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COur family Christmas traditions are a part of me now. I can still smell the cinnamon sticks boiling in the apple cider at Christmas Eve in my childhood home. My mom and dad would always have apple cider for us to enjoy at our own leisure the entire day.
Besides the cider, there was always homemade fudge, sometimes peanut brittle and always lots of fun finger foods for us to enjoy throughout the day.
When all five of us kids were just about to crack with excitement on the night Santa was to come, we would pile into the van, crank up the Christmas music and drive around town looking at all of the Christmas lights.
When we had calmed down enough to not destroy the house, my parents would drive us all back home. We would gather near the Christmas tree. My dad would read from Luke 2 in the Bible about the birth of the Savior and we would discuss the true meaning of Christmas before being shuffled off to bed.
Christmas Eve was magic every year.
The magic of the season is real. With not a lot of effort, my parents set up some special routines that really made an impact! Some they continued from their childhood and others they created together.
With a house full of six kids now, my husband and I continue to carry on family Christmas traditions. Some of the Christmas traditions are from my family, some are from his family and some are new ones that we have started.
Each family has their own collection of Christmas traditions. If you are just starting out, or evening looking for new and fresh ideas, here are some of the best 15 family Christmas traditions that are easy enough to start this year!
We even have FREE PRINTABLES throughout to help you get started now!
15 Family Christmas Traditions
1. Christmas Countdown or Advent Calender
A Christmas countdown can be as easy as making a Christmas paper chain or printing out a Santa’s beard Christmas countdown!
A great family Christmas tradition could include an advent calendar. There are so many great options out there! Our favorites have a little place for a gift or candy to make it even more exciting for the kids! (The trick is the get them to only eat one a day!)
2. Christmas Movies
Next on the list of family Christmas traditions are great Christmas movies. Spare time is hard to come by through the holiday season, but we like to fill some of that with a great Christmas movie!
There are so many wonderful Christmas movies, but our favorite family Christmas movies include:
After the little ones have gone to sleep, some Christmas movies I enjoy with just my husband or with the teenagers include:
3. Decorate the Tree Together
Decorating the tree together is one of our most favorite family Christmas traditions. We pick a night that all of us are free and decorate the tree together.
Some years, I have decorated the tree with the ribbon and accents beforehand. Then, the kids can place the ornaments and the tree skirt.
Other years, I’ve just let them do the whole thing and honestly didn’t change it. I loved them adding the touch to the holiday season.
4. Santa Sack for Old/Unused Toys
After the tree is up, it is a great idea to have a Santa Sack for old and unused toys under the tree. As the days go on before Christmas, the kids (or mom!) can add toys that they no longer play with or maybe ones that they never played with to the bag.
When Santa comes on Christmas to leave presents, he can take the bag to deliver to other children.
Declutter and giving all in one! Win, win here!!
5. Elf on the Shelf
The family Christmas tradition of Elf on the Shelf is so widely popular, but has been a toss up in my house.
The kids love finding where the elf has landed every morning, but for some reason, there are nights when the elf just doesn’t move. Maybe he’s too exhausted from watching our crazy family!
Despite needing to remember every night, there is great power to encourage children to have good behavior with an Elf on the Shelf! He/she is always keeping tabs on how the kids are acting, so they can report to Santa every night.
6. Nightly Christmas Story
Starting December 1st, we read a Christmas story every evening together.
Sometimes these are 5 minutes long and other times a bit longer. We have too many kids that are various ages to keep their attention too long, so we like to keep the stories short and meaningful.
After the story, we sing a Christmas song together and then have a family prayer before heading to bed.
These can be actual Christmas books, but we use a notebook of stories and songs that are labeled with each day in December.
Get started with your own notebook today using our 25 Days of Christmas Stories. Just download, print and create your own tradition!!
Download a Printable of the 25 Days of Christmas Stories!
7. Gingerbread House or Graham Cracker House
Buying a gingerbread house kit has made decorating a gingerbread house so much easier now.
However, with six kids ages 3-15, one gingerbread house will not suffice in our home.
That is why part of our family Christmas traditions includes making graham cracker houses! Each kid gets a bag of icing and a paper plate. We then put all the graham crackers and candy in the middle and let them build to their hearts content!
8. Family Christmas Cards
To some the annual family Christmas card in cliche, not needed and an added stress during the holiday season.
At times, I will admit that sending out Christmas card seems like a mighty item on my to-do list, but looking back at each year’s card is so worth it and there are many companies that have now taken the hard part out of creating a card.
You can pretty much upload a picture from your into one of their many ready-made layouts, select a quantity and pick it up the next day. Hassle Free!
9. 12 Days of Christmas
Serving others is so important for families to do together, especially during the holiday season. There are many ways to execute the 12 days of Christmas as part of your family Christmas traditions. Here are just a few:
- Pick a family and give them small gifts or service on each day on the 12 days leading up to Christmas.
- Do the same as the previous above, but instead of just one family for all 12 days of Christmas, do a new family each day.
- Start the 12 days of Christmas on December 25 and then the 12 days after Christmas. This keeps the holiday spirit going longer!
10. Letters to Santa
Having kids write a letter to Santa is a must! It gives them an opportunity to really think about what they want and also to really enjoy the magic of it.
If your local community does not have volunteers that write responses to children’s letters, then try an online solution for your child to receive a letter from Santa!
11. Drive to Look at Christmas Lights
There are so many people in every community that decorate with Christmas lights outside. It was a tradition in my family growing up to drive around on Christmas Eve and enjoy all of the Christmas light displays in our community.
12. New Pajamas and New Ornament on Christmas Eve
One of my favorite traditions in our house is giving our children new pajamas and a new ornament on Christmas Eve.
The pajamas give them a nice comfy outfit to hang out in all day on Christmas!
For the new ornament on Christmas Eve, we hunt and hunt to find something that each kid has really loved that year.
Sometimes we have found keychains that we turn into ornaments and other years, we have added a loop either with a piece of hardware or cloth to make them hang nicely on the tree.
When the kids decorate the tree each year, they each get their own bag of personal ornaments and love reminiscing about each year’s ornament.
13. Christmas Eve Pageant
A family Christmas tradition that was really strong in my husband’s family was a Christmas Eve Pageant.
They had nine children and first, each child was responsible to share a talent.
Next, characters of nativity were put on papers and then each person drew out of a bowl what their part would be. They had about 5 minutes to get their costume ready.
While the narrator would read the nativity from Luke 2, the rest of the characters would act out the story. So many funny stories came from this annual event!!
14. Swimming on Christmas Eve
The family Christmas tradition of swimming on Christmas Eve started when our kids would get so excited that they couldn’t go to sleep at night.
We decided that we needed to do something very ACTIVE on the day of before Christmas, so when they hit their pillow at night, they were a little more prone to falling asleep.
We have always found the local pools to be at least a few hours open on Christmas Eve and they are never full!
Our family has done this now for about 10 years and the kids look forward to it every year!
15. Cookies for Santa
After all the festivities of the day, don’t forget to set out some cookies and milk for Santa. We have also had the kids leave a note for him and most times he responds!
Depending on the craziness of the days leading up to the big event, there have been years where we make and decorate sugar cookies. And honestly, there have also been a couple years where we put out store bought cookies or some treats from the festivities!
The main family Christmas tradition to have is an attitude of love and forgiveness. The more peace and joy the kids and you feel in your home, then these traditions will more wonderfully help them to remember this magical time of year!
Merry Christmas!
