My family and I want to start a new Christmas Eve tradition. Growing up, we would always go with my parents to our aunts house and have dinner and just have fun. Well, my aunt and uncle are now in their 70s and they have kids, grandkids, great-grandkids, so it has just become too much for them! So, we have been wanted to start our own stuff. We like just sitting at home relaxing, but want to do something fun to celebrate. We don't open presents until Christmas morning, so we don't want that to change. And we aren't a big family...mom, dad, me, hubby, daughter and sister.
Any fun ideas that you and your families do?
We eat take out chinese food every Christmas Eve, then we open 1 present (its always PJ's) and we visit and watch a Christmas movie...we make cookies for Santa...write him a note...then the kids are off to bed!
Hubby and I stay up and set everything up...I fill stockings and he makes a fire in the fireplace so its already for the morning...we charge the video camera...and go to bed!
I love Christmas!
Give them a new pair of pjs on Christmas Eve and make a fire read night before Christmas and sing songs.
We go over to the grandparents house and open gifts from them and have pre Christmas dinner. On the way home we drive around looking at Christmas lights and talking about past Christmas'. Once we get home the kids open 1 gift from us and have a little time to play before they are off to bed so we can play santa.
Maybe doing dinner, and going looking at Christmas lights while listening to Christmas music. Afterwards, play some games and just enjoy spending some time together.
I always wrapped new pj's and let them open those on Christmas Eve so they could wear them and be cute for Christmas morning pictures. Sometimes we ALL got the new pj's so we matched.
I would let them open one present on Christmas Eve too, usually a game that we could all play.
I'm not sure if you do Santa. After the kids went to bed I would rearrange the packages so it looked like there were MORE, and the Santa gifts would be added to the inventory.
Also you can bake cookies on Christmas Eve day, and leave a little plate with milk out... and some carrots for the reindeer.
We're still kind of creating our tradition and it's a struggle because all my husband's family gets together late on Christmas Eve to exchange gifts with extended family (I think they are the only people in the world that still buy this many gifts!) What we prefer to do, just me, my husband, our son who will be 2, and usually my father because it's just him now is attend Christmas Eve services at 5pm and then have a traditional turkey dinner, watch Christmas Movies.
I'm a big fan of quiet, at home Christmases because it's what we did when I was a kid. We always saw the cousins and grandparents on other days surrounding Christmas, but Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was just for us. Lots of baking, cooking, eating, movies, staying in pjs...low key stuff. It's still what I prefer.
Go around your town and see the christmas lights. Look around and see if any local churches are having christmas pagents. We make gingerbread houses. those are always fun. you can make a memory jar. start it now. put a big jar on the counter. tell everyone to write down christmas memories. from the time they were young till now. different pc of paper for each memory. then when your together pull them out one at a time and read them off. you will love the conversations that happen because of that jar.
I ALWAYS make bigs in a blanket Christmas morning - my kids look forward to it. I usually also make muffins or something like that and put out everything on the coffee table so the kids just kinda snack all morning while opening presents. We put out carrots for the reindeer the night before and of course milk and cookies for Santa. We always make Christmas cookies (rolled out and cut from scratch) a couple of weeks before. They are super fun to frost and decorate - it takes us all day to bake, cool and decorate. They keep really well - I keep some in a container in the kitchen to eat and seal the rest up with a piece of bread and store in the basement where it is cooler and they keep easily for 2 wks. The kids pick out there favorite for Santa. We read the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve. We don't have alot of BIG traditions, just these little things, but they do really matter and my kids (6 and 8) remember every year and look forward to it.
Go to the movies if your kidsare old enough. With my first husband and his two daughters and myself always went to see a movie. as they got older of course we saw older style movies as oposed to the kid movies. Also we would go out to dinner, it was always nice to that. Now with my new family we are going to spend it up at the in-laws. I would like to try to get in a movie if we have the time.
On Christmas Eve (my parents started this tradition because their parents did it) we would sit around and look at pictures, explain our kids heritage to them and introduce them to family that has long past or is in another part of the US. My eight year old finds this interesting. We snack on tangerines, oranges, apples, hard peppermint candies, and a variety of nuts. It is pretty fun to do and we throw in some board games also.
hi~
growing up we opened up our stockings on Christmas eve and presents Christmas day. On Christmas eve we also went out to look at the holiday decorations. We ate early (~4pm) and has a low key evening (hang out, listen to christmas music, read night before christmas). :)
I loved reading everyone's responses - some great traditions going!!!
In the early afternoon on Christmas Eve we have my in-laws over (MIL, BIL and his family) and have gift exchange with them. I always fix something relatively easy for lunch since we eat early (like noon or 1pm). Usually bake a ham, homeade mac n cheese or scalloped potatoes, green bean casserole, etc.
