Family Traditions for the Holidays

Do You Have Family Traditions For the Holidays?

Family traditions for the holidays vary as greatly as the families who keep them.
I love hearing how other families celebrate the holidays.  All the different cultures, regions, and circumstances represented by my friends make for some really different and interesting holiday traditions!  The one commonality though seems to be faith, family, friends… and of course FOOD!
Whether you celebrate with a fantastic home-cooked feast, or Chinese Take-Out;
Whether you spend a quiet day at home reading and eating chocolates (this is a real thing!!), or you spend it packed together with the loud roar of LOTS of extended family and friends, and friends of friends;
Whether you are starting with brand new traditions in your growing family or keeping long beloved traditions…
keeping holiday traditions is part of the fabric that makes up a family.

Albert Einstein, known as one of the most brilliant minds, said this,
“Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life!”
There is something about the holidays that causes us to want to gather together with the people we love most and REJOICE!

Traditions are like roots, and become something our families count on.

However, another thing we can count on in life is CHANGE!
That is where I’ll start.
Have you just moved and can’t find your Christmas tree among the chaos ?
Feeling lonely because family is far away?
Maybe financial stress is sucking all the joy out of your usual holiday celebrations?
Spending the holidays in a country where food and customs are quite different?
Maybe, for whatever circumstance, you aren’t able to keep your most treasured traditions?

Don’t despair !
Don’t let circumstances rob you of the joy and roots of the holiday!
I want to encourage you to get creative !
Make up some new traditions.  Keep them simple.
And you might just be surprised how much you’ll love them!

Our Story…
We’ve celebrated Christmas in some different places and during some tough seasons of life.
One such Christmas happened that changed A LOT of our family’s traditions.
Soon, after (another) move far away from all our family, and before we had really met anyone in our new town, a very quiet Christmas kind of surprised us.  Our family was accustomed to QUIET Christmases.  We were used to lots of activities, family, friends, church services, community events, and lots and lots of meals shared with those we love.

But this Christmas…It was just us.
This year the house was glaringly quiet as we debated what to do.  With 3 kiddos adjusting to their new town and no plans, the quiet wasn’t the only thing glaring.
As we sat in our PJ’s watching TV (honestly in the middle of quite the holiday pity party), we came up with an idea.
Believe it or not, it was an idea that we all agreed on!

Chinese food !
Yep.  This could have been inspired by the 24-hour  A Christmas Story marathon.  🙂
So we got out of our pjs, off the couch, and headed to the closest Chinese restaurant.
Truthfully, it felt kind of sad and pathetic at first to be spending Christmas in a restaurant with no friends of family….but we laughed and we told funny family stories that nobody else would’ve gotten, and we ate together, and every single one of us really enjoyed the night.  AND no dishes and mess on Christmas Eve was an added bonus!
It was DIFFERENT.   It was SIMPLE.  But it was GOOD.

And so we have a NEW tradition!
Eight years later, and eight Christmas Eve Chinese dinners later, this has become one of our absolute favorite traditions.
And this is saying a lot as we have many traditions 😀

Do you need some ideas too?
Whether you’re just looking for some fresh ideas that will fit your family as it changes, or as your life changes, or if you are starting your own family traditions just this year, I’ve jotted down some ideas to get you started and get your creativity flowing!

*Start the month of December with some type of Christmas Countdown-
Keep it simple !
Remember if it becomes a tradition you’ll be doing it again in the years to come  🙂  I could write an entire post on thinking your holiday traditions through.  Last year we actually rented an extended van so we could fit our ever growing family into ONE vehicle to go on our “traditional” Christmas Eve lights tour.

* Paper Chain Countdown
+Count the days down with a Bible verse written on each chain to read at breakfast.
You could also create a doorway countdown with these cute ornaments I made-
(The Name of Jesus’ Christmas Printables)

+Make a chain with your favorite things about each person in your family.
Have everyone write on the strips (be sure the division is equal so everyone gets a few affirmations), mix them up, and make your chain!
+Make a giving chain!
Mark each strip with a family member’s name.  If your name is removed from the chain that day, you are responsible to give one thing away to someone that day.  This could be a “regift” from something your children have, or something to donate to a family in need, etc.
+Make a chain of simple things you could do together each day, or evening.
Things like as simple as reading a Christmas book, having a cup of cocoa with a candy cane, or making a themed snack and watching a Christmas movie.

*Christmas Lights Drive
I started this one year when my kids were all very young.  Pre-kids, my husband and I had enjoyed taking a drive through a neighboring town that had tons of beautiful victorian homes that were always decorated to the hilt for Christmas.  We kind of neglected that tradition for awhile once we started having kids.  So one year, after the kids were already in pjs and in bed, I surprised them all by waking them up, sticking them in the car still in their pjs…Christmas music playing, hot cocoa in sippy cups, and christmas cookies too!   And the tradition was revived !
Every year they waited, never knowing which night we would get them out of bed for the Christmas Light Drive!
We have done this pretty much every single Christmas since then, no matter where we have lived and in what situations we have found ourselves.
This past Christmas we encountered a PROBLEM with our tradition.
By God’s goodness, our family had added spouses and some precious littles and now we were too many to all fit in one vehicle!  We talked about a caravan but nobody wanted to be in their own car lol.  AND SO… we rented a huge extended van.  We decked out the inside with battery operated Christmas lights and tinsel garland, packed little bags of Christmas snacks for each person, and decked ourselves with Christmas sweaters, blinking headbands, and Santa hats.  IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!
And so traditions change… and they grow… just like our families!

*Repurposed Gingerbread Houses
Another tradition our family enjoys is making Gingerbread Houses each year!
We do it the simple way with store bought Graham Crackers, a quick batch of Royal Icing, and LEFTOVER Trick or Treat candies!   This makes a really great way to limit the candy consumption after Halloween with the promise of Gingerbread House making in the near future!   We have made mini houses to hang on our tree too!  Believe it or not, we were able to keep them for years without them crumbling.

*Christmas Day Around the World Feast!
As our traditions changed, we really missed the magical Christmas Eve parties that my sister-in-law hosted each year.  She made the most AMAZING themed evenings, usually choosing a country and representing it fully with food, decorations, and even activities related to Christmas in that country.  It still rates highest in my children’s memories!
Though we live thousands of miles away from our family now, we choose a country and try to create our Christmas Day Dinner around that theme.  It’s been a simple tradition that has been easy to keep, and honestly really helps me come up with fresh ideas for hosting!

 

 

 

*More Ideas!
I’m always looking for new ideas as life and our family changes.  Hope these ideas I’ve shared helps you find some fresh ideas of your own!  I’d love to hear what YOUR traditions are!  PLEASE leave a comment!

 

* Serving Others from Melinda Todd
* Reading Stories aloud by candle light from Contented at Home
(read them on a kindle, laptop, etc…all FREE)
* Turkey Ticket Traditions from Lets Get Together
* Thanksgiving Games from A Pinch of Joy   
* Fun Family Holiday Traditions from Crazy Little Projects
* Start a New Tradition from A View Along the Way
* Build a Gingerbread House Village from HOUSEography