Need new Christmas traditions

[Toastandstrawberryjam]

So this year everything will be different in the Toast household. Christmas used to be my "thing", by now I would be starting to write lists and think of ideas of things to do as a family etc.

This year DH has gone (and isn't planning on coming for lunch). I have had to go NC with my family so no fun family get togethers. We are stuck in a house we don't want to live in. And my middle DD is very ill and it's unlikely she will be up to much at all.

We have lost every family tradition we had and I'm struggling to think of new ones. Had considered taking the DC away but DD won't be well enough.

The only advantage I can see is how much cheaper it will be but other than that..... I want it to be the kind of Christmas the DC look back on and think was the start of a whole new life.

All ideas gratefully appreciated.

How about a silly secret Santa gift, with say a max of £5 spent? Or a Santa sack, where you put them all in and pick one at random?

Get older kids to start Elf on the Shelf and make a Facebook page for him.
PJ and DVD day.
Drive to see the lights in your area and play 'lights' bingo - santa on the chimney,inflatable snowman, sleigh on the roof, lights not working. Assign a colour for each point. Blue ones are the hardest to spot.

I am loving the christmas film bingo. There are some really cheesy but guiltily good Xmas films on the sky christmas film channel that starts in November. So deffo going to be nicking that idea!

I have teens and a few years ago I had to change our traditions because we didn't have Santa to come anymore.

Christmas Eve is now my favourite day. I like to start the day with a nice breakfast, nothing special just croissants and Nutella or a cooked breakfast.

At about 4pm we have the Christmas Eve hamper. Pyjamas, bath bombs or shower gel, sweets, drink, chocolate and a DVD. The dcs have loved this since it started and ask me all day when they can open the hamper. Then they all go off to preen themselves while I sort out the tea which is something easy and not too messy. After tea we all bring out our presents and put them under the tree (so I can stare at them) before cracking open the sweets and watching a film. After that we have a hot chocolate bar and the dcs go to bed. Or stay in their rooms at least.

Afterwards I fill the stockings (because Santa still brings them) DD fills my stocking so we all have one to open in the morning.

I took my DS (almost 5) and DD (2.5) to buy a Christmas tree ornament each, and we celebrated with a round of hot chocolates at the nearby cafe. I'm hoping to do it every year, so that each child accumulates a little collection of ornaments which they can take for their own Christmas tree when they move out of home #sob (although I'm never letting them leave home obv!)

It was quick and easy, not expensive, and a made a grey and rainy afternoon really lovely. Now I just need to work out how to write the child's name and the year on each one.