Creating New Christmas Traditions

Whether you are a new parent looking to start your own special Christmas traditions with your new family, or experienced parents looking for a new tradition to add some fun to a tired Christmas holiday, these ideas can be for you. Spending special time with family and friends during the Christmas season is an important thing to keep in mind when considering what traditions to add to your family routine.

Christmas Eve Traditions

• Purchasing your children new pjs and allow that to be the Christmas Eve gift so that they can wear their new pajamas to bed. Although they will soon come to know what is in the package, they will continue to be excited about it. It is all about creating Christmas magic and memories.


• Watch a Christmas DVD/Carols on TV together as a family and drink hot milo with a slice of white Christmas that you made with the children earlier in the week.


• Most churches hold Christmas Eve services that include Christmas carols, reading the Christmas story from the Bible and cookies. A family service usually focuses on including the children in the congregation as well, making it a fun way to spend some time together on Christmas Eve.


• Drive around your local neighbourhood looking at all the lights


• Read 'The Night Before Christmas'. When your kids have grown and moved away, send a tape of yourself reading the book along with a beautiful copy of the book to share with their future children. A loving note in the front cover will mean so much. Christmas Photo Album- look through the previous year's album and talk about the wonderful year you have had as a family. I have a scrapbook just for Christmas and create a double page spread each year.

Christmas Traditions that I have started in my house!

• Decorate the Christmas tree on December 1st


• Spend a day at home making fun Christmas Craft with the boys


• I have a special basket I pull out each year on the 1st December and load it up with all of our Christmas books (winter and snow ones too). It is our Christmas tradition to read a book from this basket on a daily basis in the month leading up to Christmas.


• Christmas movies and music always get our family into the Christmas mood. My boys absolutely love watching the Christmas classics as well as the newer movies that have quickly become favourites. The Polar Express became an instant favourite in my house of Train Lovers! We play music throughout the day and the kids sing along both in the house and in the car! The Christmas tradition of movies and music is an easy one for kids to enjoy.


• Christmas baking is a special day with my boys. We pick a day and write it down on the calendar – Cookie Day! We go shopping together for the ingredients and come home and spend the day baking.


• Advent Calendar – Another Christmas tradition in my house, we have an advent calendar. My boys love counting down to Christmas. Each day when they check their calendar, we talk about the special meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it today.


• Decorating the Christmas tree and putting the Manger scene together is another Christmas tradition we share with our boys. Even Master 2 can hang ornaments on the tree. My boys love checking out all of our favourite ornaments each year. They get to find a good place on the tree for the ornaments and hang them up. The manger scene is special because it gives us the opportunity to talk about the meaning of Christmas and the story of Jesus’ birth. We talk lots about this in the lead up to attending mass on Christmas Eve.


• SANTA'S NOTE - a note from Santa, in his special handwriting is pinned to the Christmas tree itself. All notes from the previous years are kept in 'The Night Before Christmas' book and re-read each year.


• Buy an ornament that reflects their interest each year. As memories fade with time, this is another great way of creating memories for both you and the kids.


• Buy a personalised ornament for each new baby born into the family. Great keepsakes for the future too. I also have a Christmas Star ornament made each year with a photo of each child on Christmas Day, I hope to give these to them when they leave home.


• Make some one's holiday very special. You and your kids can play Secret Santa to a different person every year. Or, if you choose, the same person. The idea is to pick someone who may be struggling financially or is lonely this Christmas season, and make them smile.Or, you can play the 12 days of Christmas with the chosen person or family. Each day of the 12 days of Christmas you can do something or give something special to that person. You would put the gift on the front porch or desired location. For example, on the 12Th day of Christmas, the (put your name here) family gave to me, 12 Christmas cookies. Of course, this is a secret, so don't tell!This will help your children learn the joy of giving without expecting anything in return.