Christmas with teens

[historically accurate]

Looking for some fun ways to make Christmas special with teens. We're going thin with presents this year due to budget, and most activities have been curtailed. It seems like anything I suggest is met with eyerolls and a quick return to the screen or the book. There will be no family visiting, so I'm afraid most of December will just go by with no real excitement. We don't celebrate Advent. Any ideas on how to make this season a little more fun?

I am planning on hot chocolate and the drive through lights one night. 

Christmas read aloud? We've done most of the well-known ones. We're currently in the middle of Frankenstein, but I can set that aside.

Christmas movie ideas? I forced two of them to watch the Miniature Christmas challenge on HGTV this morning, and it went ok. 

One of them likes crafts, one likes to bake, so we'll probably do some of those.

Anything else? It's so much easier when the season itself is magical; any ways to get some pizazz?

[alisoncooks]

Mine are young teens (12 & 14). 

We have our daily Funko Pop Harry Potter advent calendar that we look forward to. 

I'm trying to do more craft and baking activities with them. I bought a paintable nutcracker set from Michaels that we're doing together. 

We watch a lot of Christmas movies -- this year was the first that they watched Scrooged, lol. 

[mommyoffive]

I only have one teen and a preteen.  I am looking for more ideas for this year, since most of the things we do are not safe. 

Got a live tree.  They love that.  Decorating it.

They are making presents for each other.  How about a secret Santa in your family?  That would be fun.

They are crafting Christmas things I got at the craft store.

Decorating outside? 

We always do a gingerbread house decorating.  It would be fun to make that into a contest

We are watching a christmas movie everyday.  

Decorating the house?

We just did a bonfire for fun.  Could tie it to christmas with hot chocolate or Christmas songs.  

Can you do things for others?  That could be fun.  Even if it is just shoveling someone's drive.  

Cookie baking contest

Ugly sweater dinner 

driving to see the lights

hiking

sledding

Going caroling

watch the virtual Nutcracker ballets

A Holiday puzzle to work on

We are doing advent calendars and even my older ones love it.  

 

[catz]

I signed up for some online holiday origami classes to do with my teen and ordered up some special paper for it.  You might dig around and find something you could do together like that.  

[HS Mom in NC]

Can you cut down your own tree?  My kids love swinging an ax and using a saw. If you usually use an artificial tree, keep it stored away this year.

Can you go sledding or playing in snow?  We love sledding, but rarely get to. 

Is a bonfire an option?  Pallets can be had for free from many stores out in their back alley (ask first.) Do you have a camp stove?  Have some hot chocolate at the bonfire or s'mores.

Do they like the movie A Christmas Story?  Watch it then eat Chinese food. It's part of the plot.  Order a duck if you can, but if not, any Chinese food will do. A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott is a classic.

Are purchased fireworks (I don't mean a city sponsored fireworks show) available in your area at Christmas?  We love fireworks on Christmas Eve.

Read alouds/recordings:
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
A Christmas Carol (the original)

They can work on a Christmas themed puzzle or craft during the read aloud.

Christmas baking projects: Google and Youtube them.
Yule log
Christmas cookies (from around the world-Scandinavians love a wide range of Christmas cookies from savory to sweet)
Swedish Princess cake (the ultimate Christmas cake)


Make a cool ornament like woven stars and Polish stars.  We made Polish stars with our art class a few times (late elementary to teens.) Here's a tutorial.  We roll our points with the pointy end of a pencil and use a bead instead of a button, but both methods work.  You can use paper from old books or shiny wrapping paper.

 

[City Mouse]

I find that it works better to start an activity and allow the teens to join in, rather than forcing them to participate from the start. It doesn’t seem to matter what the activity is- baking cookies, making candy, doing a jigsaw puzzle, watching a movie, but this method depends on the parent being ok with the teen (or boring adult) who does not choose to participate.
You could also ask them for suggestions. 

[Loowit]

We are trying to stick to a lot of things we have traditionally done.

Last weekend we decorated the house.  The boys did the outside lights and DD and I did the snow village.

We are doing our baking week.  The first week of Christmas break we bake a different cookie or other baked good each day.  They each give their suggestions and I put a schedule together.

This coming weekend we are going to go get our Christmas tree in the forest (with a permit).

Christmas eve we are going to do a family game night with snacks, and maybe take a drive around the area to look at Christmas lights and drink cocoa.

We will probably watch Christmas movies together.  We always  do Charlie Brown Christmas even now that they are older.  Sometimes we like to watch the rom-com Christmas movies, or the traditional ones like White Christmas.

I would like to find a time to drop off presents for family at their doors.  We can't visit, but we can wave through the window.  The kids enjoy just being out of the house and would like seeing decorations around the neighborhoods.

This afternoon I am delivering some Christmas masks I made to my parents, and the boys are going with me.