Then we always go to 5pm Christmas Eve mass with my family and then to my parents for dinner and open up gifts to/from my parents, brother, sister, and their families. We usually hang out there all night and play games (find the pickle on the tree) etc. We don't get home until 11pm usually.
Christmas morning - we have opted to keep it just to our family (husband, step-son, and 2.5yr old son) since Christmas Eve is so hectic and busy. I always make sausage/egg/cheese casserole, fruit salad, and cinnamon rolls for breakfast and we open up presents while it is in the oven from each other and from Santa. And the kids can just hang out and play with their new toys. And we watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Elf, Polar Express, Christmas Story, etc. all day long and have leftovers to eat. We even stay in our pj's until after noon!!
Our biggest tradition is that we take turns opening presents (youngest to oldest) no matter which family get together we are at. That way the opening presents takes longer, you can enjoy it longer, and you can take pictures and see everyones faces as they open the gifts and see what they got!!! It is really good for the little ones too... they pick out a present and hold it, staring at it, wondering what it is until it is their turn to open. So adorable to see them so excited - but yet know they have to wait until it is their turn and all eyes are on them!!!
Day after Christmas... My mom, sister, aunt, and I go shopping for deals starting at 6am!! We have been doing that for over 20yrs. We don't buy much since everything is on sale before Christmas so much these days... but it is fun going. We usually shop til we drop until 5pm! The kids are home with their dad all day playing toys and hanging out. Good for them to have that time with their dad too!! Fun times! Looking forward to this year!
When I was younger, we would stay up quite late and play board games with eachother. I miss those days. Now that both my sister and I are married we have in-law obligations. Maybe you could start something like that. Dinner and games.
We go to church at four (it's the only time all year my atheist husband will go) and our sons are usually in the Christmas pageant. Then we go out to dinner at a favorite neighborhood restaurant. When we get back, the kids write notes to Santa and leave him cookies (even though they are too old to actually believe anymore, they like the tradition -- and Santa always writes back a funny note).
You could do a project like everyone make a gingerbread house together.
We make candy or pies together for the next day, and than we all open our Christmas pjs and watch our favorite Christmas movies (a Christmas story and polar express). But we actually start our celebration on the 21 or 22 (winter solstice) and celebrate all they way through til the 25th, with gift and fun every day. On the first day we make our Yule wreath by cutting our own branches and decorating it ourselves, that is one of my boys favorite things to do.
Baking the cookies to leave for Santa on Christmas Eve is always fun. My kids get to open one gift and it's new pj's to wear to bed. They love it. Oh, and it wouldn't be Christmas without watching National Lampoons Christmas!
We play outside.
Most Christmas Days, we will go as a family to "discover" a park. We bundle up, bring a sled to haul tired kids in, build a fort, climb into caves (there's a lot along the Mississippi River valley in St. Paul parks), bushwack off trail, look for animal tracks, throw snowballs, take photos, have icicle sword fights, build snowmen, make snowangels, make snowcones to eat, and basically wear ourselves out playing. We always brought a thermos of hot chocolate.
LOTS of awesome memories. No cost!
On the 23rd of december we got to my grandmothers house and do gifts with her son, his wife and kids, grand kids and great grandkids. They get to ope thier gifts from grandma and thats all. On christmas eve we go to my boyfriends grandparents, my other granfather. On christmas day we have breakfast by ourselves, open presents, and relax until about 130, then we go to my parents for a lobster/prime rib dinner at 2, then go to his parents for dessert.
We had a "make your own" taco night on Christmas eve. =)
We all open one present Christmas eve and it's always new pajamas that the kids then put on and we take pictures of them in front of the decorated fireplace.
We also have our big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve, then have chili day on Christmas day - I have 3-4 pots of chili going and we just munch all day on that and leftovers.
We always light bayberry candles on either Christmas Eve or the solstice and root through stockings.
When I grew up, we had special foods we ate on Christmas Eve. We would go to a fish market (scallops, shrimp, haddock etc.) during the day for my mother to prepare for evening. We would buy pastries and fresh bread at bakeries and egg nog at the dairy store. We would have snacks and soda, which we really only drank at holidays. We hung up the stockings, played Christmas music, and my mother lit long red or green tapered candles which burned all evening. We also would open one present on Christmas eve.
We do Christmas Morning breakfast. I make a special treat that morning and we drink hot chocolate and stay in our pjs while we open presents. We then go to ILs for lunch to open more presents but at least we get to spend the morning relaxing. We will also try to go sledding after we get back from IL's house.
We don't open presents until the morning either, but we have let the kids choose one present they can open on Christmas eve and the rest wait until the morning.
When I was growing up my parents would let us open one gift on Christmas Eve, usually a toy of some sort. But when my brothers and I got older the present would be a game that we could all play. My daughter is 3 and I'm due with my second in Feb and I plan on continuing this tradition with them. We too also set out cookies and milk for Santa.
