The holidays are such a busy time that traditions can be forgotten. Stop spending all your time shopping or trying to get the next best gift everyone wants. This is a time to slow down and think of what really matters. Does one more toy or one more gift really matter? Should I give the gift of time? What should the focus be during the holiday season? The easy answer is, FAMILY! What can you do to put your family first and and make the holidays truly joyful? Stop and give the gift of time to create family traditions that you can all enjoy for years and pass down for generations.
15 Holiday Traditions to Enjoy for Years
Bake Cookies: Gather the family together to make your favorite cookies. Is it making sugar cookie, cutting them out and decorating them? do you prefer sugar and spice cookies? Or is it thumbprint cookies? Find those favorite recipes and enjoy the time together in the heart of the home making memories that will last a lifetime.
Jesus Stocking: Make a Christmas stocking special for Jesus. During the weeks/days leading up to Christmas make cards, pictures, letters for Jesus. Collect your change or even make a special extra Tithing for Jesus. At Christmas eve or Christmas day service take your stocking to church and deliver it to the Pastor or put it in the tithing basket. Make sure to let Jesus know how special he is to your family.
Indoor Snowball Fight: Snowball fights are so much fun. However, there isn’t snow everywhere at Christmas time. That is no reason to not have a snowball fight. Get some old tube socks or a bag of new ones and roll them into balls and tuck the ball into the end so the can be thrown and have at it. There will be so many smile and so much laughing. You can buy big white pom-pom balls or make yarn balls as well. But what ever you use have fun throwing those “snowballs” at each other.
Decorate the House with Christmas Music: There is no better way than to fill the house with the holiday spirit than to turn up the Christmas music and decorate the whole house together. My family always decorated the whole house the day after Thanksgiving. We would turn on Christmas music, set up the tree, decorate it, put up garlands and wreaths and any other decorations we had. I cherish the memories of my family doing this together every year.
Christmas Movie Night or Binge Day: How much do you love movies, Christmas movies? Would you rather spend a whole day binge watching Christmas movies or would you rather pick some special nights to watch your favorite Christmas movies together. Enjoy this time snuggled together on the couch with popcorn. It is not often that you get this snuggle time, so sit back, press play, and enjoy your favorite Christmas movies as a family.
Ugly Sweater Day: Who doesn’t love wearing their ugly Christmas sweaters? Make a great day of it. Find something special you all want to do and do it wearing those sweaters. Do you want to
look at the lights, go Christmas caroling, bake cookie, or decorate gingerbread houses? Find something fun you can do together and take plenty of pictures while you are doing it. Have fun and laugh a lot.
Christmas Eve Box: Create a box for the children to open on Christmas eve. In it have a Christmas book or other special book, Christmas pajamas (to wear that night), a special treat to eat, and a special ornament picked just for them.
Look at Lights: Choose a night as Christmas draws near to jump in the car and go to see Christmas lights in the neighborhoods near you. Take a treat to eat while you are looking and even some hot chocolate to enjoy on the ride. Play Christmas music all the way. Talk , say eww, ahh as you see the different light displays. Talk about the display you liked best and why, Enjoy this time as a family. Take in these precious moments, they don’t last forever.
Gingerbread Houses: Build and decorate gingerbread houses together. You can make them from scratch or buy a kit. The thing to do is sit together around the table and make them. You can all work on one or everyone can work on their own and create a village. Take pictures and make a special album of them and see how your creativity grows and changes over the years. Talk together and enjoy being a family.
Christmas Carol: Okay, not everyone loves to sing Christmas carols for others, so you do not necessarily have to go out and Christmas carol, but turn them on in your house and have fun as a family belting out those songs. If you do enjoy singing, go around the neighborhood or go to a senior citizen home and lighten up their faces.
Make Christmas Cards: Instead of buying Christmas cards, enjoy a craft day of making Christmas cards. You can make just a few for close family members or make them for a special group of people, such as the police department, fire department, senior citizen home. The time working together and talking will be a blessing you will want to repeat year after year.
Special Ornaments: Buy or make special ornaments for each person in the family. Think about each person, what do they like to do, what is something special that happened to them this year, what are they passionate about? Make or buy an ornament that reflects them. Then have a special time to exchange the ornaments, would it be Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, The weekend before Christmas, you choose what works for you. Place the ornaments on the tree so they can be enjoyed year after year.
12 or 25 Days of Books: Choose how many books you want to do to count down to Christmas. I would do 25 and start and December 1st or 12 and start on December 13th, but you can choose
any number of books that works for you and your family. Buy the number of books you would like to give, then wrap them all separately. Then each evening give one book to unwrap. If the books are picture books, then sit as a family and read the book. If they are chapter books sit and read the first chapter together to peek the interest of the child so they will want to read the rest of the book.
Christmas Countdown: Beginning on December 1st start a count down to Christmas. There are many advent calendars to buy, but it can be as easy as making a paper chain and taking a link off each day. When you take the link off ask your child what is a way you want to give to someone else today, or what are they most looking forward to this Christmas season? Have discussions about kindness and giving or things they enjoy during this time of year. try to keep the focus off receiving, but don’t deny it either.
Letters to Santa: There are two types of letters to write to Santa. Early in the season have you littles write a letter to Santa telling him how good they have been and give a couple ideas of gifts they would like to receive. Later in the season have them write a thank you note to Santa. They are not thanking him for specific gifts, they are thanking him for being kind, generous, and giving. After Christmas you can have them write a letter to Santa thanking him for the specific toys they received on Christmas.