[matrips]

I have 3 teens- our traditions are:

we decorate of course 

the Christmas movie classics (Rudolph/Frosty/Grinch/Little Drummer Boy/Magoos Christmas Carol etc).  I bought two compilation sets a few years back on eBay.  Plus- It’s a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street are favorites 

advent calendar.  We have a religious one with 24 little books of the nativity story, and I bought a Lego one for this year as well

drive around and look at lights 

make Christmas cookies.  We usually deliver to the neighbors but I doubt we will this time.  The kids will be happy to eat them 🙂

extra game nights

we also use vacation breaks to watch more old tv series or movies.  They can’t do that during a school week.

sometimes we’ll play more family games

taking ‘ornaments’ from the church giving tree to shop for other kids or older adults

a bunch of years we made gingerbread houses 

my kids are simple.  They’re fine with almost anything, or nothing.   They like the shows since we don’t watch much tv.  And they like anything to do with food, especially desserts. We’re kind of homebodies.

 

[SKL]

I agree with getting a live tree if that isn't something you usually do.  My kids and I did it last year for the first time.  It was fun and crazy and produced a lot of good laughs, plus it makes the house smell so nice!

I have lots of other good ideas, but I am not sure which ones teens will like.  My kids are 13/14 and they pretty much hate everything that is my idea.  😛  Eventually they might warm up, or not.

[Garga]

I’ve learned not to expect a lot of giddy excitement, like when they were little.  I keep the teens’ involvement in Christmas very, very brief.

I’m someone who enjoys being filled with giddy Christmas excitement and I sort of thought they would be that way, too.  It’s how my parents were and still are. But my boys are not.  They’re sedate people, now. When they were little, they were wild and exuberant, but they’ve turned into calm, quiet young men. 

So, if the kids aren’t filled with giddy excitement, that can be ok.

What we do:

Decorate the house: But this mostly means they decorate the tree and I decorate all the knick-knacks. They don’t care about the knick-knacks. They only care about the tree. At first I didn’t quite understand, but I’m ok with it now.  This year was kinda fun, though. Long story short, we now have 5 Christmas trees in the house: 3 small and 2 very skinny ones.  We all have our own trees in our bedrooms and 2 community trees.  The boys had fun decorating their own tree in their rooms. Again, they weren’t giddy. They were calm and measured, but you could tell they were pleased.

Bake cookies: I bake a LOT of cookies in December and then freeze them so we can eat them for a few months afterwards (or else we’d all be as round as Santa come the 25th.). I don’t expect them to join in for all the baking I do, but I do ask them to join in for one session—usually the cut out cookies.  And mostly, I get the dough ready and then they join in when it’s time to cut them out. We used to frost them, but they aren’t as interested in that anymore, so I just have them put sprinkles on them before putting them in the oven. They wander off until the next few are ready to be cut out.

Put out lights: DS15 is slightly more outdoorsy than DS18, so he helps DH put out Christmas lights. It’s a simple affair. They just drape them on 3 bushes in the front.

Make a craft: None of us are crafty, but we do a very simple craft each year.  VERY simple. Last year, we got 4 sticks from the yard, tied string to them, hot glued a bunch of fake greenery and Christmas ornaments to them, and then hung them by the string.  This year, I got 2 big wreaths and bags of ornaments from the thrift store and we’re going to glue the ornaments to the wreaths (one wreath for the boys to share, one for dh and I to share.)  Should take under half an hour to do the craft. They wouldn’t want to do a long craft. 30-60 minutes start to finish, tops.

Watch a Christmas show: I love movies. I love watching tv. I love watching Christmas stuff.  I’m the only one in the family who feels this way! So, we’re going to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas show on Christmas Eve and pick ONE other Christmas show to watch some other time in December—the boys can pick which one. If I make them watch more, they are unhappy.

Advent Calendar: they each still get a chocolate advent calendar...but it’s Dec 1st and they still haven’t opened the first door, so you can see that they’re not excited about it, though their eyes lit up when they first saw them this morning. So...they like having the calendar, but aren’t chomping at the bit to get to it and eat the chocolate. 

Dishes: we have Christmas dishes and they like to eat out of them in December.

 

Basically, when they were little, they wanted to celebrate and do All The Things! But now, they’re more mature and like to do some of the things, but in a very low-key way and spread out over the month.  So, we still do the things, but I don’t expect a whole lot of excitement from them. I make sure to keep their part in the festivities brief, so it never becomes grueling to them (only decorate the tree, only cut out the cookies, watch only one show, etc.)  It builds memories without them feeling smothered in too many memories!

 

ETA: They have to wrap the presents they give to us/each other. So, there is also a wrapping session. Usually when I’m wrapping presents, I’ll call them in one by one to wrap the presents they bought. (I have to leave when they wrap mine.)  They don’t usually do the buying, but I’ll say, “What do you want to get your dad from his list?” and they tell me and I buy it and they reimburse me and then wrap the gift.

 

Edited December 2, 2020 by Garga

[PrincessMommy]

21 minutes ago, Garga said:

I’ve learned not to expect a lot of giddy excitement, like when they were little.  I keep the teens’ involvement in Christmas very, very brief.

