My family has some great Christmas traditions. Some have evolved over the years since I married and had children of my own but many have stuck with me. A lot of the time spent during Christmas surrounds these traditions that we do together as a family and I honestly feel like that is what will be remembered the most by our children. I love the concept of traditions and how they can be tied to culture or geographic area. It is so interesting how people do things differently and truly makes it special. Our family is no different and I have drawn up a list of our 10 Christmas traditions that we incorporate into the season every year.
My Top 10 Christmas Traditions
- Advent Calendar – Advent Calendars come in all sorts of types nowadays – whether it be picture ones, paper chains, chocolates or the more expensive and fancy wine or planner related advent calendar. In our house we keep it simple and get a chocolate Advent Calendar. Each night the girls take turns to open the door and eat the chocolate. It is something that they look forward to every year and that they look forward to purchasing every year as well.
2. Elf on the Shelf – Some people love them – others hate them. I personally love to see the look on my kids faces when they see where the elf “moved” to and the fun antics the elf gets into in the house. Every morning they rush around trying to find where the elf is.
3. St. Nicholas Visiting – On the eve of Dec 5th, my daughters put their shoes outside of their bedroom doors and in the morning they wake up to find that St. Nicholas has stopped by and filled their shoes with fruit, candy, books, workbooks, and small toys.
4. Feeding the Reindeer – Every Christmas Eve my daughters and I whip up a batch of reindeer food – which is essentially oats, glitter and Christmas sprinkles and toss in onto the lawn for the reindeer to see and come to the house. They get to eat the reindeer food while Santa is inside putting the presents under the tree. We also leave a carrot on Santa’s cookie plate to give to his reindeer on his way out.
5. Build Gingerbread Houses – Every year we buy one or two gingerbread house kits and build them together. This year we got two gingerbread houses from Five Below – and I feel like at $3 a piece they were a steal and allows each of my daughters to have some fun and get creative in their own ways without breaking the bank.
6. Special Christmas Eve Dinner – It is a Puerto Rican tradition to serve Roast Pork Shoulder (Pernil) and Arroz con Gandules on Christmas Eve for dinner. This is a tradition that we incorporated once my husband and I got married and have kept every year.
7. Family Gifts on Christmas Eve – This is another tradition that started with my husband’s family. When we get together with his family, we open gifts from each other on Christmas Eve. Christmas Day is reserved for gifts from Santa.
8. Christmas Tree Camp Out – One night during the season (usually on a weekend) we gather all of the blankets and pillows and camp out around the Christmas tree. We watch Christmas movies, drink hot cocoa and eat popcorn with M&Ms inside and just enjoy being together.
9. Cutting Down a Christmas Tree – This is a relatively new tradition for us that we started 3 years ago. The weekend after Thanksgiving we head out to the tree farm and with a saw in hand, we cut down our idea of the “perfect” Christmas tree. For the past 3 years we have picked Frasier Fir, but that might change in the future. After we cut it down we bring it home and everyone helps decorate it while listening to Christmas music.
10. Christmas Breakfast – Ripping open gifts can work up an appetite in our house. Once the kids are done opening their gifts, we head to the kitchen to make breakfast together – usually something along the lines of pancakes, eggs and bacon. The kids help cook, which they thoroughly enjoy and after we eat, we get dressed and head to Church.
Christmas is such a special time of year. This is especially true when the kids are little and the magic of Santa still exists. This only stays for a short time – so in my opinion it is all about cherishing those moments and memories. It’s not the gifts that make it special – it’s the quality time we spend together. I hope this gives you some unique family traditions to make those memories last a lifetime or at least some ideas to do during the holiday season. Do you have traditions that you and your family do every year? Leave a comment down below and let me know what they are!
Xo,
Morgan
