Share Your Family's Christmas Traditions Here

Please share your family's Christmas traditions here...

 

I usually make a Countdown Calendar with the kids. We like to make pretty paper chains to hang up as well as birdseed 'ornaments' for the birds and squirrels.

On Christmas Eve we drive around (in our new pj's! Shhh!) and look at the beautiful Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. We also open our stocking stuff that night. We also read the Christmas story and have hot chocolate and snack (popcorn?). Then, on Christmas morning we open our 'big' Christmas pressies.

One thing we haven't done, but I would like to try is, having an "Aussie Holiday" since my hubby is from Australia. I think it would be fun to turn the heat up and dress up in short sleeves and shorts and have a picnic on our living room floor (cold meats, etc.). :lol:

 

We always have cinnamon rolls and OJ(coffee for me please) on xmas morning..and bagels if I remember to get them we used to have these things at my mom's and now I serve them here..not really a tradition thou, we eat cin. rolls about 1x a week here they are Madison's favs LOL

 

I just stuffed a garland of tiny stockings numbered 1 to 24 with 4 pieces of candy each....... an advent calendar of sorts, I just got it this year so its a new tradition we'll have. I used a lot of starbursts because they look like little packages, tootsie rolls and hershey kisses.

 

We are big on advent activities.

1. We do a Jesse Tree.

2. We do an advent Wreath

3. We ahve a candy calendar, it has little pockets to put a piece of candy in-- one for each day in December.

4. We give presants the 12 days BEFORE Christmas. (Yes I've been informed by at least 20 people that the 12 days of Christmas are supposed to start on Christmas and be after but I like it before and I'm incharge of this tradition. LOL) The 12 presants are all little cheap things that get hung on the tree in little box ornaments. Sami usually gets plastic bracelets, candy, doll clothes, gum, or whatever cute little small thing I find.

We also do Santa diffrently than most people. I spend some time every year telling her stories of the Real St. Nicholas and why he did such nice things for people. She knows he has died and dosn't live at the north pole with reindeer etc. We play the "Saint Nicholas Game" where we secretly hide presants labeled "from Santa" under the tree on Christmas night. She believes talking about it not really being Santa who left the presants is mean because it ruins the pretending game. We have so much fun with this, I overheard Sami telling my mom last night that the REALLY real St. Nicholas once gave a girl some money so she could get married when my mom mentioned Santa.

 

We always bake a birthday cake for Jesus and sing happy birthday to him. We also limit our gifts to the kids to three a piece since that is what's documented that the wise men brought to Jesus.

 

Angie, Weren't there meanings for each of the three gifts? I can't remember, but that's what I want to do this year!

 

I think so, Deena. I don't know what they were off of the top of my head, but it would be interesting to do a study on it!

 

Well, this year will be a bit different from the last few because we are not going to the inlaws on Christmas Eve.

I will cook a huge meal on Christmas Eve for the four of us. We will go to the candle light service at 7pm and then drive around and look at lights. Then come home and get in our PJs, read the Christmas Story from the Bible and a new book I got called Texas Night Before Christmas and make hot cocoa. Then the kids will put out treats for Santa and off to bed for the kiddos.

For breakfast I'm sure we will have cinnamon rolls and muffins and open presents and then pick all day on the yummy food I made the day before. I think that pretty much covers it.

 

What yummy food do you make Tiffany?

 

We turn.....

off the lights, turn up Jerry Lee Lewis "Great Balls of Fire" and dance under the lights of the tree....yes Baptists dancing!!! Then we straighten up and read the Bible story right before the boys go to bed.......then we work work work to get ready for Christmas morning

 

Deena, from the song, "We Three Kings," the gold signifies a king, the incense in the frankincense "owns a diety nigh," & the myrrh, a bitter perfume, "breathes a life of gathering gloom: sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying, sealed in the stone-cold tomb." Myrrh was an embalming spice, I gather. The last verse summarizes it: "Glorious now behold Him arise, King and God and Sacrifice!" It obviously was no coincidence that they brought those gifts! Isn't it fascinating & wonderful?!

 

That's funny!!!!:lol:
Patty

 

We also do three gifts...but we chose to do
Gift #1- Something they need (clothes)
Gift #2- Somethign they can use (books, workbooks, craft supplies)
Gift #1 something they Want- which is something off their wish list

We also do stockings with small trinkets, fruit, candy and family coupons

 

Time is running out!

Hi, I'm Erica, I am new here and I'm searching for ideas for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...except we are celebrating Christmas Eve TONIGHT and Christmas Day tomorrow as my children are visiting their Father for Christmas 1500 miles away this year.

My family has a wonderful tradition, but it will only be done on Christmas Eve, and the kids won't be here. I will probably adapt some of the things we do for our family celebration tonight...but here's an example of the Christmas Eve program we do

Its a group of about 30 people, so its rather large...potluck style buffet dinner/snacks

We usually sing a couple of Christmas Carrols together as a group
The story of Joseph and Mary is broken up into 1-3 sentence parts and each person gets a slip and we read them one after another.