I’m someone who enjoys being filled with giddy Christmas excitement and I sort of thought they would be that way, too.  It’s how my parents were and still are. But my boys are not.  They’re sedate people, now. When they were little, they were wild and exuberant, but they’ve turned into calm, quiet young men. 

So, if the kids aren’t filled with giddy excitement, that can be ok.

What we do:

Decorate the house: But this mostly means they decorate the tree and I decorate all the knick-knacks. They don’t care about the knick-knacks. They only care about the tree. At first I didn’t quite understand, but I’m ok with it now.  This year was kinda fun, though. Long story short, we now have 5 Christmas trees in the house: 3 small and 2 very skinny ones.  We all have our own trees in our bedrooms and 2 community trees.  The boys had fun decorating their own tree in their rooms. Again, they weren’t giddy. They were calm and measured, but you could tell they were pleased.

Bake cookies: I bake a LOT of cookies in December and then freeze them so we can eat them for a few months afterwards (or else we’d all be as round as Santa come the 25th.). I don’t expect them to join in for all the baking I do, but I do ask them to join in for one session—usually the cut out cookies.  And mostly, I get the dough ready and then they join in when it’s time to cut them out. We used to frost them, but they aren’t as interested in that anymore, so I just have them put sprinkles on them before putting them in the oven. They wander off until the next few are ready to be cut out.

Put out lights: DS15 is slightly more outdoorsy than DS18, so he helps DH put out Christmas lights. It’s a simple affair. They just drape them on 3 bushes in the front.

Make a craft: None of us are crafty, but we do a very simple craft each year.  VERY simple. Last year, we got 4 sticks from the yard, tied string to them, hot glued a bunch of fake greenery and Christmas ornaments to them, and then hung them by the string.  This year, I got 2 big wreaths and bags of ornaments from the thrift store and we’re going to glue the ornaments to the wreaths (one wreath for the boys to share, one for dh and I to share.)  Should take under half an hour to do the craft. They wouldn’t want to do a long craft. 30-60 minutes start to finish, tops.

Watch a Christmas show: I love movies. I love watching tv. I love watching Christmas stuff.  I’m the only one in the family who feels this way! So, we’re going to watch the Charlie Brown Christmas show on Christmas Eve and pick ONE other Christmas show to watch some other time in December—the boys can pick which one. If I make them watch more, they are unhappy.

Advent Calendar: they each still get a chocolate advent calendar...but it’s Dec 1st and they still haven’t opened the first door, so you can see that they’re not excited about it, though their eyes lit up when they first saw them this morning. So...they like having the calendar, but aren’t chomping at the bit to get to it and eat the chocolate. 

Dishes: we have Christmas dishes and they like to eat out of them in December.

 

Basically, when they were little, they wanted to celebrate and do All The Things! But now, they’re more mature and like to do some of the things, but in a very low-key way and spread out over the month.  So, we still do the things, but I don’t expect a whole lot of excitement from them. I make sure to keep their part in the festivities brief, so it never becomes grueling to them (only decorate the tree, only cut out the cookies, watch only one show, etc.)  It builds memories without them feeling smothered in too many memories!

 

ETA: They have to wrap the presents they give to us/each other. So, there is also a wrapping session. Usually when I’m wrapping presents, I’ll call them in one by one to wrap the presents they bought. (I have to leave when they wrap mine.)  They don’t usually do the buying, but I’ll say, “What do you want to get your dad from his list?” and they tell me and I buy it and they reimburse me and then wrap the gift.

 

I'm so glad I'm not alone.  When my older kids were home they defiintely didn't have much Christmas spirit.  I practically had to beg them to decorate the tree with me.  It was like it was a chore.  🙄

I'm reading this thread hoping to find some inspiration for my youngest (19) who has very little enthusiasm for Christmasy stuff.  

[Farrar]

I made my teens an advent calendar of 24 different sodas. This was definitely a fun surprise for them (though they also figured it out with all the various clanging boxes of soda bottles coming into the house).

We had a very family togetherness sort of Thanksgiving so we're all a bit in retreat mode at the moment, but I have new games and a weird puzzle for us. We do watch Christmas movies. We all watched Jingle Jangle, which was both excellent and a Swiss cheese of plot holes and workshop group think. And then we hate watched a Christmas rom com together. I'm sure we'll do more of that.

They're a little hard to get for... but they respond well to food. So I'm guessing that the standing rib roast will happen. I've never made it on my own. My mother has always been here. So... we'll see how that goes down. I might chicken out and do a beef tenderloin instead.

[ScoutTN]

Reading for inspiration because I'm in the same boat. Mine are 15 and 13. 

I might make a scavenger hunt for Christmas day. The kids picked some fancy cookie recipes from the current Southern Living magazine to make. 
 

[mommyoffive]

The kids have their own Christmas trees in their rooms. 

