One tradition I passed down from my childhood to my kids is the advent calendar. My mom was very crafty and she had one that was a tree and ornaments were in numbered pockets underneith and each day of the month leading up to Christmas we put an ornament on the tree (it was made from felt and she still has it). Now with my kids, I found a company years ago that had one with Mary and Joseph on it and a path that they took them to Bethlehem. It was a kit and I spend many hours making it our own (felt also). Now even though my kids are tweens they still look forward to getting Mary and Joseph to the stable so Jesus can be born. In fact, up until a few years ago they thought that Santa changed out the Mary and Joeseph to Mary, Joseph, Baby Jesus, the WiseMen and the barn animals. That was one of the first things they'd do was look at the advent calendar to see if Jesus was born. Now they do it themselves but they still put the calendar up when we decorate. It was such a great childhood tradition in my house I wanted my kids to enjoy it also.
You can find all kinds of reusable advent calendars in stores and online. My moms, she made in her homemakers group back in the 70's and I wish she still had that pattern. Have fun and dig back into your childhood for things to pull from.
Another thing I did with my kids until a few years ago was put whole nuts and a piece of fruit in their stockings. My "Santa" did it also until I moved out of the house in my 20'. Have fun!! Good luck and God Bless.
Well, one seems kind of obvious, but the day after Thanksgiving, we always put on some Christmas CDs and get out all the decorations. It takes us pretty much all day to get them up, but the kids always like seeing them and putting their own little trees in their rooms.
Also, closer to Christmas, we always pick a night where we all put on our jammies and then pile into the car with a cup of cocoa to look at the Christmas lights in and around our neighborhood. That's kind of fun, too.
Finally, usually between Christmas and New Year, if we're in town, we try to go up to Weston to ski for a day. It's not great skiing, but the kids still have fun.
I have just a couple of suggestions... one is get a little zip lock bag - place some glitter and some sunflower seeds in it... on Christmas Eve, sprinkle it on your front lawn. We call it Reindeer Food... the glitter helps them find the house.
Another beautiful tradition is to adopt a family in need. Teach your little ones the beauty of giving to others... or you could all volunteer at a soup kitchen for a day.
Merry Christmas!
Hi Michele. What a great mom seeking advice for this! I have a tradition that that my mother did as I grew up and I started it with my 3 children; 16, 11, 9. Every year I buy an ornament from Hallmark that fits each of their personalities or life. Like a Chiefs one for my football player, drums for my drummer, etc. They are wrapped and ready to go. Christmas Eve we read Christmas books, sing some songs, put out the cookies and milk, sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn and then each of them get to open the ornament. Of course as they got older they realized what they were getting but that's ok. Now each year when we decorate the tree, each of them has their own ornaments to hang and it is so much fun to get them out and talk about that year and what was special about the ornament they got. You'd be surprised how creative you can get with an ornament when trying to match it to your child.
Good luck with your boys, cherish these young years. They grow up so fast!!
We go to Mass every Christmas Eve around 3:00 or 4:00 p.m. and then out to dinner. While we are gone, Santa comes. Santa hides the presents somewhere different in the house every year, doesn't label the gifts, just wraps one child's all in the same paper and then a different paper for the other one. They love coming home and looking for the gifts and then trying to figure out whose is whose.
We also bake Christmas cookies every year with Grandma, decorating them with sprinkles, etc. They aren't artistic creations but the kids have fun doing it.
One other thing we do is videotape each person in the family in front of the Christmas tree telling about the highlights of their year. The kids tell us how old they are, their grade in school (now) and their favorite memories of the year. We (Mom and Dad) do it to. We keep this tape separate from the normal yearly one so we have all the years back to back and can see the changes when we view it. It is truly priceless.
Oh, no, I can talk/write all day about holidays.
We have the best neighbors! As a "thank you" to their summer- long gifts of fresh produce, we make trays of cookies & have our sons deliver them a few days before Christmas. When our sons were younger, we actually used a wagon! For me, this was a continuation from my childhood....each year, my sister & I made Christmas gifts for our elderly neighbors (some of whom watched my Dad & Uncle grow up!).
