Christmas Traditions - McKinney, TX

I also do the Christmas pj's and go look at Christmas lights. I started this when my son was one. We make cookies and hot cider to take with us. He LOVES it! Plus driving around helps him get sleepy so Santa can come to visit him!

I will second Carrie's post -- I buy new pj's for the boys and they put them on and we go look at Christmas lights. :)

If you're of a religious background... reading Max Lucado's The Crippled Lamb is a great tradition to start. :) Especially if you buy little stuffed lambs for them to hold that night. :)

You can buy those little elves... from The Learning Express Toy Company in Southlake -- called "Elf on a Shelf" it has a whole book to go along with it and stuff.

I'd definitely say start something charitable as a tradition -- nothing makes you feel better about everything as when you help someone else.

We have german sauerkraut, bratwurst and homemade mashed potatoes - we all take a bath and we all wear our new pajamas - the present we opened before we took our bath... we also all sit around the fire and sing carols and read a christmas story - taking turns reading paragraphs or pages - and then we make a casserole for breakfast - and get everything read for just putting it in the oven in the morning -

obrien potatoes
ground sausage
cream of chicken soup ( 1/2 can of milk)
1 cup sour cream
topped with shredded cheese and seasoned with salt and pepper

Enjoy whatever you come up with -

another thing we do is every year bright an early Xmas morning we pack all the cookies we baked the night before (and did not eat) and spread them out amongst our neighbors - we place them on their front porch - ring the doorbells and run - waiting for their faces when they see the gifts left behind!

My mom started one for us. Since we are usually with my mom and step-dad on x-mas morning my mom makes hot cocoa and puts it in mugs. But the mugs are special, they have our son's picture on them and we usually take a picture holding the mugs up. Kind'a corney but cute.

Our christmas tradtion starts the weekend of/after Thanksgiving while school is out, We get out the tree and decorations and put on christmas music while we decorate the tree and house just to get in the christmas spirit since it doesn't snow or anything. Then we get an ortament off of the angel tree and go through their old toys and give them to the kids less fortunate than us. We also go look at christmas lights on two differnt weekends. Two weekends before christmas we go to santas house out by sunset cemetary in Odessa and then look at the light out there in that area. Then the weekend before christmas we go to Midland and This year we added Andrews because they have like 12 light shows there you can get the listings at AndrewsChristmas .com It is worth the drive if you live within 30mins. or so. I read the other responses and I do the PJs also. It is funny how we all end up with the same tradtions with our own variations on them So have a wonderful time coming up with yur twist on them.

Aside from cookie making and secret gift shopping for siblings, One of the things that we do for our kids is while they are taking a bath on Christmas Eve our doorbell mysteriously rings and an "elf" has left a present on our doorstep so when they get out of the tub they open the gift and it just so happens to be new jammies and house shoes-they think that it's the greatest thing. Another thing that we do is sprinkle "reindeer food" (oatmeal and glitter) on our front lawn. Finally, we choose an angel from the Salvation Army angel tree and buy toys and clothes for them.

We have a 12 yr old. We have a special dinner of prime rib and after dinner we let our daughter open 1 gift. We have 3 dogs and we give them special treats that night as well.

On Christmas day, while the turkey is roasting, we go to the movies.

Susan

I love reading all the Christmas Eve traditions, and am also trying to establish our family's own tradition starting this year. For the first year we are going down to a homeless shelter for teenage kids in Fort Worth and feeding them a Christmas Eve meal and taking gifts. I want to instill in my daughter early how fortunate she is, and how giving to others is what God would want her to do on Christmas.