I am thinking of doing something with presents the day of.  Scavenger hunt is a good idea.  One year when I was a kid we numbered presents and then had balloons that had numbers inside.  We had to pop the balloons with our bodies, then find the present to open. 

My 2 older still willing do everything.  And make comments on when we don't do things they remember from other years. 

We normally go see Santa and get a picture.  Dh has a Santa costume so I am going to have him dress up one day to have breakfast with Santa and get a picture. 

 

[HS Mom in NC]

I suppose if anyone is truly desperate to engage the teens you could suggest throwing fireworks INTO a bonfire...in honor of Jesus' birthday.  I'm absolutely convinced Jesus smiles at that.

When they were younger we made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang Happy Birthday to him.  They really liked the idea of completely covering the cake in as many candles as possible because was born 2,000 year ago. 

We like fire.

[Alicia64]

GREAT thread idea -- thank you!

Every Thanksgiving night we watch White Christmas with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. This year, one teen tried to stop the tradition and the other insisted. So glad he did. The dancing and costumes are so fun. It's a great way to get into the season.

We also watch Polar Express and make a big deal out of it w/ hot chocolate.

I make a point of making an extra pie and fudge. We put out Christmas cookies from Costco that are so good.

For fun, we still get the boys the LEGO advent calendar. They're 17 now but they really love the LEGO tradition.

I play Xmas music -- a little loud -- throughout December so you can hear it through the first floor of the house.

One year I thought taking a cruise for Xmas would be so cool. My kids hated it. I wrote about the experience, it really shows what means the most to kids: I thought a family cruise was the best way to celebrate Christmas. Here's why I was wrong.

I'm following this thread! Thanks again! 💖

 

W.

[historically accurate]

9 minutes ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

I suppose if anyone is truly desperate to engage the teens you could suggest throwing fireworks INTO a bonfire...in honor of Jesus' birthday.  I'm absolutely convinced Jesus smiles at that.

When they were younger we made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang Happy Birthday to him.  They really liked the idea of completely covering the cake in as many candles as possible because was born 2,000 year ago. 

We like fire.

That would definitely catch their attention! I like fire, but my youngest would lecture me on the safety violations LOL.

[rebcoola]

I give them free -ish rein on decorating the tree.  

This year I'm thinking of getting or making window paints and letting each big girl paint one of our windows.

Christmas movie every night but mostly bad Christmas movies. B-movies, Christmas themed horror films.  

The 12 days of Christmas where you ding dong ditch a family leaving presents.  They get really into the sneaking part.

Takeout, coffee and driving around looking at lights.

Thinking we will do a sing along around the fire instead of Christmas Eve music service.  Get the stuff to throw in the fire to change colors maybe some Christmas themed smores.

[ScoutTN]

We will definitely do some fires in the backyard firepit, with s'mores, of course. Maybe foil pack dinners too - Ds always likes to try new camping recipes. 

Dd's house for her online provider (WHA) is doing a Zoom read aloud of A Christmas Carol tonight. Costumes, make-up, etc. Very fun! Dd is a caroler, so has singing parts instead of speaking. I have been spying and they are doing really well. Might be fun with any bookish group of teens. 

 

[1234]

My dc are actually both young adults now and they seem to be excited about a Christmas with just the four of us. It’s how it used to be when we didn’t live near family and I guess they were missing it. 

We picked up Nutcrakers and we’re each going to paint and decorate one. I got lots of neat decorations at Michael’s. They also wanted a few new board games and jigsaw puzzles. I’ve been slowly ordering them since the summer.  

Lots of baking requests! We’re doing a gingerbread house this year for the first time in a long while. We’re also making one for the dog. 

We’ve each been creating our own Christmas movie list and there’s lots of them that we haven’t watched in a while.

We also go around looking at Christmas lights every year and have a certain tin of cookies we always eat while doing so. And the dc take turns picking out the music which is always interesting.

Oh, and we ordered all the stuff to make those hot chocolate bombs everyone is talking about this year! That’s going to be fun to see everyone’s concoction. 

[gardenmom5]

Muppet Christmas Carol.

hot chocolate with candy canes

homemade tradition decorations?

gingerbread cookies & sugar cookies

paper cones filled with nuts

oranges with cloves

paper chains

popcorn strung on dental floss.

 

netflix had "victorian Christmas" - and "Tudor Christmas" - historically accurate.  really quite interesting.

[mommyoffive]

I just got these hot chocolate bombs at Walgreens.  Hot chocolate bombs are all the rage this year and these are so cute. 

Go through Rakuten for 10% cash back and use Walgreens code Cyber30 for 30% off!

 

This Fun Hot Cocoa Snowman is Just $1.99 at Walgreens | Enjoy a Special Treat w/ the Kiddos - Hip2Save

[mommyoffive]

This hot chocolate bomb might be fun

Perfect Man Hot Chocolate Bomb Only $3 at Walgreens - Hip2Save

[BusyMom5]

For the cookie decorating- I have been doing this with my kids and niece and  nephew since they were tiny.  Now that we have teens, we watch videos and Pintrest more professional decorating!  They love it.  