We pass out candles and there is a small poem telling what the candles are about (I don't remember exactly, but I should...I know the tall candle represents Jesus..then from one from the tall candle everyone lights their candle and we usually sing Silent night

We ususally let the kids sing a song or play music that they have learned then close with a prayer.

I want to do things a little differently than before...we are starting over with our new family this year (I got remarried last month) And we are looking for ideas as my husband has never had his "own family" Christmas before.

That is really a pretty good little program, but I'm interested to see what other families do.

We told them about Santa earlier this fall, so we dont' have to deal with that anymore. I was gone on my honeymoon for St. Nicholas Day but my mother did some activities with them about that.

We decided to continue doing stockings with small trinkets, fruit, candy and give them 3 presents each

Gift #1 something they need (clothing)
Gift#2 Something they can use (craft supplies, books)
Gift#3 Something they want (something from their wishlist)

I saw an idea about doing stockings on Xmas Eve that I want to run by my husband. Someone also mentioned that they sleep on the floor under the tree, to sort of identify that Mary and Joseph didnt' have their comfy beds which sounds like a fun tradition, but I'm not sure my husband will go for it....we'll see.

We were given a pickle ornament to celebrate the german tradition...so we are going to place the pickle on the tree and who ever finds it gets to open the special gift...a jar of pickles...and it will be a hit because we have a trio of pickle lovers like their mama (my oldest even has put them on his wish list!)

We are having Christmas with the rest of the family on the Next day (sunday the 17th after Church). We are also trying to figure out what to do about grandma and Grandpa. They spoil them and don't want to be the center of attention since they have 10+ presents each just from my mom and dad. So we are trying to figure out a way to spread them out...but then it just seems like getting presents is maginified over Several days, I'm not if that helps or not. Thanks so much for your ideas!

Erica in OK

 

We had a hard time getting only 3 presents apiece for the kids after going all out for so long! So we went with a set amount, and stuck to it. There ae many fewer presents this year, which is a good step! I'm hoping we can get to the three presents, but may not be able to!

But Erica, that's exactly what I was thinking about doing with the three presents idea! Thanks for the reminder of what they are!

 

Deena, it was not hard because...grandparents and everyone else goes way overboard. But I remember thinking how nice it would have been if Christmas Gifts could have stopped with our family Christmas. We had a great day together. (minus the bits of jealousy...the middle boy always wants the other's presents....no matter WHAT we give him! So we are working on that.)
Snap Circuts were a huge hit with our 9 year old. I will post later about our celebration, as I"m now getting ready for our EXTENDED family Christmas this afternoon.

Erica

 

Hey, Merry Christmas yesterday and today Erica!!!

 

We have quite a few traditions.

Advent Callander- For the last 3 years this has been a free printable LDS one of the net(We are not LDS) We only use the picture part not the readings. DD gets a piece of the puzzle picture to glue on each day of December till the baby Jesus gets glued on either Christmas Eve or morning.

Making ornaments- We do this over the month of Dec. I would like to date them all so we can look back and say "Look you made this one when you were 3" but some are kind of hard to write on lol.

Hands on nativity- On the buffet/side board we put the plastic FisherPrice nativity set with a few sheep from another set. DD moves Mary and Joseph along the hand drawn path I've drawn, one step closer to the stable each day. The shepherds and sheep are 'out in the paddock's on the other side of the stable. On Christmas Eve they reach the stable and we add baby Jesus and the shepherds. On Christmas morning we add the wise men. (We know they didn't come to the stable but that's kind of hard to represent so we cheat lol )

Carols by Candle light- We went to this last night! We all find a spot on the slope in the main park and spread our blanket out. The kids play then we eat chips and ice creams. Cover ourselves in Mozzie repellent and sing carols and Christmas songs while we wave glowy sticks or candles. After that we drive around to see the lights. My daughter loves that.

Christmas Eve- read the Christmas story and I am thinking of doing reindeer food or Santa bickies (cookies ) We only do Santa as pretend so haven't bothered before, but my daughter seems to be quite into the game this year.

Christmas Day- Stockings for the kids first thing. Then after breakfast we go to the morning service at our church. We like to dress up in all Christmas garb. A lot of people here don't but I like finding special clothes.
Then we come home and open the main presents. We don't do a tree, ours are under a nativity on a table.
We take turns having Christmas lunch at ours, sil and mil's places. It is sil turn this year. We all still take food, but it's nice not having to be main cook every year.
Then eat too much and try and relax with a movie if the kids let us.

 

heart broken!!!

I haven't posted my picture of the christmas tree yet, but it turned out really beautiful, but not leaving much room in the living room.

We were watching tv, and DS asked for a pillow from the couch (he was laying on the floor). I was trying to get it to him, and it knocked into the Christmas tree, I heard a crunch!!! It was an ornament that my mom hand painted on for my youngest son. (round glass ball with whinie the pooh on it--I can hear Kris sheaking) I feel so bad!! but she is going to paint a new one.