How to make Christmas special with just us

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make a calendar and put some special activities on it. Some can be one-time events, and others can be daily:

Decorate cookies
Have hot chocolate every afternoon. Make it a special snack each day.
Build a gingerbread house.
Every night after dinner, play a board game as a family—Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, etc.
Make some popcorn and watch the Charlie Brown Christmas.
Make cards and deliver them to neighbors.

Most importantly, embrace this with a positive attitude and low expectations. No, it won’t be the same as your usual Christmas with relatives. But it’s also not a prison sentence. Your kids may not love each of the activities above. That’s okay. Have as much fun as you can.

Love this idea! Thank you! OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanksgiving was just the four of us- my husband and I had a great time but kids missed seeing relatives and said it felt like any other day. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day will just be us this year as well. Every year we have travelled to family and it’s days on end of cousin time, friends, parties, Santas.... I’m struggling to make it special and create our own traditions. My kinds are 4 and 6. They aren’t into driving around to see lights. They just want to play with other kids

I am so sick of the baby parents who are incapable of explaining to their children that there is a PANDEMIC AND IT KILLS! By all means go see grandma for Christmas a dbtgem
N go to her funeral two weeks later.

Christmas is special by itself.

Yes, I don’t want to pile on, but your children need to be a little more flexible & resilient. Many/most children will be celebrating Christmas without distance relatives this year. Yours will not be the only ones. No need to overdramatize their feelings.

Agreed. There are many kids whose parents are in the armed forces serving in some foreign country. They will not even have one or both of their parents with them. I suggest you teach your kids about their privilege and teach them gratitude.

Jeeez you people are insane! I guess I’ll tell them they’re lucky they have legs and arms and eyesight. They’re super grateful and flexible. Was just trying to come up with some new traditions. I’m sure they won’t even notice but I am just crowdsourcing here. Happy holidays!

[Anonymous]

I'm an only child, I grew up in DC while my mom's family was on the west coast and my dad's was abroad. We had many, many thanksgivings and Christmases just the three of us. I promise I wasn't traumatized. Like other posters said, kids are resilient. Ask them what they want to do to make it special. Anything you do together- bake, Christmas movies, art projects- will be memorable for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an only child, I grew up in DC while my mom's family was on the west coast and my dad's was abroad. We had many, many thanksgivings and Christmases just the three of us. I promise I wasn't traumatized. Like other posters said, kids are resilient. Ask them what they want to do to make it special. Anything you do together- bake, Christmas movies, art projects- will be memorable for them.

You’re probably right! It will be nice to have a slow paced break just us.

[Anonymous]

Kids are picking up on your disappointment. A 4 and 6 year old wouldn't independently care. Also, Christmas is already infinitely more exciting than Thanksgiving.

[Anonymous]

Gosh I think it's going to be extra special because it's at home and is so magical here. They can sleep in real beds for Christmas and we can do whatever we want.

-Hot chocolate bar with marshmallows, cookies, candycanes and sprinkles set up for Christmas eve and Christmas morning
-Christmas movies in jammies, robes and slippers
-family games
-appetizer night on Christmas night
-cinnamon rolls with sprinkles on them (seriously sprinkles on everything makes my kids think it's special)
-tons of christmas crafts and christmas ornaments that we make and paint
-making paper snow flakes
-stringing popcorn on the kid's tree
- we've only read Christmas books in December at night
-christmas music nonstop
-Christmas cookies that we bake and decorate together.

I'm the jolliest elf ever that we get to stay home and have a family Christmas. So many things I've dreamed of doing since I was a little kid, but instead have just been doing what family members wanted. This year christmas is for my kids! I'm also so excited of getting to plan the entire meal by myself of things that were my family's traditions. I've missed out on so much over the years and felt bullied by going along with everyone else's traditions.

[Anonymous]

I don’t get why people have trouble having a holiday with just their nuclear family. I am an only child and we grew up far away from any family. The holidays spent with just the three of us were just as special as those where we flew to see family. We are having a small Christmas this year and my family is still excited for a tree and decorations and presents.

