Family Christmas Traditions

If you ask people what is their favorite holiday most of them will say, ‘Christmas!’

When asked why, a few will mention Santa Claus and getting gifts, but the majority of people will list things like festive parties, Christmas carols, and twinkling light displays among the reasons for their love of the holiday.

The pleasant memories invoked by annual activities like these help to form cherished Christmas traditions that get passed down through families for generations. This is certainly true for my family and at the first hints of autumn we start to feel excitement for the coming holiday season! Here are some holiday traditions my family looks forward to each year.

Christmas Movies

My family’s Christmas traditions begin on Thanksgiving Day by watching the 1947 black & white version of Miracle on 34th Street. Over the years we have collected more than 30 Christmas themed DVD's and videos and it has become an anticipated tradition for us to gather together to sip cups of hot cocoa and eat Christmas cookies while we watch one of those movies every night throughout the month of December. Some of our favorite movies include:

Holiday Baking

At our house everyone looks forward to the first week of Christmas vacation, when we go into baking mode and spend 3-4 days baking our favorite Christmas cookies! This tradition began for us back when I was a newlywed and my father-in-law would invite all of his daughters and me over to his house for a weekend of marathon baking together.

We girls spent hours talking and laughing as we baked and decorated dozens of different kinds of Christmas cookies while Dad made loaves of his popular holiday fruitcake. When we were all done we’d divide up the goodies and take them home to enjoy or hand out as gifts.

Since those bygone days Dad has passed away and all of his kids have scattered to the four corners of the U.S. but the tradition he started is carried on by us in our own families every holiday season. It’s a great time for us to have fun together and share Christmas memories.

Christmas Trees

This Christmas tradition can be a point of contention as there are many strong and varied opinions on this topic.

• When is the right time to put up your tree?
• What type of tree do you use?
• How will you choose to decorate it?

Many families put up their Christmas tree the weekend before Thanksgiving or earlier while a few will wait until as late as Christmas Eve. Some choose the one-time purchase, pine needle-free convenience of a life-like artificial tree, but for others only a fragrant, fresh-cut live tree will do.

My family never puts up a Christmas tree any earlier than the 1st weekend of December and we always get a fresh cut tree.

Then there’s the question of HOW to decorate your tree? Will you use a new theme each Christmas or the same treasured ornaments every year?

Although I admire themed Christmas trees, it is tradition for my family to hang our favorite old decorations on our tree each Christmas and fondly reminisce over every one.

I often refer to our Christmas tree as a ‘junk tree’ because of its hodge-podge of ornaments, some dating back to my first Christmas as a newlywed and many made by my seven children over the past 20 years, each one a precious memory on a wire hook.

Christmas Stockings

Another cherished tradition is the hanging of stockings on Christmas Eve for Santa to fill with goodies!

At our house on Christmas Eve we watch A Christmas Carol together and then hang our stockings from the mantle before sending the kids up to bed. This tradition is very important for my family because the stockings are the first gifts everyone gets to open on December the 25th.

Christmas stockings come in many sizes and styles, from sophisticated store-bought ones to homemade hand-crafted ones. The type of stockings you choose to hang may vary from year to year or you may choose to use the same stockings every Christmas, but whichever you decide to do be sure to have lots of fun things and tasty treats to fill them.

Yo-yos, card games, flutes, and tops; cologne, lip balms, bath beads, and hankies; candy canes, peanuts, chocolates, and packs of gum; these are just some of the things you will find in your stocking when you wake up at our house on Christmas morning!

Santa Letters

At Christmas time it is traditional for children to write letters to Santa Claus telling him how good they’ve been all year and requesting specific toys from him as a reward for their good behavior.

A new twist on this old tradition is to have Santa write letters to the kids; it’s an excellent way to encourage youngsters to continue good behavior and to keep the mystique of Santa alive.

If you don’t feel that you can write a letter from Santa to your kids there are many websites online where you can find the right Santa letter package for each child.

My kids love to get mail and it is even more exciting for them to receive a personal letter addressed to them from Santa Claus!