Holiday Traditions

[RainbowSprinkles]

I'm so looking forward to December and the holiday season! This year I'd like to do something "special" for every day in December leading up to Christmas Eve. Like Dec. 1st go ice skating, Dec 2nd make a snowflake craft and so on. I'm looking for ideas! What are your favorite holiday activities and traditions? Please share, I'd love to hear them :)

[fhjmom]

I always try to make some kind of ornament with the kids. They each make their own and it always has their name and the year on it. I figure when they grow up and are out on their own, I can give them a nice full box of ornaments to decorate their tree!

 

We also make cookies one day and deliver them to some older family members.

[Aggie]

We love Christmas here!

 

We make and decorate sugar cookies and send them to work with dh. Several times during the month.:)

 

Dc are in The Nutcracker. When they were younger we would go to a performance.

 

We host a Nutcracker Tea for the girls in their dance classes. We make all the sweets from the story for refreshments and have an age appropriate activity. This is always a great time!

 

We buy gifts for either a nursing home or soldiers, wrap and deliver or mail them.

 

We try to make gifts for extended family. As the dc get older, this gets more difficult somehow.

 

You can go looking at lights in a well-lit neighborhood.

 

If you're into movies (I'm not), you can watch one of several Christmas ones out.

 

We read ALL the Christmas books we have! This is a lot of fun! We like to add to our collection each year, too.

 

Have Christmas pictures taken some where unique. Let the kids take pictures of each other and make scrapbook pages.

 

Make homemade eggnog. :)

 

Learn new Christmas carols or songs. Learn to sign them. Buy a new Christmas CD.

 

Make a real popcorn string for a tree outside.

 

If you're up north, make snow ice cream.

 

Go see a live nativity.

 

Some people here celebrate St Nick's Day on Dec 6, I think.

 

Have the kids earn money, then let them donate it to a Salvation Army kettle or other charity of their choice.

 

Make ornaments for each other.

 

If you have access to some open space, go look for things outside that you can bring home and decorate.

 

I've done the 12 Days of Christmas. I did it before Christmas and gave very small gifts each day. (It wasn't cheap or easy! LOL) You could all do it for your dh instead of trying to do it for the dc.

 

Let me think tomorrow when I'm more awake! :D

[Farrar]

There's a fiction book with this - The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeline L'Engle - that's one of my favorites for the holiday season - it's sort of a long picture book or very short chapter book. In it, the family does something special every day leading up the Christmas until Christmas Eve, when the youngest sibling is unexpectedly born a little early. It's a sweet book.

[Mom in High Heels]

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6). We put up our tree on St. Nick Eve and then Indy writes his letter to Santa and puts it with his St. Nick stocking (it's a different one from his Christmas stocking). St. Nicholas is kind enough to take the letter to Santa. On St. Nick morning he gets whatever is in his stocking (small things, candy and ALWAYS an orange-a symbol of St. Nicholas) and then we go get our angle of the Angle Tree and shop for that. When we lived in the States, we would usually go out to dinner that night. We pick another family in the restaurant and pay their bill. Indy likes to pick the family.

 

Other traditions we do (though not on any particular day) are stringing popcorn and cranberries, making cookies, building a gingerbread house and watching Christmas movies with hot chocolate and homemade cookies. We also bake pumpkin bread and take it to our neighbors on Christmas Eve.

 

Indy's FAVORITE tradition by far (except St. Nick Day when he gets his stocking) is the Advent Calendar. He normally gets a candy one, but last year he really wanted a Playmobil Advent Calendar, which I said was too expensive, so he used his own money and bought it himself. You can read about is and see photos here.

 

I can't wait for December!

[woolybear]

I'm interested in other's ideas too as I don't have too many of my own. Last year we did something fun that I think will become a tradition. A few days before Christmas after dinner one night, I made up hot chocolate and put it in thermoses and then we drove around looking at Christmas lights and decorations.

[ChristusG]

I love Christmas! I have lots of Christmas traditions that I do with the kids.