As for other traditions, I also give my sons ornaments. For our daughter who passed away as infant, each year I purchase a Snowbaby ornament (usually angels) & Gracie's ornaments are the 1st to be hung on the tree.
As to gifts, I always try to give my sons: a Christmas outfit, a book, a movie or music (sometimes both), something to further their hobbies/collections, & some fun stuff...in addition to one big item. Sometimes that "big" gift takes up most of the $...other years it doesn't. I also don't try to make everything equal in cost...since there's 9 years between my sons. Instead, I focus on the # of gifts & whether they appear to be equal.
Pretty much the whole season is a tradition, from the menu to the baking to the collection of childrens Christmas books that I set out each year to the Thanksgiving weekend at Silver Dollar City & Branson. We fill the entire month with lots of friends, family, & traditons! Our holiday season is crazy...but we address it with happy hearts, & the time flies.
In the end, we always have two full weekends of family parties....& a nice/quiet Christmas Eve & Day with my Mom & Grandma (who's 87 this year!). I fully embrace our multi-generational family...& have wonderful memories of my own Great Grandparents.
First - There are A LOT of GREAT ideas on here already & I personally wanted to say Thank You for asking such a good question....
A new tradition we are starting this year since money is extremly tight! We are getting together with the family and making dough ornaments. Each person is to make three. 1 for them to keep, 1 to send to the Grandparents that are out of state and the last for an ornament gift exchange. This is with my kids, my parents and my sister and her entire family, so there will be quite a few of us for the exchange.
I know my sister bakes and decorates cookies every year with her children and now her grandchildren and then those cookies are shared at our gathering.
Well, have fun picking out what works for you!
A tradition that was in my husband family was on Christmas eve all the family gather at my husbands grandparents for soup, sandwiches and dessert and a gift exchange. ALL of their kids, their kids etc, and their brothers, sister invited, who cared how crowded, we ate in shifts. After his grandparents died, no one wanted to do or had the room for the big family get togethers, so each family kind of did their own. My husbands parents didn't want to continue it, so we started one for our family, sometimes his would come, sometimes mine would, sometimes it would be for friends who had no family. As the years and our kids have grown the tradition has changed some. We finally came up with a clam chowder, ham sandwiches, some finger foods, dessert. My 3 kids are all grown now and have kids of their own and still we all get together on Christmas eve. This past year we have opened it up to and inculded friends who will be alone at Christmas. I was sick last year and wasn't going to do it, but my kids stepped in and we had it at my son's so now the tradition has passed to another generation.
What a good question... with a lot of great responses!! I remember several from my own childhood- the advent calendar, opening one gift on Christmas Eve, baking cookies and delivering them to others, going to a tree farm to get our Christmas tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving... etc! When I got married we started some of our own, too. But one of the most important in our home (that we have carried on from my parents' home) is to read the story of Christ's birth from the bible before opening any gifts on Christmas morning. It really helps to remember the true meaning and reason for the whole Christmas season and celebration! My kids love to make gingerbread houses- so we do that too! We do a LOT of baking around Christmas and we always share with others- friends, family, neighbors. I don't do a traditional advent calendar either. We do the '25 days of Christmas' with story books. Reading with your kids is important- so we buy 25 new children's story books every year and start reading them on Dec 1st- reading one new one every night before they go to bed! Last year I bought all winter/Christmas stories. One other thing that we do is so simple- let the kids decorate for Christmas. I let them do all of the interior decorating- it never ends up the way I want it- but they love it and they tell everyone that walks through our door what they did and they are so proud of it! We always go out on Christmas Eve to look at Christmas lights. We give the kids 'hot chocolate' (just chocolate milk :)) and we drive them around to look at lights. We have a gift exchange just between the kids on Christmas Eve- we draw names and each kid uys only 1 gift-- then on Christmas Eve they get to open only that gift! Good luck! And kudos to you for wanting to start traditions!!!
We bake Christmas cookie using an old family recipe for almond cresents. We decorate gingerbread houses using graham crackers rather than gingerbread. We cut down our own tree too. My sister and her family dress up in coordinating pajamas for the build up to the holidays.