For more holiday fun with your family also check out 25 Days of Giving.
Christmas Books
Just a few of my favorites. Share some of your favorites in the comments.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore
The Christmas Wish by Lori Evert
Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett
Bear Stays Up for Christmas by Karma Wilson
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
A Wish to be A Christmas Tree by Colleen Monroe
The Christmas Story by Jane Warner Watson
Room for a Little One by Martin Waddell
Llama Llama Holiday Drama by Anna Dewdney
39 Comments
Crystal
So many great things on this list! I love doing our advent calendar and going to look at lights in the neighborhood! Thanks for sharing
Sue
What a great list! I get so caught up in wanting to have ALL the presents that I forget to just chill and bake some cookies with my kids. Thank you for reminding me!
Barb
You are welcome. Relax and enjoy the season. They will only be little for a little while. Enjoy their magic of the season.
Holly Bird
Amazing traditions! We also do the advent calendar and cookies always with the whole family!
Estie Saunders
Definitely adding looking at lights to mine!
Barb
driving around looking at lights is so much fun. Turn on the Christmas music and bring the hot chocolate. My family always loves it.
Robin
I love the indoor snowball fight idea! What a great way to loosen up and have fun with the kids 🙂 Thank you!
Barb
Oh my gosh, the kids love this, but the adults love it more. We are always laughing and having so much fun.
Heather
These are some great traditions. We do a few of these. Cookies and gingerbread houses are always on the list. We also have special ornaments we purchase each year for family members.
Charlene
We have a lot of these traditions in our own home. They are so fun! I’ve never done the Jesus stocking before though. What a fun idea!
Barb
My children loved the Jesus stocking. They would put in their allowance, write letters and draw pictures. It was always a highlight for them. We also made a birthday cake for Jesus for Christmas day.
Lee Anne
So many wonderful ideas. I will bookmark this to refer back to in the coming weeks! 🙂 Thanks for sharing!!
Barb
I am so glad you like it. Please let me know which you tried and how your family enjoyed them.
Beth
What fun traditions to celebrate. So many to choose from – baking cookies, reading 25 days of books, Christmas caroling, and Santa Letters. What sweet memories. Thanks for sharing.
Barb
Thank you! We have some wonderful memories and I want to help others enjoy their family time and create wonderful memories.
Liza Brackbill
Christmas music is one of my favorite traditions <3
KENDRA
I love these ideas. We always do the cookie baking tradition and decorating while playing Christmas music. The indoor snowball fight sounds fun!
Barb
The indoor snowball fight is a blast for children and adults. Try it. It is so much fun.
Lisa
I love the idea of a Christmas Eve Box! Definitely going to start this with my family!!
Barb
This is so much fun and the littles love to open a gift on Christmas eve.
Maria Gustafsson
I grew up with some amazing traditions. My favourite was my mom giving both my brother and I our own batch of (Swedish) gingerbread that we got to make whatever shapes we wanted before decorating them. Oh and we also got our own batch of home-made marzipan that we were allowed to make our own shapes with as well. Such happy memories!
Barb
What wonderful memories. That is what it’s all about creating special memories that we get excited about when we remember them.
Danielle
I love, love, love the Jesus Christmas stocking tradition! My favorite tradition in my family is decorating the tree with Christmas music playing and cookies baking. This is a great list.
Barb
My children loved the Jesus stocking. They would put in their allowance, write letters and draw pictures. It was always a highlight for them. We also made a birthday cake for Jesus for Christmas day.
Lisa Manderino
These are great ideas! I like the idea of a Jesus stocking, I think it would help the kids remember the true meaning of Christmas!
Barb
My children loved the Jesus stocking. They looked forward to celebrating baby Jesus.
Magan
Lovely list. This coming weekend is our baking weekend and our night to check out area Christmas lights. I so love this time of year.
Tricia Snow
Traditions are so important to family life! Thank you for sharing!
judean
I love jumping in the car and driving around neighborhoods and looking at the lights – they are so pretty!
Jane
I love the idea about watching a Christmas movie & decorating the house with Christmas music. And I’m doing it now in my home 🙂
Katherine Wolfe
LOVE the idea of a stocking for Jesus! What a wonderful concept!
Barb
My kids really looked forward to giving to Jesus for his birthday.
Erika
I love these ideas!!!! My favorite is the stocking for Jesus. We will definitely be adding something like that to our holiday traditions.
Barb
My children loved giving to Jesus for his birthday. We even baked a birthday cake for Jesus.
Susan
I love traditions and you have so many great ideas. We still spend a night and go look at the Christmas light. We did it when I was a kid, I did it when my son was little, and I really enjoy the family time together doing it now. I still look at the lights from a kid’s point of view. It keeps me young.
Noelle Collins
I love the idea of the Jesus Stocking! We love to go see Christmas Lights, but we also do a Christmas Light Scavenger Hunt. Two of our favorite Christmas books are The Cripled Lamb and The Legend of the Candy Cane. We also love Snowmen at Night. That one if more of a general Winter one.
Barb
I love those books too.The Jesus stocking is so much fun. The children really learn to be giving and the meaning of Christmas with this.
Cindy
I love holiday traditions, especially when there are children in the house. You have a great list.
Barb
Thank You!