Family Movie Night- this week its Elf!  

Painting- Michaels has canvases with various winter things sketched on them.  All who want to join in can paint a canvas!  We've done this with friends in years past, but this year it will be just us.

Candy making- kids pick

 

[Alicia64]

16 hours ago, Homeschool Mom in AZ said:

Can you cut down your own tree?  My kids love swinging an ax and using a saw. If you usually use an artificial tree, keep it stored away this year.

Can you go sledding or playing in snow?  We love sledding, but rarely get to. 

Is a bonfire an option?  Pallets can be had for free from many stores out in their back alley (ask first.) Do you have a camp stove?  Have some hot chocolate at the bonfire or s'mores.

Do they like the movie A Christmas Story?  Watch it then eat Chinese food. It's part of the plot.  Order a duck if you can, but if not, any Chinese food will do. A Christmas Carol with George C. Scott is a classic.

Are purchased fireworks (I don't mean a city sponsored fireworks show) available in your area at Christmas?  We love fireworks on Christmas Eve.

Read alouds/recordings:
The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
A Christmas Carol (the original)

They can work on a Christmas themed puzzle or craft during the read aloud.

Christmas baking projects: Google and Youtube them.
Yule log
Christmas cookies (from around the world-Scandinavians love a wide range of Christmas cookies from savory to sweet)
Swedish Princess cake (the ultimate Christmas cake)


 

 

LOVE your ideas -- thank you!

[Alicia64]

14 hours ago, Garga said:

Bake cookies: I bake a LOT of cookies in December and then freeze them so we can eat them for a few months afterwards (or else we’d all be as round as Santa come the 25th.). I don’t expect them to join in for all the baking I do, but I do ask them to join in for one session—usually the cut out cookies.  And mostly, I get the dough ready and then they join in when it’s time to cut them out. We used to frost them, but they aren’t as interested in that anymore, so I just have them put sprinkles on them before putting them in the oven. They wander off until the next few are ready to be cut out.

I love to bake Christmas cookies too -- which ones do you bake? I'd love ideas!

[Alicia64]

12 hours ago, rebcoola said:

The 12 days of Christmas where you ding dong ditch a family leaving presents.  They get really into the sneaking part.

I am SO doing this!! There's a man on our street who really decorates beautifully all white lights, hard to explain but it's a beautiful sight. And I've been meaning to thank him for so long. My boys will LOVE this idea so much!

THANK YOU!!!  🥰🎄🎁   p.s. and thank you too for the Christmas s'mores idea!! How do you make them Christmassy?

[Ali in OR]

I've got girls, almost 18 and 20. Is it easier with girls? Things we'll do at some point:

Holiday crafting--made some felt teddy bear ornaments with masks. Need a few more. Made 3-D trees out of cardboard (in Better Homes and Gardens this month--template online) and painted them with shimmery paint, added sparkly glitter. They're on the mantel now.

Holiday baking. Our usuals are the Andes Mint cookies (recipe from here 10-15 years ago), the Reese's peanut butter cup cookies made in a muffin tin, peanut butter blossoms with the Hershey's kisses, and we've had a special request to do sugar cookie cutouts this year and try to really decorate them well (haven't done those for a few years). We'll have a birthday cake this month, I might do my mom's cardamom cake, there's always pumpkin bread, maybe chocolate babka.

Movies. Elf and Muppet Christmas Carol are musts. We now have Disney+ and will watch The Santa Clause movies and others.

I have a new Dowdle Jigsaw puzzle from Costco--Santas in Yosemite

READ ALOUD (since you ask): I'm excited to share Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising with my girls. I only discovered it a few years back and have re-read it every Christmas myself since. The story begins the day before the solstice and goes through 12th night I think--maybe beyond.

We have instrumental Christmas music from Pandora playing a lot. Plus many of our own Christmas CD's we need to play.

The girls already did the outside lights for me and did a lot of indoor decorating.

Everyone needs downtime. Youngest and I have a few more weeks of school and she is doing a ton of college applications, so we're still deep in the throws of busy-ness. Looking forward to the calm of Winter Break.

[ScoutTN]

Christmas s'mores: use some alternative ingredients.

Chocolate with peppermint in it. Or coffee. Or caramel. Or ...

Chocolate cookies instead of graham crackers. Or usr cinnamon or chocolate grahams.  Or shortbread. 

Hazlenut spread (we prefer Justin's brand) instead of a chocolate bar

 A favorite recipe here is dark chocolate with salted almonds, regular marshmallows and a dab of raspberry jam on grahams or small thin cookies of any sort. 

 

 

[SKL]

What about giving the teens the job?

• Teen elf on the shelf to prank the parents every morning.
• Teen-designed advent calendar.
• Put the teens in charge of gift buying and wrapping for the cousins & (to some extent) for the younger siblings.

etc....