My oldest is of course at that age where she always wants to open a gift so on the last day of Nov I wrap 23 christmas books and put them in a basket by the tree. Each night she can pick 1 to open and that is her bedtime story for that night. Then on Christmas eve we all open one gift (I do photography so I do the whole matchin pjs thing too so they all match in the pics the next morning haha) read twas the night before christmas and then leave cookies for santa and then off to bed. On Christmas day we have a birthday cake for Jesus and tell the Christmas story from the bible for their bedtime story. This year I have started helping familes from a battered womans shelter and want to adopt a family from there every year as does my hubby so think we are adding that to the traditon list as well. Good luck and Merry Christmas!

When I was growing up I remember the candle and communion service at church on Christmas eve. It was a beautiful thing, and I still remember to this day how it made my heart feel light!

Also, my mom would buy us Christmas PJ's. When we were little me and my older brothers would all match!

We attend a church service together to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

You could read them a Christmas book. We read Twas The Night Before Christmas but you could choose whatever you like. We also donate a toy to a child in need every Christmas in hopes my son will realize how fortunate he is.

I hire a Santa every Christmas Eve or the evening before depending on our schedule. My best freinds two little girls, my husbands best freinds little boy and girl and our nephews (the previous 2 years included my 3 neices, but they have moved back to PA) all come to celebrate with my daughter. This is our 3rd year doing this. This is her 4th Christmas, but she was only 6 weeks old her first Christmas and we went to PA that year.
The website is http://www.visitsfromsanta.com/. I always book around Halloween to make sure I can get the day and time I want.
Also, my daughter, husband and I exchange our gifts to eachother Christmas Eve. That way Christmas morning is all focused on her and her Santa gifts.

Hi E.,
I am big on Christmas and tradition. I love posts like this. It made me smile reading all the replies. THANKS
ANyway, we go to Church Christmas Eve. Then, we come home and have cider and a late dinner of smoked salmon, kapers, onions (chopped), horseradish, onion/chive cream cheese and cocktail bread ALL on a platter, with fruit and wine (children get juice/milk and whatever they eat...think finger foods for a snack). Christmas PJ's are a must. Our son gets bathed and put to bed. Bedtime story is "Twas the Night Before Christmas", but I also love Max Lucado's book about the lamb AND Redheaded Robbie (look that one up when your children are 4+) THEN... we drink wine and hang out and put all the stuff out.
Yes, there are Christmas PJ's... but we open no gifts till Christmas Morning.
Before Christmas Eve, we have gone through his toys and pulled a few out he doesn't play with "to give to children who have no toys" and we also do a few Angel Tree tags from my husband's company.
For Christmas Dinner we have rolled rib roast as our main course... just to change up the meat during the season.
Have a great one.
E.

One thing that I remember growing up is after dinner we would get to open up one gift. Of course, mom had it picked out for us and it was our Christmas PJ's! Usually really warm and special. We would all get dressed in our Christmas PJ's and go look at Christmas lights. I remember we drove around for a long time and usually we (my brothers and I) would fall asleep.

They said that it was great because we would get tired of looking at lights, fall asleep, and then they would put us to bed for the night. I loved it!!

We also did the tradition of getting new PJs, robes, slippers etc and opening them on Christmas eve as children. I have now started that with my own child as well. We usually got to pick another present as well to open, then the rest on Christmas morning. Also lit a fire, had hot cocoa and Christmas treats, and placed baby Jesus in the manger. Now that Im older and married into a catholic family, we always attend a Christmas Eve mass as well.

We have an elf (a family member made him and mailed him to us via the North Pole :) ) that Santa sent us. When we put up the tree he is the last thing we place on the tree and after that he comes to life and "moves" around the house. He has a notepad and pencil that he takes notes on and when Santa comes he tells Santa all that he sees...Before Santa leaves, he places the elf back on the tree and the magic is gone until next year...

My kids love it and always look around the house to see where he has moved next!

We do family gifts Christmas eve and let the kids start about 5 or 6 and open a present every 45 minutes or so just to drag it out a little...then Santa comes on Christmas Morn...

Good luck ...

(we have the Christmas pickle too but we haven't ever really gotten into doing it, but I know lots of folks that do)