or try it on or whatever. Then the person who just opened a gift gets to pick a present for someone else. This way, there is more appreciation of the spirit of giving, acknowledging who the gift is from, sharing in the excitement of the person receiving the gift, etc. After presents are all finished, we usually take a family nap LOL then spend time with the kids playing with their new toys. We also watch family holiday movies like Charlie Brown Christmas, The Grinch, Jingle All the Way, etc. (it's all about family for us!)

We do:
-Elf on the Shelf!
-Advent calendar and wreath
-Pictures by the tree with the same chair and teddy bear to see how she has grown- and boy has she! THe chair is only going to last a nother couple of years, then the teddy bear will be in it all alone!
-5 stocking stuffers in the stockings, for the last 5 day countdown
-Jesus' birthday party Christmas eve, followed by midnight mass, wherever we are
Then we used to run everywhere for Christmas Day to see everyone -4 trips within a 2 hour drive. Not a lot of fun!

THIS YEAR... we are staying home (1100 miles from our family) for the first time and our first time in a warm climate for Christmas. We are going to enjoy snowballs on the balcony. We are opening gifts Christmas morning with all of our parents on different webcams all at the same time.

I'm sure that you will develop your own family traditions in time.

Christmas Eve we drive to a nearby subdivision to take the tour of Christmas lights. We read Twas the Night Before Christmas, leave out cookies for Santa and tuck my son into bed.

Every Christmas morning I make a big breakfast with gingerbread pancakes. Whether it's just us, or family and friends I still make the same huge breakfast.

We decorate the tree as a family too, and we always watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special.

Happy holidays to all!

R.

My husband's family is from Norway, and one of the things they do (and we join in the years we're at their house) is to hold hands and walk around the Christmas tree singing Christmas carols. Of course, theirs are in Norwegian, but you could certainly do that with just the English ones. They put on a CD they've made of their favorite ones, and we all sing along (well, those who know Norwegian!). I think this is a really neat tradition, and I really love when we do it.

In my own family, we always read the Christmas story from Luke Chapter 2 on Christmas Eve, to reinforce what Christmas is truly about, and we go to our church's Christmas Eve service, as well.

I buy a chocolate candy filled calendar for each my children - you can get them at various stores (Hallmark's, World Market, etc) and the kids get to track the days to Christmas with a chocolate candy each day. We also decorate gingerbread houses. The past 2 years we have had another family join us in making gingerbread houses. You can get a kit or make your own houses. I use the Pampered Chef stone mold. I also bought Christmas themed flannel sheets for my kids' beds, and we put these on the bed right after Thanksgiving. I bought some really cheap Christmas china/stoneware at HEB for under $5.00 for a 4-piece place setting, and we start using these for all our meals right after Thanksgiving. (They are so cheap that I do not care if something breaks - plus they go right in the dishwasher.) My kids (now 11 and 13) really look forward to these things every year. Good luck! You will find what works for you!

On Christmas eve we go to dinner (Mexican food because that used to be the only place open) and then to a movie. Sometimes Grandma comes along- otherwise it is just the 5 of us. Then we come home and read "The Night Before Christmas" and everyone is usually tired enough for bed. When the kids were small it was a way to pass that last long evening before Santa showed- now it is just a tradition. Christmas morning is at home- we serve breakfast to whomever wants to come. My parents live across the street so they usually show up, my mother in law comes, sometimes my brother and his girlfriend. We started having breakfast at our house so that we didn't need to pack up the kids and go running around to see everyone else. Relatives can come or not- but we aren't leaving the house! Then I will have a dinner for all of the relatives either Christmas night or the next night. We have most of our families in town and everyone wants to stay with their immediate families on Christmas morning-but our kids like to see their cousins so we do try to get them together at some point. We also all go see Santa at the Country Club compliments of my Mother in Law every year at the beginning of December.
OH! And Christmas morning the kids put all of the baby Jesus in the Nativity sets that I have set up around the house. (I have a collection of Nativity scenes.)Until Christmas morning the Nativity babies stay hidden because "Jesus is born on Christmas morn".

On Christmas morning we have a birthday party for Jesus, complete with candles and singing Happy Birthday. For Thanksgiving we make a sign for our front door that says, Oh Lord We Are Thankful For... and everyone lists what they are thankful for.

