Most families have a certain number of Christmas traditions that are followed year after year. Some even make a point of adopting or creating a brand new tradition each year. If you are ready to add a new tradition, or start one for the very first time, here are some ideas of traditions other families follow. Perhaps your next tradition is as close as reading these suggestions.
Some Christmas traditions start as early as the day after Thanksgiving. Many people enjoy decorating the Christmas tree on that day, and others find it a good time to start the holiday baking. This is also a good time to start getting your cards ready so that you won't be taking a lot of time for it when crunch time arrives closer to the "big day" itself.
The cookie baking can be the base for a new tradition. Ask friends or neighbors to a cookie exchange at your home. Each person attending will bring a certain number of cookies (packaged together by the dozen) that they have baked, and "trade" them by the dozen for someone else's cookies. It's a good way to have a variety of holiday cookies for the family without having to spend days in the kitchen baking many varieties yourself. If everyone brings five dozen, for example, they will be going home with five dozen cookies of various kinds.
Another "early in the season" tradition can be planning to do something for the community. Help to decorate the town or buildings, or get a group of families together to do some caroling at a local nursing home. The residents enjoy things like this very much. Arrange it in advance with the people in charge, of course. To go a step further, have the children in the group draw some handmade holiday cards to hand out to the nursing home residents.
Children will often enjoying choosing a gift for an underprivileged child. The opportunity for doing this is usually found through a "giving tree" at the entrance of many of the national chains of stores. Having your child pick a name from a tree like that, and then choosing a toy or piece of clothing for the child whose name was chosen is a great tradition to start, and usually it's the children who first remember and mention that they want to do it again.
If you want to do an advent calendar, the day to start it is December 1. Either buy one with small pieces of candy for the child behind each door, or make your own with "pockets" in which to hide small pieces of candy and other surprises.
Something that the whole family will enjoy is planning a Christmas Around the Globe party. Choose a country in the world and find out how they celebrate Christmas. Find music in the native language of your chosen country if possible, and research how their holiday traditions started. Finally, the piece de resistance, serve an entire meal from your country of choice. This works well for a family celebration, but it is even better if you invite a few other families to share in the fun. In that case, they would tell the group what they have learned about their own chosen countries, and they would bring a covered dish or two of the ethnic cuisine. You may want to assign one family the main dish, another the side dish, and a third a dessert and so on, so that everyone doesn't show up with a dessert only. Make sure that enough food is prepared for each dish to feed your number of guests.
A creative tradition that is enjoyable is choosing a Christmas carol and coming up with new words for the tune. Everyone can choose a different carol, but sometimes it is more interesting when each member of the family works on the same tune.
A few other ideas for traditions happen the weeks between Christmas and Thanksgiving. Watch a special holiday movie together. It's A Wonderful Life is always a good choice. Choose a time, if you want to make it a tradition for watching, such as "the Sunday afternoon before Christmas." If you hang stockings, opening the stocking gifts a week or so early sometimes helps younger children with the waiting game.
Buying (or making!) a dated ornament for the tree each year is still another tradition that you may enjoy starting. Families often enjoy driving around the town to see how others have decorated their homes.
Christmas Eve is a time that offers many chances for traditions to be upheld. Read a Christmas story to your family, either The Night Before Christmas, the Christmas story from the Bible, or both. Start a traditional Christmas Eve meal, even if it's something like ordering pizza, and everyone will look forward to it each year. Light candles for your Christmas Eve meal, and then hold hands around the table and sing a carol, perhaps Silent Night.
Anything that is done during the holiday season that is enjoyable to your family, you can plan to do again next year and turn it into a tradition. These are the things from which warm holiday memories are made.
