As you start having a family of your own, it is important to create Christmas traditions that make the holiday special for your family. As your children grow up, they will sincerely appreciate and have fond memories of the Christmas Traditions that you did year after year. And who knows, maybe they'll carry those traditions over to their adult families. Here are some great tradition ideas that work well for families.
1) Go to Candlelight Christmas Eve Service.
2) Go Christmas caroling with your family, group of friends or church group.
3) Let the children open one present on Christmas Eve or if you get gifts in the mail from Grandparent's, Aunts and Uncles, etc., let the kids open the gifts from out-of-town relatives on Christmas Eve. Some families give each child a pair of pajamas that they open on Christmas Eve so that they can wear them Christmas morning.
4) Make popcorn, hot chocolate, chestnuts or whatever food your family enjoys and then watch a Christmas movie like "It’s A Wonderful Life", "Christmas Vacation", "Charlie Brown Christmas" or "The Santa Clause."
5) Buy your child, niece, nephew, etc. a unique tree ornament each year. They will have fun putting the ornaments on the tree each year and the ornament collection will be treasured when the kids grow up and have their own Christmas tree to decorate.
6) Drive around town to see all the beautiful Christmas lights and decorations.
7) Give back to the community and get in the Christmas spirit by involving your family in a charitable event or cause such as helping serve Christmas Eve dinner at a homeless shelter or buying presents for the local Angel tree. Perhaps let your child pick a child his/her age from the tree and then help you select a gift for that child.
8) Leave out cookies & milk for Santa & reindeer food for Santa's deer outside on the lawn (pretzels, nuts, etc) before the kids go to bed on Christmas Eve.
9) Make Santa "footprints" from the door or fireplace to the tree or elsewhere in your house. After the kids go to bed, sprinkle baby powder or baking soda on a jelly roll pan, tray or on newspaper, then dip the bottoms of a pair of shoes/boots in the white powder and make prints on the floor. The kids will be thrilled to see evidence of Santa's visit.
10) Create a Christmas memories book for your family where you document the events and happenings from each holiday season – be sure to include lots of pictures.
11) Bake a birthday cake and sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus to commemorate and remember what Christmas is all about.
12) Visit Santa Claus and get a photo of your entire family sitting on his lap. This makes an excellent photo for all those Christmas cards you send to family and friends.
Bill Smith is the owner of
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