 

On the day that we put our decorations up, we usually watch a Christmas movie that evening.

 

Hermie the Elf visits us during the month of December. Santa drops him off in the middle of the night leading up to December 1st. He stays until Christmas Eve night when Santa collects him during his rounds. Each morning we find Hermie in a different place.....usually getting into mischief. Sometimes he's wrapped the tree in toilet paper, sometimes he's gotten into the cookies and has broken cookies and crumbs everywhere, sometimes he sets the kids stuffed animals up and reads a book to them, etc. Occasionally, he even brings special surprises for the kids.

 

I usually try to do various crafts throughout the month of December with the kids, all Christmas related.

 

Seven days out from Christmas, we begin a story called "What Does God Want For Christmas?" Each day the kids open a small box containing a piece of the nativity. Each day we read the corresponding section of the book that tells about that person in the Christmas story.

 

We make and decorate (and eat!) cookies one day.

 

We go Christmas light looking one night....and usually stop for ice cream afterwards.

 

On Christmas Eve, we always go to my grandmother's house. We've done this since I was a little kid...possibly since I was born!

 

When I was little, my grandfather (who has now passed) made a wooden tree with 25 wooden hooks. And there's also 25 small wooden ornaments. Each day, starting at December 1st, the kids hang an ornament on the little tree in order to count down the days till Christmas.

 

The girls have their own miniature tree that they decorate with small ornaments, garland, and lights.

[abbeyej]

St Nicholas Day is such a fun one. We bake a special meal, read St Nicholas stories, and the kids get chocolate coins in their shoes. (Sometimes there's an additional small gift like hand-made winter hats or slippers...)

 

For other days during the month, I'd probably schedule a lot of baking (cookies, jar-pies, gingerbread, etc), some crafts (making felt ornaments, rolling bees' wax candles, making pomanders out of oranges and cloves)...

 

I have a basket of Christmas books that we pull out each year and read through advent. McCaughrean's Jesse Tree (read a little each day) and other favorites that get pulled out and re-read each year. I try to add something new each year as well.

 

I'd also check the local papers, etc, for performances and activities to attend. Many of the museums have small performances and events that are worth going to see...

[mytwomonkeys]

during christmas we make cookies, sing songs, decorate, shop, make christmas cards, homemade ornaments, read lots of book & watch christmas movies, visit santa, etc. we don't have a specific countdown though. for lent, however, we do have a lot of fun and have a 40 day countdown to easter & include specific activities and such.

[chiguirre]

We really like our Jesse Tree. It's a small Christmas tree and we read a story and add an ornament each day during advent. I use Geraldine McCaughrean's book for the stories. It's a fun daily activity for the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

 

We also celebrate the feasts of St. Nicholas and St. Lucia, the Winter Solstice, Christmas, New Year and Epiphany. We go to see the Nutcracker and this year we're going to A Christmas Carol for the first time.

 

I love the end of year holidays and we make a big deal out of celebrating them.

[bettyandbob]

I have a gingerbread house making party (for dc and cousins). We get and wear the same new pjs on Christmas Eve.

[Julie in AZ]

We love Christmas traditions.:)

 

Here are some ideas to get you started:

 

We make a Jesse Tree Devotional and read through one book in the Jotham's Journey series (love it!).

 

We send out Operation Christmas Child boxes and read Boxes for Katje every year.

 

The kids receive Playmobil or Lego Advent calendars to open each day.

 

We participate in an ornament exchange with other homeschoolers.

 

We make gingerbread cookies, read Gingerbread Baby on St. Nicholas' Day as St. Nicholas enjoyed gingerbread.

 

We pray for families as Christmas cards arrive.

 

We have traveling wise men that move closer to the nativity each day. My kids still enjoy this one.

 

We like to surprise a family with a gift left at their door.

 

Last year, we made a nativity cookie scene for the first time.

 

We make an annual Christmas craft with my mom.

 

We have a Candle Nativity on Christmas Eve.

 

The kids receive matching pjs.

 

Have fun planning!

