Being a relatively new family, we are always looking for new, fun, & hassle free traditions to start. When you come together with your husband in marriage you both bring different family traditions, which can be fun unless they clash/take place the same day & then you have to either meet in the middle or form completely different ones.
I got pretty lucky because both my husband and I have very few traditions even during the Christmas season. Which means, we pretty much have free reign to start whatever tradition we feel like!
I have been researching and found/thought up these Christmas traditions that seem fun and are also hassle free!
Month Long:
- 25 days of Christmas book-a-thon. Read a different Christmas book every night before bed starting December first.
- Friday night Christmas movies.
- Drive around & look at Christmas lights. Google to find out if your city puts on a light show, & definitely go to that! They are so fun to see!
- Early Christmas brunch with grandparents. This is from my family. We always celebrated Christmas early with my grandma. It was nice because then on Christmas day we were able to just lounge around all day in our PJ’s. I love a good lazy day!
- Snowy Chocolate Pine cones. We’re not big gingerbread fans, so these pine cones are a fun alternative.
- Write a letter to Santa. Take it one step further & receive a letter BACK from the North Pole! (http://www.santaclaushouse.com/santaletteronly.asp)
- Advent Calendar with thankfuls. We always did the typical chocolate a day advent calendar, but wouldn’t it be nice if to get a candy you had to do more than just wait a day? We are all about expressing gratitude this year, so we are saying one new thing we are thankful for each day til Christmas.
- Make Christmas candy.
- Host a cookie exchange.
- Send out Christmas cards.
- Make Tamales. This is our weekend-before-Christmas tradition. Plus they make great gifts! My favorite are Cinnamon Raisin Tamales! Sooo delicious! If you are interested, let me know in the comments and I’ll post a recipe. I would love an excuse to make them a little early this year 😉
The Day you decorate the tree:
- Go out to eat! We like to make whole day of it. And quite frankly, after spending a couple hours picking out, setting up, and decorating a tree I am not in the mood to cook a gourmet meal as well. We either do Chinese take out, or a Japanese style Tepanyaki restaurant. I couldn’t tell you why– it’s just tradition!
- Make hot cocoa.
- Listen to Christmas music while decorating.
Christmas Eve:
- Game Night! I’ve seen a lot of posts with all sorts of fun Minute to Win It game night ideas. They look like a ton of fun & plus it’ll wear kids out which is perfect before Santa comes 😉 If you do invite people over for games, keep it simple and follow it up with the next tradition:
- Pizza on Christmas Eve. this is my husband’s family’s ONE Christmas tradition. We will keep it alive, but modify it by making our pizzas (w/store-bought dough-Winco sells great pizza dough!)
- Pre-make dough for Christmas morning sweet rolls. This really doesn’t take long, I typically do this while everyone watches a Christmas movie. Takes like a half hour max.
- Make cookies for Santa. We are trying a new cut out cookie recipe this year. I will link it here the 2nd week in December if it’s a success.
Christmas Day:
- Put sweet rolls and a breakfast casserole in oven so it can cook while everyone opens presents, then enjoy a delicious (no fuss) Christmas morning feast!
- Make a special dinner. We like to do Mexican food. For special occasions I will either make carnitas or chicken empanadas.
- Read the Nativity Story.
There you have it! 20+ Christmas Traditions that we love! It may seem like a lot, but they really aren’t too stressful and help you get the most out of the holiday season. I LOVE December because it really is soo family focused! I wish we had traditions like these year-round! (maybe we’ll start some 😉
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