My 4 year old is now really getting into the holidays and I was wondering what kinds of traditions do you guys do? My parents are dead and my extended family is far away on the East coast. I want to do something each year that she will remember. We do go to the tree lighting ceremony in Portland and things like that but was just wondering what you guys might do. Thanks!
I have read your replies and the reason I am asking is because when I was little I remember going to my gmom's house and having family. we do do things every year but the older kids think they are ho hum. So the things we have done have not made much of an impact. I want to make one for the little one. Thaks again for your help!
As a kid every Christmas Eve we got to open one gift and only one gift and with out fail it was PJ's. Now that I have kids I follow the same tradition but I have added something to it. My kids get a new set of PJ's and a Christmas book. This way when they are older and have kids of their own I can give them a pile of Chritsmas books to share with their family.
We read The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey every year . . . we bake cookies together - okay, I bake, they play in the dough/frosting/sprinkles. Simple stuff.
My daughter just turned 4 and I'm liking some of the responses you've received. I would add one I did as a child, and started again w/my daughter last year and will continue. On Thanksgiving, cut strips of paper to total the number of nights between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Glue them into a paper ring string, hang it by your childs bed and tear off one every night at bed-time. It builds excitement, is fun, cheap and simple, and is a project 4 year olds can do. Also, your older kids can be doing what they do while you go about it :) or get in on the fun.
We were military growing up (so no family within several thousand miles, usually). Our traditions were simple when I was a kid.
- Buying the tree
- Decorating it (we got 1 new ornament every year, for each of us, usually representing something special for that year)
- new pj's on xmas eve
- opening one present on xmas eve
- going for a ride to look at the lights on xmas eve in our new pj's
- presents in the morning (with a brunch break)... and playing with them in the afternoon. We'd usually film a few minutes of wishing our relatives merry christmas.
Our own traditions are in flux at the moment...
Two that are solid though :
- Pictures with Santa on Xmas eve in new jammies (we send a letter prior)
- Everyone "sneaks" a present into everyone else's stocking ... it's a secret present, you're not allowed to tell the person you got it for them. So xmas morning, you don't know which presents are from santa and which are from family. (We did this to combat the constant reference to "stocking stuffers". After all if Santa fills the stockings 100%, why would we CONSTANTLY be hearing that phrase?)
My favorite Christmas tradition is to go to the Christmas tree farm and each of us taking turn cutting down our tree we all agree on.
Also going and looking at christmas lights on christmas eve.
We always go to the Forest Service and buy a pass to cut down a tree for $5. Then the whole family loads up in the car and drives in the mountains, looking for the perfect tree. We bring hot chocolate, the dogs, cold weather gear. It is a lot of fun.
We have 5 children 13-twin 4 yr ols. a tradition that I have started with our children is cookie decoration. We do this for many different holidays, not just christmas. I make a batch of sugar cookies in the desired shapes and we frost and decorate them together. the kids really love this and look forward to doing it each holiday.
The light display at Bellevue Botanical Gardens is fabulous.
www.bellevuebotanical.org
We celebrate winter solstice every year with wassail and reading poems and burning the yule log with notes for wishes of the new year. Also, we go to the Portland Revels every year, which is a BLAST! For Christmas, we sponsor a family every year to bring toys to, too (which encourages the true season of giving).
Growing up with out extended family(my dad was military) we would decorate our tree every year as a family. My mom would put on the sesame street christmas album (yes album!) and make cookies and coco. Then we would drive around and look at christmas lights.
I still do this with my stepson and am looking forward to doing this with my daughter.
Merry Christmas!
Also if you live in portland the Zoo lights are wonderful!
Is there a tradition from your childhood that you can do? It would be a wonderful way to honor your parents at the holidays and give your daughter a connection to them. I remember baking with my mom at the holidays and that's a tradition I have continued with my kids.
Hi M., Growing up we didn't really have traditional "traditions", so with my kids I try to do the same. Something that they can always remember. Every Christmas we decide what color "theme" we will use to decorate the tree, so every year our tree has a different color.
We also bake cookies "for Santa" on Christmas Eve, after we have our Christmas dinner.
Doesn't sound like much, but the kids always look forward to it. Happy Holidays.
We don't have an outing tradition, although I would like to try and find something like that too.