[1lioness]

Last year DD broke her leg broke her leg before Christmas so I tried to do a lot of Christmas spirit activities to cheer her up. The best turned out to be pre-packaged kids craft kits from Michael's. They're like a dollar apiece and super simple and quick. Extremely easy for teens of course but that is part of the fun.

[Garga]

12 hours ago, Alicia64 said:

I love to bake Christmas cookies too -- which ones do you bake? I'd love ideas!

Thumbprint cookies, spritz cookies, lemon bars, chocolate-cracker thingees, chocolate covered pretzels, and the roll out cookies.

If you want the recipe to any of those, let me know!

[alisoncooks]

I still "make" my teens have their photo with Santa. 😜 We usually make a big day of it and also go to "the big, fancy mall" (what they named it when they were little and it stuck).  We eat at the food court, browse favorite stores, get boba tea. All the fun things. (I realize this won't work for most people this year, but for future reference, lol. It's our favorite, non-religious holiday tradition.) We only go to the mall 1-2x a year, and it's fun to go at Christmas when everything is all lit up and pretty. 

(ETA: a photo with mall Santa is like $50, so we hit up the free Santa at Bass Pro before doing our fun day, lol.)

Edited December 3, 2020 by alisoncooks

[mommyoffive]

6 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

I still "make" my teens have their photo with Santa. 😜 We usually make a big day of it and also go to "the big, fancy mall" (what they named it when they were little and it stuck).  We eat at the food court, browse favorite stores, get boba tea. All the fun things. (I realize this won't work for most people this year, but for future reference, lol. It's our favorite, non-religious holiday tradition.) We only go to the mall 1-2x a year, and it's fun to go at Christmas when everything is all lit up and pretty. 

(ETA: a photo with mall Santa is like $50, so we hit up the free Santa at Bass Pro before doing our fun day, lol.)

Cute.  Never to old for a picture with Santa.  Dh and I went to get a picture with Santa when we were dating in college.  We do the picture with Santa too.  Our city hosts a breakfast with Santa that is crazy cheap so we do that.  This year I am going to have dh put on his old Santa costume and make them breakfast and get a picture.  

[Alicia64]

16 hours ago, Garga said:

Thumbprint cookies, spritz cookies, lemon bars, chocolate-cracker thingees, chocolate covered pretzels, and the roll out cookies.

If you want the recipe to any of those, let me know!

Thumbprints! I always forget about them. OMG, chocolate covered pretzels?!

I'd love your recipe for both, but only if it's easy. Otherwise, I'll google.

Wendy

[Garga]

1 hour ago, Alicia64 said:

Thumbprints! I always forget about them. OMG, chocolate covered pretzels?!

I'd love your recipe for both, but only if it's easy. Otherwise, I'll google.

Wendy

Chocolate covered pretzels

Get some pretzels.

Get a bag of chocolate chips (I like the milk chocolate ones, but you can get semi-sweet if you like.)

Get some sprinkles (maybe the red/green/white balls)

Get some wax paper and put it on a cookie sheet.

Put about 1/3 of the bag of chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave.  Microwave for 45 seconds on low, stir, then 30 seconds on low, stir until smooth. (maybe add another 10 or seconds as needed...but if you over-microwave, the chips will cook and become crumbly and unusable.)

Holding the pretzel above the bowl of chocolate, smoosh the chocolate onto the pretzel. I use a spoon or a spatula. Put the pretzel on wax paper, sprinkle. Let the chocolate harden, probably best to do this in the fridge.

 

Thumbprint cookies:

It’s best to make these very small because they’re very, very rich.

1/4 c salted butter (if unsalted, add 1/4 tsp of salt)

1/4 c shortening

1/4 c brown sugar

1 egg-separated

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c flour

jelly/preserves of your choice (I like raspberry preserves personally)

Oven: 350

Mix: Butter, shortening, sugar, vanilla and egg YOLK.

Add: Flour (and salt, if butter was unsalted)

Roll into tiny balls, dip the balls in beaten egg whites. Place on cookie sheet. Poke indentation in center of each ball (so you can later spoon jelly into it.)

Bake 8 minutes. Cool completely. Spoon jelly onto cookies.

 

 

You didn’t ask for this one, but you want it. You just don’t know it yet. Trust me.

Chocolate Bolacha:

Saltine crackers—1 sleeve

1 stick (1/2 c) salted butter (or add 1/2 tsp to the butter when you melt it)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c sugar

12 oz bag of chocolate chips (milk choc or semi-sweet as per your preference.)

ALSO: Aluminum foil and no-stick spray and 10x15 cookie sheet and little round ball sprinkles (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Line 10x15 cookie sheet with foil

3. Spray foil with no-stick spray

4. Line cookie sheet with the sleeve of crackers in a single layer

5. Melt butter, sugar, vanilla on low heat, stirring constantly until it’s thick and creamy without a big layer of butter on top. This can take a while. When it’s mixed...you’ll know. The consistency will change and you’ll be able to tell that the butter and sugar are mixed.