Edited October 19, 2010 by Julie in AZ

[Starr]

And when you need some time to yourself, The Dolls Tea Party. Send them off to have a Christmas Party for their dolls and animals.

[Dayle in Guatemala]

 

Hermie the Elf visits us during the month of December. Santa drops him off in the middle of the night leading up to December 1st. He stays until Christmas Eve night when Santa collects him during his rounds. Each morning we find Hermie in a different place.....usually getting into mischief. Sometimes he's wrapped the tree in toilet paper, sometimes he's gotten into the cookies and has broken cookies and crumbs everywhere, sometimes he sets the kids stuffed animals up and reads a book to them, etc. Occasionally, he even brings special surprises for the kids.

 

 

 

 

I so love this, there just aren't words! I'm so doing this this year!!!!!!! I can't wait!

 

 

 

We make a LOT of different treats, but, one that has become a staple for us is a gingerbread house. I have pictures of the dc making one when they were really little and I have one for each year after that. We have so much fun and make it totally edible--which, of course, means that it doesn't last long as a decoration. LOL But, it's fun! We also watch Christmas movies and make special treats for each movie night--popcorn balls, poppycock, gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, oreo balls, peanut butter pretzels, hot chocolate, apple cider with cinnamon sticks--it's a different one for each movie.

 

We also do advent activities with different crafts and make a paper chain at Thanksgiving that the kids take turns taking a link off of each night before bed. No matter how old they get, they still love the advent activities.

 

We also make gifts for friends here. We also add to that this year a holiday meal for our street people that we will get to deliver.

[RainbowSprinkles]

I always try to make some kind of ornament with the kids. They each make their own and it always has their name and the year on it. I figure when they grow up and are out on their own, I can give them a nice full box of ornaments to decorate their tree!

 

I do this too, however I just go and buy them one to add to their collection. What a great idea to have them make their own! Thanks!

[RainbowSprinkles]

We love Christmas here!

 

We make and decorate sugar cookies and send them to work with dh. Several times during the month.:)

 

Dc are in The Nutcracker. When they were younger we would go to a performance.

 

We host a Nutcracker Tea for the girls in their dance classes. We make all the sweets from the story for refreshments and have an age appropriate activity. This is always a great time!

 

We buy gifts for either a nursing home or soldiers, wrap and deliver or mail them.

 

We try to make gifts for extended family. As the dc get older, this gets more difficult somehow.

 

You can go looking at lights in a well-lit neighborhood.

 

If you're into movies (I'm not), you can watch one of several Christmas ones out.

 

We read ALL the Christmas books we have! This is a lot of fun! We like to add to our collection each year, too.

 

Have Christmas pictures taken some where unique. Let the kids take pictures of each other and make scrapbook pages.

 

Make homemade eggnog. :)

 

Learn new Christmas carols or songs. Learn to sign them. Buy a new Christmas CD.

 

Make a real popcorn string for a tree outside.

 

If you're up north, make snow ice cream.

 

Go see a live nativity.

 

Some people here celebrate St Nick's Day on Dec 6, I think.

 

Have the kids earn money, then let them donate it to a Salvation Army kettle or other charity of their choice.

 

Make ornaments for each other.

 

If you have access to some open space, go look for things outside that you can bring home and decorate.

 

I've done the 12 Days of Christmas. I did it before Christmas and gave very small gifts each day. (It wasn't cheap or easy! LOL) You could all do it for your dh instead of trying to do it for the dc.

 

Let me think tomorrow when I'm more awake! :D

 

Thank you! You gave me some good ideas.

[RainbowSprinkles]

There's a fiction book with this - The Twenty-Four Days Before Christmas by Madeline L'Engle - that's one of my favorites for the holiday season - it's sort of a long picture book or very short chapter book. In it, the family does something special every day leading up the Christmas until Christmas Eve, when the youngest sibling is unexpectedly born a little early. It's a sweet book.

 

Sounds like a great book. I'll check it out, thanks!

