To steal your Christmas traditions

[HappyMamma2023]

Hi everyone. Our son is 20 months. Last year was his first Christmas and it was nice but he was too young to understand. Now he's older and at nursery, he's much more excited and it feels like a special Christmas this year, having him help put the tree up, dancing to Christmas songs and seeing his smile when we turned the Christmas lights on 💖 Please post your Christmas traditions which I will blantently steal. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Baking sausage rolls, mince pies, gingerbread men, etc.
Christmas jumpers and pyjamas
Making snowflakes out of paper

Small presents are from Santa, the stockings are hung up and then on Xmas eve after the kids are in bed Santa comes and fill them with little token gifts and brings them upstairs so they are at the bottom of the bed when the kids wake up - or outside the bedroom door if one child doesn't want Santa coming in while he is asleep!
Presents under the tree are from whoevers name is on the label
Mine are 19 and 15 and we still do it like this

Christmas baking. Particularly biscuits cut out with Christmas themed cutters.

Making gift labels from cutting up last years cards.

Making a wreath for the front door

Advent candle

Traditional picture advent calendar

Jolly Christmas Postman picture book

A Christmas runway for Christmas Eve - lots of tea lights alight along the front path.

Walking the neighborhood to see Christmas lights with insulated mugs of hot chocolate in hand

Christingle service on Christmas Eve.

A Christmas jigsaw.

New Christmas pyjamas, either to wear on Christmas Eve or whenever works for you

Baking something on Christmas Eve - probably that's been done on CBeebies

Lots and lots of mulled wine - but I'm guessing you mean child friendly

Please don't overthink it, these things tend to involve over time. This year i would recommend enjoying being flexible for a final year before they start to talk to other children

I saw that book at the library last week so we'll get that out. We are enjoying Squirrel's Snowman this week 😀

Top tip get two identical stockings the two never live together or meet. One gets put out with Santa the other gets filled with toys at your leisure not after one too many baileys on Christmas Eve, swap them over

Santa doesn't get credit for big presents here either

Don't do it all too early... one month is a long time to wait or keep excitement when you've only been alive for 20 of them.

We've always done Christmas by stealth... advent calendar comes first.
Wreath on the door next Day or 2.
Outside lights a few days after.
Decorate the fireplace.
Then middle of December the tree.

Then we do a mini gingerbread craft... house, hanging decoration- whatever is age appropriate.
Paper chains are great for rainy days. Home Alone is our family Xmas film. (Kids are 22 and 24 this year and STILL want to watch it!) We've added Arthur Christmas... and a Harry Potter marathon - they grew up with Harry...

We still make time for a garden centre trip. The "kids" pick the truly ugliest decoration they can find and it gets added to the tree - which seriously looks like an elf vomited all over it. Doesn't look very stylish but we have fun.

Paper chains
Garden centre visit
Everyone gets to chose a new decoration every year. There is no theme to our tree!
Christmas eve walk or drive depending on the weather to look at neighbourhood lights
Home Alone on Christmas eve with duck and pancakes

I picked one thing with mine each year and it's our Xmas day out.
This year was seeing the film wicked. In covid we ate Macdonalds ice cream in the car! Doesn't have to be fancy but we do a little something every December and I keep it at that. Not multiple days out.
They are adults now and still enjoy our Xmas treat whatever it may be each year

We like to bake cookies on Christmas eve and leave one out for Santa, along with a carrot and some milk.
We have a magic key that we leave out so santa can open the door.
We track santa on Norad. The kids love seeing where he's got to.
We're not religious but still go to Christingle and the kids join in with the nativity. The lovely ladies at the church seem to enjoy the packed church and I'm sure wouldn't be too upset that they have atheist imposters. We always leave some cash on the collection plate.

We read Lucy and Tom's Christmas when my daughter was wee and she reads it with her boys now. It's just lovely

My children are 18 and 20 now and for the longest time we’ve watched the polar express on Xmas eve. I think i’m personally a little bored of that film but my two insist we watch it every year!

A Christmas walk on the 24th evening to watch the lights before dinner (we are foreigners so the 24 is as important as the 25) after dinner shower with new PJ.
I wake everyone up at 9 (kids are 16 and 19) on the 25 and we do not open the presents all at once, more like one before breakfast, one after, ect.....makes the day last longer which is nice but can also be hard if your child is hyper like one of mine and is excited ALL DAY LONG (even at 16😵)

We used to have a book advent when ours were little. 24 Christmas books (mostly bought second hand from World of Books), numbered with stickers and put in a basket. A jar with numbers 1-24 in on pieces of paper and they took it in turns to pull out a number each day and we'd read that book.
Every Sunday in December we watch a Christmas film together, with hot chocolate and some festive biscuits.
We also go every year and choose and buy a toy for a local toy appeal, and towards the end of November we buy 10 advent calendars and donate them to the local food bank.

Start of advent is good time for new pyjamas, a reusable advent calendar with little gifts related to this years interests.

games afternoons with pals to enjoy the tree and decorations and festive nibbles.

gathering of friends where you each bring a box of intriguing/dodgy canapés from supermarket to all try and share.

We go pick out the tree together. Advent calendar (not chocolate but a beautiful illustrated German one in the Victorian era with glitter. I now have to text the reveal to my DD at uni every day!)
A Christmas movie a night in December.
Takeaway on Christmas Eve.
French toast and bacon Christmas breakfast.

This is genius!

One I saw this year which was lovely (although mine are now in their 20's), was getting an old ice cream container, putting fit cones in, maybe some glitter, stirring.... then leaving it in the corner of the room..
Wake up the next day and the Christmas tree has appeared!
(Also.. you don't have to rearrange the decs!! )

I bought a small stocking for DD on a market stall for her first Christmas- names were added on the spot with glue and glitter, cost me the princely sum of £1. When her brother was born I used hers as a template for his. Apparently I have to continue with these ‘until I’m dead’ so hers is still going strong 37 years later! I’ve since made them for my GCs.

Starting the year ds was born we would get a couple of the more expensive Christmas decorations for the tree and somewhere hidden, write the date. My favourite part of decorating the tree is putting these ones on and remembering the Christmas we got them.

Let them choose a bauble / decoration each year, then when they finally move out gifting them the lot for their new home.

At 20 months, he still won’t understand Xmas. But, start with any traditions you want to keep up as he gets older.🙂

We buy a bag of those chocolate Christmas baubles and I hide one on the tree every day for my son to find (have to ration them like this or they’d get hoovered, but he seems to really enjoy this little tradition!)