6. Pour the butter/sugar mixture over the saltines and spread.

7. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes (depends on the oven.)  You want the crackers to be a little bit brown, but not too brown and not too light.

8. Once the crackers are done, microwave the chocolate until it’s melted—do at 30 second intervals in a bowl, dropping down to 10 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  

9. Spread the chocolate over the crackers. (Optional: put sprinkles on the chocolate)

10. Freeze for an hour (if you don’t  want to put something that hot in your freezer, let it sit on the counter until it cools, and then freeze.)

11. Break apart into pieces.

 

 

 

Edited December 3, 2020 by Garga

[1234]

There were two more things I wanted to mention after asking my dc about the holidays this year.

We adopted more than usual kids from the Angel Tree. We made a day of online shopping and they enjoyed that feeling of helping more than ever this year. I think it’s too late for Angel Tree stuff (at least it is here as the deadline is tomorrow), but maybe there’s local donations still taking place somewhere. 

The second thing only applies if you have pets. We went a little overboard in shopping for our little dog. She will wake Christmas morning to a doggie pool full of new stuffed toys with squeakers! It’s going to be crazy but they were so excited picking it all out and they can’t wait to watch her on Christmas. 

[ScoutTN]

My dd has been more than  usually excited about helping others in this Christmas season:

Making meals for people who are ill or who have new babies.

Helping to organize a food drive for a pantry in a low income area of town hard-hit by covid.

Sending shoeboxes with Operation Christmas Child.

She is also writing Christmas cards to friends both locally and out of town. Snail mail is so much better than email! 

[Hyacinth]

I’ll throw this out there as what I hope will be a note of encouragement.

We’re not a giddy-with-excitement crew and my boys have never expressed great enthusiasm for any Christmas activities. They’d go along with whatever, but I always thought they’d rather be doing something else. 

This year, at 18 and 19, they both had some strong opinions when I asked if they wanted to do anything special. “We have to get hot cocoa and drive through that neighborhood with all the lights.” “We’re going to have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, right?” “We need to watch Elf.” “We’ll make those cookies with the icing, of course.” 

Made my momma heart happy to see that even the simplest childhood traditions hold some significance for them as young adults. 
 

(And I completely agree with City Mouse and Garga about not forcing anything. Let the teens join in and wander away at will.)

Edited December 4, 2020 by Hyacinth

[Lori D.]

For Thanksgiving, we got on Zoom and simultaneously played Jackbox on our phones with relatives who live far away. That was quite amusing for everyone.

Maybe make a family gingerbread village, with everyone building their own gingerbread house?

An evening walk through the neighborhood to look at lights/decorations?

Totally not holiday related, but in the teen years, DSs loved doing Nerf gun wars in the house, which involved turning out all the lights and stealth sneaking in the dark. 😄 


ETA -- you mentioned read-alouds...

2 Christmas read-alouds that DSs loved all the way through the teens:
- Letters from Father Christmas -- multiple sittings
- Christmas Every Day (Howells) -- 1 sitting reading; very humorous

Also fun:
- The 13 Days of Christmas (Overton)

Edited December 4, 2020 by Lori D.

[mommyoffive]

1 hour ago, Joker2 said:

There were two more things I wanted to mention after asking my dc about the holidays this year.

We adopted more than usual kids from the Angel Tree. We made a day of online shopping and they enjoyed that feeling of helping more than ever this year. I think it’s too late for Angel Tree stuff (at least it is here as the deadline is tomorrow), but maybe there’s local donations still taking place somewhere. 

The second thing only applies if you have pets. We went a little overboard in shopping for our little dog. She will wake Christmas morning to a doggie pool full of new stuffed toys with squeakers! It’s going to be crazy but they were so excited picking it all out and they can’t wait to watch her on Christmas. 

We didn't see any Angel Trees this year, the place where it is held isn't open.  We normally do that, and would have loved to this year.  And there are no toy donations in our city.  We can do the food pantry and they are having a collection this weekend.

[*Jessica*]

Every year I buy a family Christmas gift that we open on Christmas Eve.  I’ve done jammies, board games, and last year I did one of the bags of “snowballs” for a fight.  That bag of 20 yarn balls was the biggest hit we’ve ever had.  The teens joyfully joined in on the fun.  My 85yo grandmother had the best time with it, too!  We decided it would be a Christmas Eve tradition going forward, but we’ve already broken it out and used it a couple of times this year.  

[1234]

9 minutes ago, mommyoffive said:

We didn't see any Angel Trees this year, the place where it is held isn't open.  We normally do that, and would have loved to this year.  And there are no toy donations in our city.  We can do the food pantry and they are having a collection this weekend.

For future reference, look up your local Angel Tree online. I always get ours online the end of October and return to a Salvation Army center downtown.

