Favorite Holiday Traditions with young kids?
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Anonymous
| One thing my parents did that I’m now doing with my kids is extending Christmas to the full 12 days. Christmas Day proper is stockings and special food and a few presents each. Then the next 11 days are all 1-2 presents each (0-1 for adults who generally have fewer presents) every day (or evening once school starts again). It’s nice both because it helps avoid the post holidays crash/disappointment and also gives everyone a chance to enjoy their presents. My family is mixed race and the German side dominates Christmas food but the Japanese side gets New Year’s. |
Anonymous
Weird |
Anonymous
| Christmas stockings are breakfast + one toy. My kids are getting to the age where we’ll let them open stockings on their own and (hopefully) sleep in. I usually include a pastry, a kind bar, a tiny bit of candy, and similar toys in different colors to prevent arguments. |
Anonymous
| I am very very lucky to still have my grandparents alive. The day before Christmas Eve, my daughters and I go to my grandmas with my mom and we all clean her house, set the table, and bake cookies and pies. That's my favorite and I treasure it every year. |
Anonymous
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We put up outdoor Christmas lights as a family. Even the youngest helped with detailing, stretching it out, etc.
The kids hang up our annual Christmas cards from years past (and set out Christmas photos) ...married 23 years w/4 kids - yeah still a crazy ride to see how all of us have grown. |
Anonymous
There's a neighborhood by us that's famous for it's Christmas lights and everyone drives around and looks at them. We're like the only family that walks it. We pile the kids in sleds most years (sometimes wagons if not enough snow) with blankets and hot chocolate and Christmas music on our phone and spend a good couple hours walking through looking at everything. My parents started it with me because we didn't have a car so we'd take the bus there and walk around. I continue the walk as a nod to my parents, haven't forgotten where I came from and want my kids to see the magic from the ground like I did. Most of the houses still have the exact same decorations as when I was a kid which is thrilling for me. The piece de resistance is a house that has a REAL sleigh being pulled by REAL reindeer....aka a full taxidermy set of reindeer harnessed up 
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Anonymous
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Mine are 4 and 6 and my personal favorite is picking out a personalized ornament based on their current interest - so fun to remember them by. When my younger one was 2, she was obsessed with the letter B. Don’t ask me why - her name does not start with B - so we got her a letter B ornament lol. I will remember that forever! She used to sleep clutching a letter B from a letter playset.
We also like to host a cookie decorating party for their friends - it’s messy and chaotic but fun |
Anonymous
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Love a lot of these suggestions - I am getting ideas myself, so thanks to OP and PPs.
A few to add: - a book present they can open on Xmas Eve or earlier, so it's special to read it that night (or multiple nights leading up to Xmas) - at least one present that's an activity like a board game or puzzle that you can ideally do as a family - special but simple food like Apps for Dinner (kid-focused & color-themed charcuterie board) the night before or Monkey Bread that morning. Especially if it can be made simply or in advance & bake in the morning. |
Anonymous
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My kids are now in college. The things that have stuck over the years...
Making gingerbread houses. This was initially a church kids party but when the church stopped doing it, we started doing it at home An ornament related to their year. I do agree with a PP that it ends up being a lot of ornaments! I stopped with an ornament for their college that first year of college. I will give the kids their ornaments when they establish their homes. My mom still has my childhood ornaments and says I can have them when she's dead
Going to see the trains at the botanic garden Up until about middle school we read The Night Before Christmas before bed on Xmas eve. I have an oversized, illustrated storybook of it that is now just displayed. Assembling a Lego Christmas village. This is a nice Thanksgiving break project. https://www.lego.com/en-us/categories/adults-welcome/every-set-in-lego-winter-village-collection Going to some kind of theater performance in the week before xmas. Started out just being holiday themed, e.g. Christmas carol but last year we saw Into The Woods. This year we're going to the Christmas Revels. Some ideas: https://www.kidfriendlydc.com/tag/dc-holiday-shows/#holiday |
Anonymous
| Mine love their advent calendars. They have November birthdays so I usually give them a new one each year as one of their birthday gifts but you could do it as a Thanksgiving gift or just bring them out on December 1st. It's the first thing do in the morning in December. |
Anonymous
I’m not the PP but why is it weird? We celebrate 12 days too… starting Christmas Day. That’s when Christmas is supposed to start. Before that it’s advent. |
Anonymous
| When mine were little my sister had made them each an advent calendar. Each year we saved 25 pieces of Halloween candy for each of them to fill the pockets in the advent calendars. |
Anonymous
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Advent calendars for the family:
- one with the Christmas story to read a bit each night - two with chocolate - sometimes a third from my in laws with Legos or something Advent devotional book with a Bible verse and nightly activities that we do by candlelight from the Advent wreath. My very religious parents got it for us and even though we're not as religious, it's still very nice to remember and most of the messages are universal. |
Anonymous
That's just the insult troll. No need to pay any mind. |
Anonymous
I had a friend growing up who celebrated the New Years Boy. They got a gift on January 1st. So same idea to keep the fun going, but not tied to 12 days of Christmas. |