This could also be an opportunity to explain that not everyone has a week of celebration each year, or a ton of presents under the tree. Pandemics, job loss, lower income - lots of reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We usually do christmas day alone at our own house by choice. But of course we get to travel and see family on days before and after christmas, so not entirely the same.

But I do remember feeling lost our first christmas at home alone, and worried about how to spend the time. Turns out, you can take the entire day to open a small pile of presents, play with them, cook a fun brunch, watch a movie, open more presents, play again, maybe go for a walk outside, etc. Embrace the need to not rush and let your kids dictate the schedule for the day.

This. We usually have Christmas at home just the 4 of us and I love it. It’s an easy relaxed day to spend time with our family. Movies, cookies, playing with new stuff, cooking and eating, time outside if we want. We FaceTime with family. I love that it’s a break from the frenzy.

This year will still be different, but I’m looking forward to our quiet holiday nonetheless.

[Anonymous]

Why is everyone so boggled by having to spend Christmas with just their spouse and children? We do it every year! We make it special every year by watching Christmas shows, making cocoa, eating cookies, and making gingerbread houses.

[Anonymous]

Such a small thing but I’m totally putting sprinkles on our cinnamon rolls now. Thanks PP!

[Anonymous]

Let them decorate their beds with Christmas garland or decorate it after they go to sleep Christmas Eve. Loved that as a kid. I used the most garish garland ever.

We do a Christmas trunk on Christmas Eve. Big red bow and tied with Christmas books, silly games, treats and jammies.

Make snow ball sundaes (vanilla ice cream and toppings)

Do a craft (could be in the box) if they like that stuff.

Get outside and build a snowman, fort or find a sledding hill, if you get enough from the storm and it sticks. Just giving them all that attention for just their guided okay is awesome.

We are doing the rent your own movie theater thing for Christmas Eve. If that’s within your comfort level and available locally, it is super unique.

[Anonymous]

DH had COVID on Thanksgiving this year so we really did absolutely nothing and my kids didn't even bat an eye. I ordered Thai food for myself, kids requested frozen pizza.

I let my kids (4 and almost 6) decorate their room. They each got to pick a small tree, lights and decorations and I let them use some of our old decorations to put wherever they wanted in their room. They love it.

We've also done gingerbread houses, cookie decorating, and gone to look at lights (the house in Vienna has Frozen and Trolls World Tour songs playing my kids loved it!). And this weekend we're making birdseed ornaments and cards for our neighbors. We play a lot of Christmas songs on Alexa, we've watched a lot of Christmas movies, and painted ornaments for family.

On Christmas Eve, my DH takes some jingle bells and jingles them outside the window and the kids go look for Santa, then he rings the doorbell and drops off our santa sack with new jammies and a small toy or book. The kids still very much believe when DH comes in and can't believe what just happened and that he missed it!

[Anonymous]

This is one of the most DCUM threads ever.

"Any ideas on how to make Xmas special? Kids miss their grandparents."

- "well, you could remind them that if they even look at their grandma, she will die and it will be able their fault"

- "how could you say this, when troops are overseas every Xmas. check yourself"

If this is really people's honest internal thoughts, we are F*%^cked

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is everyone so boggled by having to spend Christmas with just their spouse and children? We do it every year! We make it special every year by watching Christmas shows, making cocoa, eating cookies, and making gingerbread houses.

We're low-key excited to have an Xmas just the 4 of us for the first time in 11 years.

It'll be a nice chill Xmas morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is one of the most DCUM threads ever.

"Any ideas on how to make Xmas special? Kids miss their grandparents."

- "well, you could remind them that if they even look at their grandma, she will die and it will be able their fault"

- "how could you say this, when troops are overseas every Xmas. check yourself"

If this is really people's honest internal thoughts, we are F*%^cked

+100. Poor woman was just looking for ideas.

I usually check kidfriendly dc for good ideas, OP. The times our family has stayed in DC for Christmas have actually been my favs because most people leave, so the city is practically empty. It will be interesting to see how this Christmas goes.