[katilac]

On 12/2/2020 at 8:28 AM, mommyoffive said:

This hot chocolate bomb might be fun

Perfect Man Hot Chocolate Bomb Only $3 at Walgreens - Hip2Save

😂

[Alicia64]

23 hours ago, Garga said:

Chocolate covered pretzels

Get some pretzels.

Get a bag of chocolate chips (I like the milk chocolate ones, but you can get semi-sweet if you like.)

Get some sprinkles (maybe the red/green/white balls)

Get some wax paper and put it on a cookie sheet.

Put about 1/3 of the bag of chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave.  Microwave for 45 seconds on low, stir, then 30 seconds on low, stir until smooth. (maybe add another 10 or seconds as needed...but if you over-microwave, the chips will cook and become crumbly and unusable.)

Holding the pretzel above the bowl of chocolate, smoosh the chocolate onto the pretzel. I use a spoon or a spatula. Put the pretzel on wax paper, sprinkle. Let the chocolate harden, probably best to do this in the fridge.

 

Thumbprint cookies:

It’s best to make these very small because they’re very, very rich.

1/4 c salted butter (if unsalted, add 1/4 tsp of salt)

1/4 c shortening

1/4 c brown sugar

1 egg-separated

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c flour

jelly/preserves of your choice (I like raspberry preserves personally)

Oven: 350

Mix: Butter, shortening, sugar, vanilla and egg YOLK.

Add: Flour (and salt, if butter was unsalted)

Roll into tiny balls, dip the balls in beaten egg whites. Place on cookie sheet. Poke indentation in center of each ball (so you can later spoon jelly into it.)

Bake 8 minutes. Cool completely. Spoon jelly onto cookies.

 

 

You didn’t ask for this one, but you want it. You just don’t know it yet. Trust me.

Chocolate Bolacha:

Saltine crackers—1 sleeve

1 stick (1/2 c) salted butter (or add 1/2 tsp to the butter when you melt it)

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 c sugar

12 oz bag of chocolate chips (milk choc or semi-sweet as per your preference.)

ALSO: Aluminum foil and no-stick spray and 10x15 cookie sheet and little round ball sprinkles (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350

2. Line 10x15 cookie sheet with foil

3. Spray foil with no-stick spray

4. Line cookie sheet with the sleeve of crackers in a single layer

5. Melt butter, sugar, vanilla on low heat, stirring constantly until it’s thick and creamy without a big layer of butter on top. This can take a while. When it’s mixed...you’ll know. The consistency will change and you’ll be able to tell that the butter and sugar are mixed.

6. Pour the butter/sugar mixture over the saltines and spread.

7. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes (depends on the oven.)  You want the crackers to be a little bit brown, but not too brown and not too light.

8. Once the crackers are done, microwave the chocolate until it’s melted—do at 30 second intervals in a bowl, dropping down to 10 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  

9. Spread the chocolate over the crackers. (Optional: put sprinkles on the chocolate)

10. Freeze for an hour (if you don’t  want to put something that hot in your freezer, let it sit on the counter until it cools, and then freeze.)

11. Break apart into pieces.

 

 

 

Thank you for the calories!! The kids and dh will be ecstatic!!

Hugs,

W.

[mommyoffive]

19 hours ago, Joker2 said:

For future reference, look up your local Angel Tree online. I always get ours online the end of October and return to a Salvation Army center downtown.

We don't have a Salvation Army center anywhere close.  

[freesia]

I am having fun making lists of things to do this year.  Usually there is so much outside activity, recitals, pageants, parties, etc that my dream of a slow paced cozy December gets pushed aside and I end up exhausted.  I feel like there is time for everything.  I am enjoying this thread for more ideas.

I have to say that the Christmas tree decorating got more buy in than the past few years.. Three of mine were very enthusiastic and the 2 who are teens acted like they always help decorate.  I did no eye rolling.  I just enjoyed. So, you might be surprised.

My plans: gingerbread cookies tonight.  I've chose a couple of Christmas movies to spread through the month, ordered a puzzle, plan to put together gingerbread houses.  I just decided one day we would make gingerbread ice cream and maybe peppermint (I think I have two freezer things.)  We are making cookies another time, too.  Maybe with one of the movies we'll do a hot chocolate bar.  And my very health conscious dh will not have a fit about the sugar because the kids are not ALSO having a ton of sugar other places.  Oldest ds's bff is back with the girl he will probably marry and we'll have them over for a fire pit at some point.  If the weather holds a hike would be fun.  Ds's college has a choral concert that they taped and will be available to stream.  That will be fun one night.

Anyway, I am thinking this will be a very cozy fun Christmas.  (My only fear is that youngest ds loves traditions and will probably want to add anything new to the list of things which MUST happen every year.)

[Garga]

6 hours ago, Alicia64 said:

Thank you for the calories!! The kids and dh will be ecstatic!!

Hugs,

W.

Everything is freezable!  Bake the stuff...eat some of it the next day...then freeze the rest of it and dole it out slowly over the next 1/4 year.