This post contains an affiliate link to Elf, our favorite Christmas movie.
Pre-kids, I wrote down ideas for family traditions that I wanted to do with my future-children.
I have no idea where any of those scraps of paper are.
And I barely remember what was written on them.
Probably something about a fire and marshmallows and Christmas carols sung in perfect harmony.
While there are a few traditions I’ve purposely created (here’s one), there are others that just happen.
A few weeks ago, when we came home after being away for Thanksgiving, we stopped to pick up Chinese food and then ate it while watching Elf .
I was informed that this is a tradition. “We do this every year.”
We do?
I just wanted something different after eating turkey and dressing for several days. And we chose Elf because that’s our very favorite Christmas movie so we wanted to watch it first.
Oh . . . OK.
So maybe they’re right. Maybe every year we crave Chinese food after eating Thanksgiving dishes for several days. And maybe every year we watch Elf on the Saturday after Thanksgiving since that’s the first day we can justify watching Christmas movies.
I’m glad my children pointed out this treasured family tradition and childhood memory-in-the-making to me . . . the one who thinks she creates the family traditions.
What family traditions have just happened in your home?
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I Hubby bought me for Christmas for this year. Personally, I wanted basic because I want to READ on my Kindle, and not be distracted by the Internet. That link sends you to Amazon’s home page because it won’t let me link directly, but that offer is showing on the homepage for me. Anything you purchase on Amazon (from paperclips to sailboats) after following that link earns me a small commission without affecting your purchase price.
--Nony
My daughter is very big on doing things the same way every year. Listening to Christmas music every time we go somewhere just as soon as one radio starts playing them 24/7 in early November. The four ‘special’ decorations that always have to go at the top of the tree so the cats can’t play with them. Making cookies and fudge, driving around looking at light displays, holiday movies. We tried to make a “Prancer Party,” a tradition…caroling with friends, followed by hot cocoa, sloppy joes and chips…and watching Prancer, but it was too cold for us, so that just kind of went by the wayside. Should have kept up with the food and movie though. It was really nice.
We have a special, traditional Christmas breakfast every year, and one year I couldn’t face the thought of doing another big Christmas dinner (which in our family was basically a repeat of Thanksgiving dinner it seems like we JUST had – turkey with all the traditional trimmings and side dishes, homemade rolls, and pumpkin pie). I asked my kids if they’d mind skipping Christmas dinner, and they all hurray-ed! We had appetizer type foods instead: egg rolls, spinach/tortilla roll ups, taquitos, chips and crackers, various cheeses, dips and salsas, deviled eggs, cut up veggies, etc. ALL of which come frozen or can prepared the day before and require nearly zero cooking or clean up beyond washing some baking sheets! Christmas is a much more relaxing and joyful family time for us now. I love it! No more of me slaving away in the kitchen for hours cooking and washing up on Christmas Day.
We do the appetizer thing too! We also have chili the night before, and have some out for nachos on Christmas. I do make a ham (spiral cut already) so you can make sandwiches if you want something more ‘filling’. I also make a couple of pies-quick, easy ones-no traditional ones-that take forever to cook!
I know this is off topic but you mentioned that you wanted a Kindle for Christmas this year – if it hasn’t been purchased yet you may want to know that amazon.com has it on for $20 off today only….
Thanks for thinking of me! I already got it, thankfully on another day when it was on sale (though not that much on sale!).
On topic – the tradition that we fell in to is driving around different parts of our little town every Friday when I pick them up after work so that we can see the different Christmas lights and displays. Now as soon as December hits the kids expect that this will happen every Friday while we sing Christmas carols at the top of our lungs:)
Another tradition that doesn’t directly involve the kids is that I seem to always end up wrapping all of our gifts on Christmas Eve while the hubby and I watch Christmas Vacation and then It’s a Wonderful Life. We drink hot chocolate and enjoy each other’s company and generally finish about three or four hours before the kids wake up and unwrap everything. It always feels kind of stressful and last minute to be wrapping then but it is kind of a treasured time for me each year because if I have a feeling that if I wrapped ahead of time then that evening would be devoted to other things on the to do list and my husband and I wouldn’t get that time together.
We always found our Christmas Stockings, which we’d left hung on the fireplace, filled and at left at the bottom of our beds. We were expected to stay in bed till we heard other people stirring, and it gave us something to do while we waited (and some warning to other people we were awake and it was time to get stirring.)
