6 Christmas Traditions You Can Enjoy With Your Family

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As our family has grown, we have picked up a few Christmas traditions of our own. When I was growing up, it was our tradition to have a family party on Christmas day and go to church on Christmas morning. We have continued this tradition now that I have a family of my own, but we have also adopted our own fun traditions.

WEAR SOMETHING FESTIVE

To spice up our family parties, we usually ask all the family members to wear something festive, like a particular Christmas color. Last year we all wore red. I’ve seen other families wear all plaid. This year, I may ask everyone to wear an “ugly Christmas sweater”. You see these “ugly Christmas sweaters” everywhere. I mean, they’re not that ugly, just extremely festive. LOL! You may only wear this sweater once or twice a year but it makes a Christmas party fun and everyone has a good laugh! It also makes for a good family photo!

CHOOSE ONE SPECIAL ORNAMENT EVERY YEAR

My friend gave me the idea of each child purchasing one new Christmas ornamen every year. If you don’t want to buy, you can always make your own. I usually let my daughters pick out one ornament each. It reminds us of what their interests were that year. When my daughter was younger she was into Disney Princess, but not anymore. Now she’s into Minecraft and Roblox. I wonder if they have ornaments for that? We also have a porcelain ornament of a bride and groom with our wedding year on it. We got that one as a gift! It brings back memories and the children have a great time choosing the one ornament that speaks to them. They can look back at the ornaments they’ve chosen in the past and it makes the tree more special.

MAKE A GINGERBREAD HOUSE WITH THE KIDS

Another fun tradition is putting together a gingerbread house with the kids. You can make gingerbread from scratch if you like and pick out candy with the kids. Or you can just purchase a gingerbread house kit. You can choose from a variety of gingerbread houses from Mickey Mouse to Disney’s Frozen. The kids will have a blast putting it together and decorating it. After putting it together, you can EAT it or make it the centerpiece of the dining table!

ELF ON A SHELF

I’m sure you have heard of Elf on a Shelf! It’s all over Pinterest and I’m not surprised why. A friend of ours was the first one to tell us about this elf and she gave it to us as a gift us. He’s a small elf that comes in a box along with a story book. If you’re unfamiliar with this guy, he’s kinda like Santa’s little spy. He checks on your kids to make sure they’re being nice and reports back to Santa. So if a kid was being naughty, Santa will know about it. That’s why whenever the kids are in the room with the little elf, they have to be on their best behaviour! LOL! Every night when the kids are asleep, you can move him around and when the kids wake up, they’ll find him in a different place. It kind of freaks out my kids to tell you the truth, but it’s so fun! Lot’s of other moms have come up with creative ways of placing the elf. For example, he’ll be taking a bath or driving a car, cute stuff like that!

ADVENT CALENDAR

You can do an Advent calendar. You can buy the chocolate Advent Calendar that you find in the store or I’ve seen people make their own. This helps the kids keep track of the number of days before Christmas. Also, Advent is about waiting and preparing for the coming of Jesus on Christmas day. It can be a reminder to our kids of the reason why we celebrate Christmas. And who doesn’t love chocolate?!

SECRET SANTA

Another way of spicing up your family parties is by doing a Secret Santa or gift exchange! We’ve been doing Secret Santa for quite a few years now it’s always been fun. This way we can focus on buying one really nice gift for one person instead of having to buy several small gifts. This relieves the stress on everyone and also relieves the stress on our budgets. LOL!

What’s your favourite family Christmas tradition?