If you’re looking for new family Christmas traditions, whether this is your first year as a family or you simply want some new ideas, look no further! Here are, in my opinion, some of the best Christmas traditions to do with your family.
Why Have Family Christmas Traditions?
There are a variety of reasons to incorporate Family Christmas Traditions into your yearly celebrations. The two most important reasons are to create memories and bring your family closer together during this season of love, joy, hope, and peace. The whole goal behind adding traditions for your family should not be about doing more, but about slowing down a little and enjoying the moments this season brings together as a family. If family Christmas traditions are burning you out, or you’re not able to complete them with joy and peace then maybe skip a couple. It’s ok to do less this Christmas. I weigh traditions we have through these two things:
Family Christmas Traditions help create memories.
I want to create memories with my children. But I have to recognize that I can create both good (peaceful, joyful, happy) memories as well as bad (stressful, sad, angry) memories. The traditions below are ways I’ve found to create good memories with my family while limiting or decreasing the stress I often feel around the Christmas season. These memories are all about enjoying one another’s company while you’re together and not stressing out about the to-do lists, holiday parties, gatherings, or gifts.
Family Christmas Traditions bring your family closer together.
When adding Christmas traditions for our family, I’m always looking for ways to bring our family together. anything that separates us from one another is not something I want to add, especially in this season. As we spend time together or learn together, we grow closer. If a tradition is going to add arguments or division we simply don’t do it. Case and point: gingerbread houses, someone is always upset that they didn’t get to do things their way, or have the candy they want. Why fight over a gingerbread house when we could make cookies, or drink hot cocoa instead?
What are the 5 best Family Christmas Traditions?
1. Christmas Countdown (Advent Calendar)
Whether you enjoy a good chocolate or small gift advent calendar, or a simple paper chain countdown, advent countdown calendars offer kids a way to count how many (or few) days are left until Christmas. Here are some countdowns we’ve done in the past:
Paper chain countdown
This one is super easy, just loop paper in a chain, one loop for each day left until Christmas. The chain gets shorter and shorter the closer you get to Christmas.
Chocolate Advent Calendar
My mother-in-law has been getting these for the kids each year. Our kids love having a small treat each day. We do ours after dinner when everything is cleaned up from the day. This gives our kids something to look forward to and motivation to pick up after dinner quicker.
25 Books of Christmas Countdown
This has been a really fun countdown for us. We wrap 25 books up and put them under the tree. Each evening before bed, one of our kids takes a turn to pick out a book and unwrap it for our evening reading.
Helpful hint: If you don’t have 25 Christmas or winter-themed books, head to your local library and check a few out to add under your tree. Most libraries have the option to renew books online now so if you are running out of time and haven’t opened them yet, just hit that renew button and bring them back to the library after Christmas.
Christmas Bible Reading
Have you ever done a Christmas Bible reading or advent reading plan?
This is a great family Christmas tradition that helps kids grasp the meaning of Christmas and what we are celebrating as Christians. There are so many great options out there and it’s never too late to start. You could read a chapter of Luke every day for the month and finish on Christmas Eve, or check out my free Christmas Bible reading plan on the names of Christ (it comes with FREE printable ornaments!).
Christmas Light Display.
Our kids have loved this simple and easy family Christmas tradition. We take an evening and check out the Christmas lights around us.
We used to live near a house that created an amazing light display set to music. This was one of those thousand lights displays with intricate designs and a mesmerizing show you could watch over and over. We would load the kids up in their PJs and drive through the light display.
Last year, we bundled the kids up on the warmest evening in December (it was a balmy forty-something degrees) and went on a walk around our neighborhood to pick out who we thought had the best lights. The kids sang Christmas Carols down the streets and enjoyed every minute!
So whether you live in a rural area or in a city there’s some way to enjoy the Christmas decorations each year before they’re gone.
Christmas PJs
These have become wildly popular since I was a kid. There are a variety of ways you can incorperate this tradition into your family Christmas celebrations.
I remember every year on Christmas Eve we would go to my Nana’s house after the Christmas eve service and open gifts with extended family. All of the grandkids got a brand new pair of Christmas PJs to wear that night. It was something we looked forward to with excitement every year. We wondered for days and weeks ahead of Christmas Eve what our new jammies might look like.
My husband grew up with a Christmas PJ tradition, but his family did it a little different than mine. They turned it into a competition. The PJs were wrapped up and handed out at the tree (by the time I joined the family they had multiple layers of wrapping and duct tape just to open them). The race was then on. The first person to have their Christmas PJs on and be back by the tree got to open the first gift on Christmas morning.
Christmas Morning Breakfast
This tradition was started by my mom when I was a young child, and I’ve continued it to this day. My mom always made baked French toast for Christmas morning. She would prep everything on Christmas eve after we were in bed. When we woke up in the morning she would stick it in the oven and simply wait for breakfast to be ready.
She started this tradition to have more time with us. She loves watching people open stockings and gifts – who doesn’t? Christmas can be a busy time for parents, so why not try a simple no-fuss breakfast that allows you to have extra time enjoying your kids instead of working hard in the kitchen? I’m not saying you NEED to make baked French toast (though I don’t think you’ll regret it). But this could be a Mary moment in a Martha Season.
So there you have it, my top 5 Family Christmas Traditions. Will you be adding any to your celebrations this season?
Pin It For Later:
