So, I am not exactly a Grinch, but Christmas is definitely not my favorite holiday, so as I have gotten older, I make deliberate efforts to increase my holiday participation and joy and make meaningful memories for my daughter. I search for good ideas and implement some of those, but I would love to know more personal ideas. What are your favorite traditions and what makes you joyful and happy during the holidays?? Maybe you can inspire me to become more like you and less-grinchy…hehe
One of my favorite holidays was spent with my best friend’s family. They were Dutch and we left carrots and hay for Santa’s horses in the shoes on the hearth, along with chocolate toast for breakfast…yumm. hehe I got two Christmases that year as they celebrated at the beginning of December and our family celebrated on December 25—my dad’s birthday!! LOL
I hope that my daughter’s favorite memories will be at our house and since we just moved away from family this year, I need to make it extra special, so lay on the good ideas. π Inspire me and win 3 clear stamps. π
Yup..you read right. I am going to select a commenter to receive 3 clear stamp sets of their choice to add to the pile of Christmas presents under the tree. π
Inspire us all!!
And for everyone, I am offering 40% off for the next 72 hours. Enter code: THANKS when you are checking out…Have fun and thanks for the inspiration!
I just received the newsletter and had to order those darn sheep….they are too stinking cute! Love them
Myrn
Mmm… let me see… We had a bit of a different tradition than most here in the states… One of my fondest memories was leaving grass for the camels while the Three Wise Men came and left us gifts under our beds… π You could see all the children outside collecting grass in their empty shoe boxes to leave under their beds for the camels to eat. I guess this would keep them quiet while the Three Wise Men were busy leaving gifts under the beds. This was so much fun!! I have very fond memories of this time. This was a remembrance of the Three Wise Men who came to Bethlehem to leave presents for baby Jesus in the stable. I moved to US long ago and I haven't followed this tradition with my girls. But I still remember them. Such fun and warm times! BTW: I am from Puerto Rico. That's where we did this long time ago. π
My kids love advent calendars and I enjoy making them. I use the Silhouette frame and I have one for each kid. They look forward to seeing what tiny treat is next plus seeing how many days are left till Christmas. The kids are excellent with letting me know how many shopping days I have left. I miss it when it use to be Santa.
I buy an ornament for every member of the family each year. They are boxed by person and that person gets to take out their ornaments and hang them on the tree. We take turns, with each person adding an ornament until they are all on the tree. When my kids have families and trees of their own, they will already have a collection of ornaments that remind them of home and then they can add ornaments for their children. My Mom started this when I was a teenager but it meant a lot to me to hang familiar ornaments when I had my own tree.
My kids and I always made cookies, or some kind of treat, for Santa on Christmas Eve, then we opened gifts. We also left "reindeer food" for Rudolph and the gang. I got the recipe off the internet. Then we got up early and got stocking gifts. They could be like jelly, or a favorite candy, hair barrettes, or other small goodies. Then we had all day Christmas to enjoy each other and just play.
Since my birthday is also on Christmas, we tend to celebrate quite a bit. π Christmas Eve everyone gets new pajamas ready for Christmas morning. Christmas music playing, friends over for dessert, and of course the gingerbread house decorating. It is definitely one of my favorite time of the year!
We use an advent candle wreath and light the candles on Sundays for the 4 weeks prior to Christmas, and the center candle on Christmas day. When the kids were small I would read the Christmas story to them by the fire on Christmas eve.
The tradition we have at our house is that starting December 1st we read a Christmas story about love, hope, and all the things that Christmas is about (I have a book that my mom gave me years ago that has stories for 24 days of Christmas). I find that family traditions are what I remember most about my childhood and hope that my children will remember this tradition and feel the same way I do. I recently read a book titled, "Little Things Long Remembered: Making Your Children Feel Special Every Day" by Susan Newman, Ph.D http://www.susannewmanphd.com/. This book has opened my mind about family traditions… it has helped me see that we don't necessarily need to save the family traditions for Holiday's, traditions can be something to be cherished year-round. The book literally offers hundreds of suggestions broken in convenient timeframes!
This is something new I am going to try with the kids this year over the holidaysβ¦and hopefully it will become a new tradition for us. I'm going to wrap up several new books (and recycle some from our own collection to save $$) for each day of December. As a countdown to Christmas, the kids will be able to open one "present" to read before bedtime. Sounds like fun to me! xx Jen
This is not a family tradition but it has become a tradition with my family of close girlfriends. Every year, I plan a pre-holiday brunch at my home. I either make or buy something small to give the girls like a Christmas ornament placed on their plate – a momentous of the day. I plan it at the beginning of December before everyone gets caught up with the holiday rush. We eat, drink, laugh and just enjoy a few hours together. It's become a day that everyone looks forward to.
Since my husbands youngest nephew has brain cancer and this is probably his last christmas, we vill go visit and spend christmas with them. We will try and spend the time wisely, make it the christmas of his life (he's 5 yo). Doing the things he want's to do, reading him the stories he wants to hear over and over again, make his favourite foods, play his favourite games, etc.
It's gonna be a very special christmas for us this year.
We all get together the Saturday before Christmas and have "Cookie Day" It is all the women in the family cooking the recipes we have passed down thru the years. The kids decorate and the men sneak into them.
One year we all made a Scrapbooked family Christmas recipe book for all the Christmas cookies we had been making thru the years.
My husband & I live on a farm by the small town where I grew up. Every year our church hosts an interdenominational candle light carol service. There is something about standing in that old church, lit only by candlelight singing carols that always has meant so much to me. I always took my children as they were growing up. The first year my daughter couldin't make it home for Christmas I thought I'd totally break down when we sang I'll be home for Christmas, I missed her so much. Our community also hosts a family skating and sleigh ride. Kids skate for free and they have free sleigh rides around town to see all the light displays and then everyone visits and enjoys hot chocolate & popcorn. There's something about sharing those with family, friends and community residents that makes it the season it is meant to be.
Every year my family would come together for Christmas Eve dinner around 5 pm. After dinner dad and I would go to church for come and go communion. Once we returnd home we would gather together and read the Christmas Story. Once that was read we would pass out gifts and then we would each take a turn opening a gift. The catch was you could not open another one until it was your turn which made the anticipation lots of fun. lol…Lots of funny pictures and memoires.
Every year, during the last week of November, one of the churches in our city put on an outside event called "Bethlehem Live". It is a re-enactment, {where the audience participates}, of the first Christmas. We encounter Roman soldiers, get rob by bandits, pay our taxes to Caesar, get turned away at the Inn and arrive at the manger. They finish the evening serving hot chocolate and cookies. Our family has been going for years now…it's a joyful, peaceful way to get into the Holiday Spirit.
Open one present on Christmas Eve. Simple yet meaningful. π
Just joined up with you and purchased the polar bear – am a member of Kit and Clowder which is how I heard about you – unfortunately I forgot the code word Thankyou οΏ½οΏ½. Anyway I do thank you x
I'm a grandmother now and Santa still brings me something to unwrap under the tree. We open presents Xmas day at my son's and Santa always seems to know I'm going to be there too because Santa leaves me a present and my granddaughter one too. LOL
One tradition that we have is to get apple pies from Apple Hill, here in Northern California. It's the only pie my sons will eat, honest. AND once I tried to change from Crescent Rolls to some kind of old fashioned roll and it was as though the Grinch had stolen Xmas. Now our tradition is a baked turkey, mashed potatoes, crescent rolls, gravy and for desert, hot High Hill Ranch apple pie. My boys are a basics kind of bunch. Don't clutter it up with too much salad, fruit or veggie.
Sometimes it is the simple things.
Although our kids are in their teens, they both have autism & so we still have Santa-related traditions at our house. We put stockings out for our pets as well as people (treats, and toys for the dog). The kids do all the tree decorating, and since they both love Star Wars we made a Darth Vader tree topper (with a red lightbulb, even, lol). We have Chinese food on Christmas Eve, and the boys get to open one present (always pajamas) which is a tradition my mom started when I was a kid. My husband was always a grinch until the kids arrived, and now he's a bigger fan than I am π
I also moved about six years ago and miss my family back home so much. My son Joe has been in the Navy for the past seven years and has been stationed in Japan for the last five. So seeing him is very rare indeed. I make Pysanky eggs and at Christmas time I make them into hanging ornaments. I sent Joe 12 eggs the Christmas before last. My Grandson Kaleb gets one every year for his tree with his name and the year on it. I hope to continue this tradition for as long as possible. I make these fragile gems for other family members and special friends each year too. I also make them a homemade card. Wish I could post a pic for you to see.