Watching the movie “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” about two weekends before Christmas, going to a Celtic Christmas music program during which we see Santa in a kilt playing the bagpipes, and going to downtown St.Charles, MO, to see Santa and Mrs Claus arrive in a horse drawn carriage and a drum and fife core play Christmas carols while eating chestnuts roasted on an open fire…..whew! I guess these things happen because at some point I decided to do only the things that nourished my spirit and these things made the cut. Love your blog!
We go to the candle light Christmas Eve church service, our kids open 1 gift after church, we drive around to look at lights and we make Jesus a bday cake. We also decorate our tree and bake treats & make fudge every yr to share. We have never celebrated Christmas away from home since our kids were born. While all our family & friends travel all over, we choose to enjoy our quiet non hussle stress free christmas at home
We all wear Grinch shirts on Christmas day. My boyfriend thinks he’s the living Grinch (he’s not), so I thought it would be cute for our daughter’s first Christmas to get her a shirt and a hair bow. (The year before she came along we went to Universal Studios where they even have a breakfast with the Grinch! That’s when we got our Grinch shirts.) The shirt still fit the next year, so it was repeated. The next year I had to get her a new shirt. And last year we saw the live version of the musical, so she needed a new Grinch dress for the theater. This year we even dressed in our Grinch gear to take a family picture for the Christmas card. And she still wears the same hair bow.
My son had to write about tradions when he was in 4th grade. He wrote that going to Sam’s for samples was our tradition. We had done that once! Now we make sure we go to Sam’s on sample weekend.
Oh my word, I love that!! It’s so fascinating to see what they remember!
When the Christmas storage bins are brought out I find the WOW Christmas CD play Audio Adrenaline’s rocked out Little Drummer Boy while the kids & I dance like maniacs. This year it was just our youngest 16 yo. The other two don’t live her e full time, so we’ll probably do it together Christmas Eve. Also it’s become a tradition between hubby & the kids to see who gets their ornament the highest.
I love traditions –
Movies to watch – “The Nativity Story” (does have scary parts – wouldn’t recommend for littles), “Miracle on 34th Street”, ” White Christmas” and just about anything on Hallmark and Up
Treats – I began making peanut clusters (my grandma’s recipe) for my daughter’s teachers and all the school helpers (who normally don’t get anything), along with a small homemade ornament – since she is grown, I switched to making them for my and my husband’s co-workers – I have also always given them to our pastor’s family and friends
Music – my sister and I compete to see who starts listening first – favorite albums “Carols of the Young Messiah” (a various artists cd), a two albums that remind me of my childhood Christmases – Jim Reeves and Elvis
Family gatherings, looking at lights, decorating the house, Christmas Eve service, reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 are other traditions
My favorite tradition is adding the baby Jesus to our nativity scenes after we return home from the Christmas Eve service. It is a way to take a moment to focus on the true meaning of Christmas!
Love, love, love Christmas!!!!
Yep, Elf is probably the top movie along with LotR.
Don’t know if you will see this, as it’s years after the your post, but we had some traditional meals for Christmas. Christmas Eve was always Chinese food, and Christmas Day dinner was always a tenderloin roast. A family friend used to give a food and goodies packet, and she thought it was hysterical that the coffee cake (remember those?!) she gave us was served for Christmas breakfast. The reason she thought it was funny – it was the one from the back of the Bisquick box. Dad was in charge of stockings, but Mom decreed that we had to use a paper sack for the gifts because the stockings would be too heavy. You had to buy toiletries under $5 for each person in the family – lots of toothpaste and shaving cream! Dana – thanks for the memories this brought up! I am in the first 2 years of reading you from the beginning, but already have started de-cluttering. Aloha!
Our son is an only child. After he graduated from high school & started college, it started to feel like our entire holiday was spent going to large family gatherings & buying each other things we didn’t really need ($ was very tight at the time). We loved seeing our extended family but wanted time for our family too. That year, one of the new blockbuster sci-fi movies was coming out at Christmas time, so I came up with a plan. That year & every year since (13 years this year), we pick a night in December that works for all of us. We go to a steakhouse we all love then go see a movie we’re all interested in. My husband & I pay for dinner & our son pays for the movie tickets & sodas. The restaurant is always decorated beautifully & it’s our family time during all the chaos. All 3 of us have fond memories of those times & the tradition continues this year. ❤