Hi H O,

I have started many family traditions along with the ones I grew up with. Here are some that everyone from all ages enjoys and you could put a twist on these for Chanukah (which we celebrate as well) or Kwanza:

- We always open our presents from Rudolph on Christmas Eve which is new PJ's. This way everyone look great for Christmas photos.
- I purchase gingerbread houses from a chain grocery store (they put them together for us in the bakery) and we make royal icing. You could save money by making them yourself. We decided after one year of a disaster and frustrating time making them, we decided spending a little extra money was well worth the cost. We save up the "good" gingerbread candy throughout the year and let each person decorate their own house. It's a bit of a mess but lots of fun. The teenage boys seem to love the Halloween candy the best to make their houses "funky". We have a gingerbread "city" (which we display on a card table) at the end that looks great!
- I print pictures from the previous Christmas and have some general holiday scrapbooking supplies on a table. Each person makes 1 page with pics that must include them. I make a sheet that displays the year and everyone's pages go behind. It's a great tradition that my husband and father have even come to enjoy and love. The first year was a bit of a challenge to get them involved but now they love to look for the funniest pics and decorate their pages. My Dad now usually makes the families fav! :)

I hope that helps and I hope that you have a wonderful holiday!

We buy and wrap 5-7 Christmas books for our children and every night they get to open one book and that is the story for that night, Christmas Eve we read 2 the one book left wrapped and Twas the Night Before Christmas. It also helps them to count how many more days until Christmas. Merry Christmas!

I haven't had time to read many of your postings, and I'm sure this has already been mentioned, but The Elf on the Shelf is SO cute and fun. I have a 5 year old that is obsessed with it right now. We are having so much fun watching him and his reactions, etc.. So, in that sense, it's fun for all of us (especially his big brother who is getting a real kick out of planning it with us). Depending on the ages of your kids, this is a must-do for a new tradition!

Merry Christmas and blessings to your family!

We try to keep the real reason for the season alive by focusing on giving to Jesus and those less fortunate. I hang a stocking for Jesus and am having my 3 year old son place in there anyting he would like to give Jesus this birthday - if it is "trying to share with friends more" then I just write it on paper and place in stocking. We put money, etc. in there then Christmas Eve service we give it to our church - or to Jesus.

We also adopt a needy family each year (I have 2 step sons, one 15, one out of the house) and have each family member shop for at least one gift, help wrap and then we deliver all the gifts to the family... together.

This year I'm having a birthday cake for Jesus... as it is a birthday celebration.

Whatever is on your heart - be creative and make it your special way of "paying it forward".

Merry Christmas!

How large is your family and are they all local? A Saturday or Sunday afternoon get-together with a gift exchange is fun. My family is also small. Until Katrina hit we gave gifts to all the school age children and the adults drew names. After Katrina, when there were so many in need, we continued with the kids' gifts, but instead of adult gifts, we bring toys to the party to donate to Toys for Tots, or some other agency. If everyone lives close together, attending Christmas Eve church services together can be very meaningful. Afterwards, my family always comes to my house for a little open-house. I invite a few close friends and we have a really good time. It's a good time for exchanging gifts with those we won't be seeing on Christmas Day. Believe it or not, people still do go out caroling in the neighborhood. Driving around to admire outside decorations is always fun.

Hi HO, We have several family traditions. Our whole family of 8 sisters and 3 brothers and our kids and in-laws (we keep growing) gets together to celebrate on the 24th. Everybody brings covered dish and a white elephant. We also play games like Newlywed game or Name That Tune. We even do a Christmas Lotto. We also plan games for the children. Everybody helps out and we have a ball.Hopefully this will give you some ideas. K. G.

As a kid, I always read "Twas the night before Christmas" with my dad and we would see how far we remembered without opening the book. I always got a new Christmas book that was on the foot of my bed when I woke up Christmas morning. Stocking of course, and a new stuffed animal. Also, on Christmas eve we would light a candle and sit around it holding hands and each say what we were thankful for. We make wassail and sing Christmas carols while we bake cookies. I loved the traditions so much that we do them with our daughter now. Have fun making your own!

We read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible as our family devotion for that day. We usually eat with my in-laws that day. We don't do presents on Christmas, but instead we bring in the New Year with a new gift. That way Christmas is all about remembering Jesus and spending time with family. We definitely surround ourselves with Christmas hymns. This year, I plan to do either a nice dinner on C Eve or a big breakfast that morning with all the nice dishes that my kids will even use for just my little family. I'm also thinking about doing a chain decoration (like we used to do in school with strips of paper) where we write down the year and something we're grateful for. On another, something we would pray for for the upcoming year. We can add on to it each year and remember years past. I have never done this, but I would like to try it. My 7 year old loved the idea. I usually have both sides of the family over on New Year's day for lunch. Thanksgiving is at my family's where we usually eat big and then play board games as well as vollyball or football. We also go camping once a year with my family as a family reunion. The tradition there is that my mom brings a puzzle and it must be completed by the end of the week and everyone needs to put in at least one piece of it. Then we take a picture with it before breaking it down and donating it. My sister always puts a new book she would like her kids to read under their pillow at Christmas. I plan to add some new traditions as we go and look forward to reading what others posted. Thanks for the question.