We have several traditions that stress sharing which include: having chili and clam chowder every Christmas Eve (inviting family, extended family and friends to drop in any time in the evening) and deciding as a family which charitable organization (that adopts families in need) to donate to. But my four kids (now 14 - 30) always remember the Christmas tradition of decorating the tree. When they were little my hubby and I would hide the ornaments all over the house, turn on Christmas music and start baking cookies. The kids would spread out looking for ornaments and race back to the tree to hang them. Yes, this meant all the ornaments were on the bottom of the tree. So when all the ornaments were accounted for we would take turns moving them all over the tree, talking about which ornament were their favorites and why, where they wanted to hang it, etc. The kids still talk about those times. Also, I still hang the calendar that you move a mouse each day marking the days til Christmas and my 14 y/o and 20 y/o still race each morning to get to move the mouse before the other- it's hilarious! Sometimes its the little things they remember the most.
My children are 5 and 2. We bake Jesus a b-day cake and sing happy birthday for X-Mas. The elves come and put up our tree and decorate with lights while we are sleeping. The elves then leave each of them a special X-mas ornament under the tree. When we wake up we all finish decorating the tree. All the ornaments at this time are plastic. This elimates all the stress of putting up the tree. No little hands to worry about and it makes for a very fun time. They can drop all the ornaments they want!
We make food for the reindeer--mix oatmeal and red sprinkles together, and spread on the yard (looks awesome with snow). Very easy for my young ones to help with. We also write a letter thanking Santa for all his hard work. Santa writes a letter back to the kids acknowleding their good behaviour over the year. When opening gifts we make the kids thank the gift giver (if they are there) and hug them--this slows them down and makes them recognize each gift they receive. They also get new pj's (Christmas pj's that coordinate) and wear them to bed Chrstimas Eve. Good luck. I look forward to hearing other ideas.
How about making a special ornament together for the tree each year? My daughter is 19 now, and I still put her home-made ornaments on the tree every year. Don't forget to write the year on the back.
Jenny
We used to go to a place where you can cut your own Christmas trees down. There's a place where you can warm up and sit by the fire and drink a cup of hot cocoa. I don't think this place is around anymore (it was called Christmas Tree Valley) but they HAVE TO have a place like this around still.
One thing that I always did with my son when he was younger was to make glitter pinecones. You can buy glue that has brushes and the glitter already included. When you're done putting on the glitter, lay the pinecones on wax paper so they don't stick to anything. Sometimes we attached ribbon to make ornaments. They also look great in the glass containers that were so popular a couple of years ago.
Also, we use my son's school photo every year to make ornaments for his grandparents. He decorates the ornament, attaches his photo and writes the year.
The best idea I have gotten was from Kathy Lee Gifford. Santa brings three gifts for each child because Jesus recieved three gifts from the wise men. When I was a child "Santa" brought way too much and now a days he can't afford as much. Three gifts keeps things in persective both financially and more then three and the gifts aren't as special. Plus the story of the wise men ties the spiritual and traditional aspects of the holiday.
Michele,
Every year we buy ornaments. We each pick out our own, I even pick one out for my son who passed away. My husband and I also pick one out together that has a couple on it. We have a lot of fun looking for the ornaments. I like that it shows all of our individual personalities.
Give them an ornament every year of something they like or are into and then when they leave home, you can give them all of their special ornaments to begin their own tradition with their new family.
Maureen
When i was age 10 and my younger brother were age 7 & 5 my mom had us start writing (or drawing pictures as may be age appropriate) to each other. There were themes to the letters/pictures ie: my favorite memory of you this past year, if I could ask baby Jesus for one gift for you it would be, my hope for you in the next year etc... Every year (and still now even though we are all married and have kids of our own)we write these letters. They are read aloud on Christmas Eve before we do the family presents. It has been a nice reminder of our love for each other and what the true celebration of Christmas was about. I know my poor mother spend many hours wrestling with young children and teens getting us to write these letters but now as adults I still have my letters from all these years and it is one of my favorite holdiay traditions. I'm so glad that we continue to carry it into our own families.