[RainbowSprinkles]

We celebrate St. Nicholas Day (Dec 6). We put up our tree on St. Nick Eve and then Indy writes his letter to Santa and puts it with his St. Nick stocking (it's a different one from his Christmas stocking). St. Nicholas is kind enough to take the letter to Santa. On St. Nick morning he gets whatever is in his stocking (small things, candy and ALWAYS an orange-a symbol of St. Nicholas) and then we go get our angle of the Angle Tree and shop for that. When we lived in the States, we would usually go out to dinner that night. We pick another family in the restaurant and pay their bill. Indy likes to pick the family.

 

Other traditions we do (though not on any particular day) are stringing popcorn and cranberries, making cookies, building a gingerbread house and watching Christmas movies with hot chocolate and homemade cookies. We also bake pumpkin bread and take it to our neighbors on Christmas Eve.

 

Indy's FAVORITE tradition by far (except St. Nick Day when he gets his stocking) is the Advent Calendar. He normally gets a candy one, but last year he really wanted a Playmobil Advent Calendar, which I said was too expensive, so he used his own money and bought it himself. You can read about is and see photos here.

 

I can't wait for December!

 

 

 

What a great idea to have St. Nick take the letter to Santa. I plan on celebrating St. Nick's Day for the first time this year :)

[RainbowSprinkles]

I love Christmas! I have lots of Christmas traditions that I do with the kids.

 

On the day that we put our decorations up, we usually watch a Christmas movie that evening.

 

Hermie the Elf visits us during the month of December. Santa drops him off in the middle of the night leading up to December 1st. He stays until Christmas Eve night when Santa collects him during his rounds. Each morning we find Hermie in a different place.....usually getting into mischief. Sometimes he's wrapped the tree in toilet paper, sometimes he's gotten into the cookies and has broken cookies and crumbs everywhere, sometimes he sets the kids stuffed animals up and reads a book to them, etc. Occasionally, he even brings special surprises for the kids.

 

This is awesome! Did you just buy an elf and name him Hermie?

[RainbowSprinkles]

Thanks everyone for sharing so far! I'd love to hear more :)

[Imprimis]

We love, love, love the Christmas season!

 

Starting December 1, we read a Christmas story each night before bed, leading up to Christmas Eve, when we always read "Twas the Night Before Christmas."

 

We use our Christmas themed plates, cups, and glasses all December long.

 

We listen to Christmas music pretty much every day, usually starting the day after Thanksgiving.

 

We decorate the house. EVERY room. I set up a Christmas village that we try to add to each year. For the last couple of years, my 15 yo has been doing a Victorian-themed tree that is spectacular---she makes dried citrus fruit ornaments to hang on the tree, along with handmade lace and fabric decorations. Dh and son handle the outside lights. We usually start our decorating the day after Thanksgiving (sometimes my village starts going up before.)

 

We make Christmas crafts together. Last year, we really enjoyed making the gorgeous snowflakes that someone from this board linked to.

 

We attend holiday festivals or concerts when we can.

 

We bake, bake, bake. Our neighbors always know to expect cookies :001_smile:

 

My kids each pick one charity.....Angel tree, Toys for Tots, etc., and choose a gift to give.

 

December is a light school month for us as well. We enjoy the season to its fullest!

Edited October 19, 2010 by Imprimis

[elise1mds]

We do that! I make a Christmas chain with the kids on 12/1, and each link on the chain has some special activity to do on each day. The kids LOVE it. 12/24 is always reading the 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, but that's the only set one we have. Here are some of the things I have done in the past:

 

Do a nice thing for someone else without them knowing

Write your letter to Santa

Reenact the Nativity (we have a small plastic Nativity set that the kids are allowed to play with)

Light all the candles, turn off the lights, and sing Christmas carols (we usually do this one a couple of times)

Make snowflakes (we keep the ones from years past and add new ones each year and hang them all over the walls)

Make and decorate Christmas cookies

Go Christmas lightseeing

Read Christmas books

Watch Christmas movies with popcorn and snacks for dinner (that usually happens a couple of times, too)

 

Enjoy!