Our tradition for birthdays has always been that everyone (immediate family) gets a card. So on my birthday, mom, dad and sister got cards too. It was fun picking them out and the day was special for everyone. with my little ones we started giving them their own cup cake on each others birthday so they felt special too. Easy to do, no stress and fun, also with the kids so little, the individual cakes saved everyone from having to eat mashed cake :)

For easter we have clues hidden in the plastic eggs and it was a treasure hunt to find the baskets. the first egg was always beside us on the bed when we woke up. first egg led to the next egg and so on, usually 12 eggs. clues like "you can find me where the pies go to heat up", of course the oven. haha one year my parents made the clues so hard it took us an hour to find each next egg and we ended up searching for 12 hours straight. it was awesome!! The baskets were never huge the fn was in finding them.

Among all the other things the holidays stand for in our house it means an excuse to eat! Our family on Thanksgiving and Christmas mornings will make pigs in the blankets. Little sausages rolled up in canned biscuits. Its fun. Dad just kinda hangs back while my two sisters, my mom and I just go to town rolling up the pigs. After we eat the pigs then we open presents. The only young child in the house right now is my 7 month old so I'm sure when she's a little older we will alter this a little. I think I remember as a kid eating pigs after presents but I'm not sure. Have to ask my mom about that. My husband, and the other hubbies, just stand back and stay out of the way. Safer that way.

We also always have these little bags of chocolate covered mini donuts around during the holidays. Never are they allowed in the house at other times!!

Hope you find some great holiday traditions of your own! You could always make it a new one each year and see what works best. But anything you do will be special!

Merry Christmas!
Jen
http://www.mommysjoy.com

On Christmas Eve we visit either my family or my husbands family. We eat Tamales and Mexican food at my moms, we eat clam chowder with the in laws. We play Christmas music really loud and burst into spontaneous singing, to drive the kids crazy. Usually we play board games at my family's home and card games at the inlaws. We do open the gifts that the grand parents give.

At home we read Christmas stories or watch a Christmas movie.. At about 9:00 we hop in the car and drive around ringing jingle bells out the window.. We take hot chocolate and drive past the homes of families we know and sometimes, past the homes of people we do not know, but have seen young children playing outside before.

This will be our second christmas with our son but it will be our first christmas as our own lil family. We are trying to decide on what traditions to start also. We are planning to watch christmas cartoons on christmas eve. As far as christmas morning :Wake up before our son, get ready and get breakfast going, either eat before presents or eat while doing stockings, then PRESENT TIME! after that just putting together presents and playing until time for christmas dinner. Eat relax and be merry! Our son is still to small to do things like make and set out cookies for santa but im sure as he gets older we will add those fun crafty things.

Word to the wise: Don't become a slave to traditions, or it will start to stress you out. I love having fun sweet things to expect but when traditions start to add stress it can really take away from the fun.

That being said, in our home we all get new Christmas jammies and we stay in them all day. That way every one is comfy! For Breakfast we bake cinnamon rolls and top them with red and green maraschino cherries so they look festive. We do Christmas Dinner as a pot luck. I make a ham, and one side dish and who ever is coming over(grandma's or aunts or cousins)brings something and then no one has all the burden of shopping and cooking.
We do a drawing for the adults, but every one shops for the kids, and we all pause while each present is opened so that we can savor the experience. I hate it when you spend months and months shopping and its all over in 20 minutes. The most important thing about all of this is that we aren't glued to any of it. Last year my husband had to work on Christmas so we had to switch every thing around. We just have to be flexible. I hear women all the time who stress and stress and they say things like, "but we ALWAYS do it this way!"or "every one will be so disappointing if we don't do it this way" and before you know it BAM! Fun is gone! Have a great Christmas!

We have a few that I loved and will continue with my daughter (6 months). Every year on Christmas Eve when we got home from church. There were "surprise" pajamas wrapped for us and waiting. (Surprise because when we were little it was a surprise and now it's just a family joke). Anyway, Santa would always drop off a gift for us before he made his rounds. That way we had new pj's to wear to bed.

We also usually woke up to a stuffed animal on our bed that Santa had left. As I got older it was a Breyer horse or something else little (not wrapped).

I also really liked that we were not allowed to go downstairs until everyone was awake. We went down as a family and then took turns opening presents.

Have a Merry Christmas!