A tradition we do have in our house (if you celebrate Christmas), is each person in our family gets a new tree ornament every year. Preferably something that's either representative of that persons interested or something specifically in that year, if possible. We write (or engrave) the name and year on each one and every year while decorating our tree, we get a little stroll down memory lane to all the previous years ornaments. It gets especially neat when many, many years go by (like the ornaments I put up now) and I pull out ones that have survived since the mid to late 70's from my childhood. My mom started this tradition, and I have carried it on to my children, and I really love it.
I am an ok cook and a not-so-good baker, however we keep a simple little tradition in our house. I make Holiday pancakes. I make them in the shape of something fitting for the holiday and we decorate them accordingly. Its a simple thing but one I hope they will always remember. We also purchase a gift off the giving tree and donate it to the local Operation Santa drive. I let the kids (4 and 2) help every step of the way. :)
I'm taking my kids, along with other family members, to the Polar Express train ride at the Mt. Hood Railroad. If you decide to try this, act quickly to get your tickets - they go fast and are in high demand. You can get them by visiting the Mt Hood Railroad website or by calling them.
My tradition with my kids was to ride around on Xmas eve night and look at the lights.
My mom made the simplest advent calendar ever, and I wanted one each year! It takes five minutes to make and looks great!
But you have to approve of chocolate. Hard, I know.
Cut a basic Xmas tree shape out of cardboard and cover it with green foil wrapping paper. (Cheap and easy version: a simple tall triangle from green tagboard or even construction paper.) You can re-use this if you're careful, or you can recycle it each year.
Get 24 Hershey's kisses in red, green, and silver. (Deluxe version: get the almond ones, they come in gold as well.)
Glue them on the tree shape like ornaments. (You could decorate it with other objects as well, but I never felt it necessary. Because CHOCOLATE!)
Unwrap and eat one every night, ending on Xmas Eve. (Peel the foil back, pick out the kiss, then mash the foil back down into a flat disc so it still looks like an ornament.)
Now go brush your teeth and jump into bed!
My parents are divorced, so we had different traditions.
With my dad, we spent every Christmas Eve day with him. When we were small, we would always go to a tree farm and cut down a tree with him and then decorate it together.
With my mom (and we're all old and still do this), we would each get to open one present on Christmas Eve before we went to bed, and it was always PJs. On Christmas morning "Santa" would visit and we would have one big Santa present and our stockings sitting out separately from the rest of our gifts. Then, with the regular gifts, we each took turns opening (it wasn't a free for all). Also, my mom and I bake and put together plates for family and friends. We also always went shopping for children/family in need.
M.,
We love the Christmas holiday and have a few traditions that are well loved. We always cut down our tree and have a photo in front of the tree. We also love the advent calendars to help count-down Christmas. Cookie making and decorating are wonderful memory makers as is a really cute book and idea "Elf on the Shelf" which we just started last year. As for local activities, the few we used to do have stopped such as Alpenrose and Meier & Frank's 10th floor Santa Land. I hope you get more local ideas.
Have fun!
I'm in a similar situation. A couple of years ago, doing our first Christmas tree (first year we didn't make it to the in laws) and totally broke with no Christmas ornaments, we decided to make some. I found a simple clay using cooking ingredients and got some cheap pains and a brush. Using holiday cookie cutters we made a bunch of ornaments and I painted them. We also made a big popcorn string. The kids loved making the decorations - and decorating with us. By the time we were done, we had a bunch of hanging ornaments, popcorn string, some old lights I found, and candy canes on the tree and it looked great.
The kids really enjoyed it and we've made new ornaments every year since. We're going to add paper chains this year since the kids are able to cut out strips now.
Another good thing is to have some special holiday foods and/or if you are religious having an advent wreath with a devotion before dinner every night.
Good luck! Kids love to make traditions and any little thing can be special. When I was a kid, my favorite thing was going to bed after midnight service on Christmas eve, having made fudge for santa. We woke up and had Danishes every year for breakfast. Later we had a traditional meal with my uncle coming over, and then we had presents. My husband had a finger food meal every Christmas eve, opened presents before bed, and then Christmas day there was a huge meal with all the traditional American foods AND all the traditional Greek foods. We both try to incorporate our traditions even now. It's funny how we want to keep them. LOL. Your kids will be the same way. Once you start doing those little things every year, it'll be the way to celebrate the season.
Hi, M.--
What sorts of traditions did your older children enjoy? Each year we spent some time baking and making goodies for others-- then delivering them. We also try to adopt another family in need and spend time planning on what we can do for others. I like to create our own advent calendars and my daughter gets excited about it. A tour of Christmas lights could be fun, too.
Have a great holiday season!
