I think traditions are so important. I love that now my 7YO actually remembers doing the same things for the past couple years. We make tons of cookies, decorate the tree, wrap presents, listen to Christmas music in the car, go to a holiday show or ballet. Normally we do a holiday movie night. Right before Christmas we normally walk around the neighborhood to look for lights. We cook the same things Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Really anything I can think of. I love Christmas and so does DD.

Ever since I married my husband we have had the same dinner on Christmas Eve that he had as a child. It’s his mother’s recipe and is very special to him and now to me and our children. One year we were overseas and I gave the recipe to the restaurant and they did it perfectly.

Anonymous wrote:Putting up the Christmas tree. My family made a big night out of it. We'd pick a good night for it, maybe a night when there was a Christmas special on tv. Make a fire in the fireplace if it was cold out. Roast some chestnuts. Make a big production of getting the tree out (we had an artificial one) and all the ornaments, setting everything up and hanging the ornaments. Then turning the rooms lights off and the tree lights on to see the full effect when we were done.

My DH did not have this tradition in his family and he's not into it at all. He pretty much acts like we're doing some chore like building ikea shelves when we do it. Boo.

I have this spouse too! DH family was not into holiday decorating or traditions. My parents loved holiday decorating, parties, traditions, etc. Am instilling same.

I grew up in a house with zero decorating and very minimal traditions.

Here's what I do with my DD:

One present per night
A jelly donut for each of us one night
We go see the ASPCA animals in the Macy's window
On Christmas morning we go to the Jewish Contemporary Museum (we're in SF, and it's free that day).

+1 for: annual ornament, drives to see lights, and Christmas music by the fire

We also have annual shop for your siblings night. We used to supply the money because I think it’s important to teach little kids about giving, and not just receiving. Now they are teens so they use their own money. I have three kids so now the two will collaborate or at very least discuss and plan what to get the other sibling. I stay out of it whenever possible.

As soon as we officially start Christmas break we start jigsaw puzzles and nightly board games. One person makes a dessert or snack each night.

My mom lost a child on Dec 22nd. The biggest gift she gave me and my siblings is "powering through" and keeping the season joyful. I never understood what a HUGE gift and the magnitude of that selfless decision until I myself was a mom. I can remember her singing carols, making cookies, sewing costumes for our Christmas show, she always had an open house for her book club, etc etc. I cannot imagine how she did that. It really inspires me and empowers me to do it up right, because if my mom can, I damn well can! I turn on that music, I make those cookies, I wrap brightly with huge bows, etc etc. No bad day at work or financial burden I am experiencing will stop me! I asked her about it once and she said "I just cried in the car a lot." We could have never ever celebrated Christmas and everyone would have understood but she never did that to us.

When we were really little, we'd do nightly "christmas light walks". Mom and dad would have a few things we were looking for ("Tonight, do you think we can find a house with only 1 color lights? And another where they have rainbow lights in the trees?") and we'd go off in search of the goal.

In my family now, we put up the Christmas tree on black Friday and reminisce through the ornaments (we get one on every vacation and our son gets one for every year with something special about the year--his first word, something he loved that year, etc).

We have a couple special treats we make every year. Buckeyes are the big one (despite not being from ohio). It's a group effort--we'll invite neighbors and friends to help roll the balls or dip in the chocolate.

The last 3 years we've done Meadowlark's walk of lights too. I really like that one.

When my son was a baby, he was a miserable kid. We dubbed him "Cranky the Christmas Elf", and bought big bottles of flavored seasonal beers to share with the adults in the family on Christmas Eve to thank them for putting up with "Cranky". We did beer tastings of all the different ones, and it was a hit. Now every year on Christmas Eve Cranky leaves beer in the grown ups' stockings, and the adults sample flights of fun stuff while finishing up wrapping gifts, assembling items, or just socializing.

Putting up the Christmas tree. My family made a big night out of it. We'd pick a good night for it, maybe a night when there was a Christmas special on tv. Make a fire in the fireplace if it was cold out. Roast some chestnuts. Make a big production of getting the tree out (we had an artificial one) and all the ornaments, setting everything up and hanging the ornaments. Then turning the rooms lights off and the tree lights on to see the full effect when we were done.

My DH did not have this tradition in his family and he's not into it at all. He pretty much acts like we're doing some chore like building ikea shelves when we do it. Boo.

Anonymous wrote:Every year since my children were born I gave them an ornament (sometimes more than one) that reflected something they did that year. Learned how to ride a bike, lost their first tooth, tried a new sport, visited a new place. Getting the ornaments and looking at the ones from their past has been a highlight of the season. My daughter is moving out and next year, when she has her own tree, she will take these ornaments.

I do this too. Also a Christmas show or parade. Church on Christmas Eve and husband cooks breakfast (pancakes, bacon, etc) the next morning. We also have a family movie night where we pop popcorn and watch Elf. Out of all of us, DH loves that movie the most!

Every year since my children were born I gave them an ornament (sometimes more than one) that reflected something they did that year. Learned how to ride a bike, lost their first tooth, tried a new sport, visited a new place. Getting the ornaments and looking at the ones from their past has been a highlight of the season. My daughter is moving out and next year, when she has her own tree, she will take these ornaments.

My kids love the Advent Calendar. We have a wooden one with all the doors, each night we fill one with candy, and they have to open all the remaining days/doors until they find it. It gets easier as more doors are left open, closer to Christmas.
We also do Christmas books each night. We have a large library of 30+ books, they select a few each night before bed.
We also try to attend one Holiday show, and always Christmas Eve church service.

I was just talking about this with my younger kid last night. The biggest tradition, IMO, was my grandmother's cookies. She'd put them in old butter cookie tins, layered with wax paper, and line the tins up along the edge of her staircase (there wasn't much storage space in her house). I'd steal cookies every time I visited all through the month of December. The two types I remember are gingerbread people and spritz cookies. Unfortunately, her gingerbread cookie recipe is lost, and while my aunt makes an excellent alternative (ok, they actually do taste better) it's not the same emotionally. My mom does still make the spritz cookies, though.

DH, the kids and I start Christmas music on Thanksgiving night after dinner, while we put up the tree and decorations. We also typically visit a couple of houses with really over-the-top decorations (including one where you can write a letter to Santa and use a pulley system to send it up to a mailbox on the roof) on Christmas Eve. We'll sadly be missing out on that one this year since those houses are near my ILs, where we usually celebrate, but we're not traveling this Christmas. I also have a tradition where for Hanukkah my kids always get a calendar for the upcoming year, a bag of gelt, and an ornament as three of their eight gifts.

I loved just the general feel of the season - treats and family and music and lights and happiness adn anticipation. I also loved (and still love) holiday cards - giving and receiving.

My mother is huge fan of Christmas music. I loved when she would play Christmas carol CDs throughout the season in our home - when we decorated the tree, baked cookies or just spent time by the fire. The music made the holidays for me.

Could be Christmas, Hannukah, Kwanzaa . . . just want to know what you loved as a child. What was most memorable.


I grew up in a house without a lot of traditions and would love to start some for my family.