What are your Christmas traditions?

[SeaSeeker]

First Christmas with baby this year and I want to start establishing lovely traditions so that he will have fond memories when he grows up. But I'm so unimaginative. What little traditions do you have at Christmas that make it extra special for your kids?

Not mentioning it in August features fairly highly in my traditions!

We go away in order to avoid panic about Christmas so I may not be the ideal person to ask.

I know, I'm such a dick! But I'm one of those weirdos who loves Christmas. And I'm a planner. This is an evil combination so I do apologise!

@seaseeker come on over to the Christmas forum. And ask us festive fans!

Just one, to avoid everything to do with it.

Kids open one present On Christmas Eve...

Our little boy is only 2 so we are still making our own traditions

I love Christmas! Can't wait

@Isadora2007 There's a CHRISTMAS FORUM??????

However, I'm being a bit mean. You are doing this for your child.
I remember the happiest and best Christmas ever in the 1960's when I was a child wasn't anything to do with how many gifts I got or how big the tree was.
My grandfather would read classic Christmas texts on Christmas Eve, childrens versions, Scrooge, that chapter from Wind in the Willows Dulce Domum, grand mother was a great cook and we always had home made mince pies on christmas eve and the carol singers came over. We had an open fire and the christmas tree was a small tree in a lovely pot covered in clip on glass birds, no lights or anything else.
On Christmas day we all had breakfast togetherm it was traditional to open presents after lunch not first thing in the morning to keep the suspense going. I had a stocking at the end of the bed with small gifts in and an orange at the bottom, I always put a chocolate orange in the bottom for my own son. It was the bit he loved most of all.
After breakfast we went to church, it was a very ancient church nicely decorated.
Then joy of joys it started snowing heavily and by lunchtime everything was covered in snow.
My grandmother was a wonderful cook so we had lunch at about 1pm not too late with all the usual traditional fare and crackers and christmas music on in the background.
Then it was present opening, by then I was always at fever pitch.
I played while the adults snoozed and then we all had a long Christmas day walk across the fields. The combination of being with people I loved, the snow, the countryside and wonderful food made it for me.

I go a little OTT but I love Christmas family time!
1st Dec advent calendar appears with a mixture of treats and festive days out. We have a wooden box one that I fill with notes (saying find the treat next to the fireplace or hot chocolate after school etc and a few choc coins only on some days. Plus a cinema trip, panto, see father Christmas and go sledging).

1st weekend in December the decorations go up.

Christmas eve we meet friends for late lunch then home to find the elves have left a Christmas movie, PJ's, bath treats, hot choc, marshmallows and popcorn.

Christmas day, stockings are opened in our bed (teenagers and all).

One thing we started when DS was born, was slowly putting together a photobook on photobox throughout the year, then ordering it and getting it delivered to the family on xmas eve and going through it talking about all the things we did. nobody is allowed to look at it until then, not even me (even though i've made it on the internet i don't look at it just wrap it straight up when it comes!) then we take a family xmas photo to start the new book for the next year with!

Lovely post @IrritatedUser1960 . That's exactly the kind of thing I'm thinking of, especially the stories you remember

Love the advent calendar and photo book idea! Definitely a Christmas Eve present too

I'm in rural Australia living in the bush on the edge of a coastal lake. It's usually hot and nobody me wants to cook or eat. Usually we have an al fresco style vego lunch on our verandah overlooking the lake. Relos all live away, so it's usually just DP, DD, Ddog & myself, and sometimes a friend. I often wonder what it would be like to have Christmas in winter in a cold country.

We open our pressies in the morning under the tree. DDog usually has a red christmassy sequinned bandana so he loses all dignity and we usually look ridiculous in Santa hats! We have a "real" tree which in reality is a big bit of pine shoved into a bucket of damp sand. By Christmas Day it's usually looking a bit droopy under all the lights & decorations, but christmassy nonetheless. A bit of a tradition is that we have to wear anything wearable that we have received as presents. This could be anything from t-shirts, pjs, or speedos!

In the afternoon, we play with, read, and/or eat our pressies and usually have a nap. Sometimes DP and DD will go for a sail on the lake or take DDog for a swim. Lots of people near us go to the beach but we can't be bothered to drive there because we're lazy. The lake is less than a five minute walk from our house and is so much easier and we can sail or take the tinny (boat with motor) across to the beach if we want to.

Low key dinner left-overs then crap Christmas TV, then bed.

On Boxing Day, wannabe maxi-yacht sailors DP and DD keenly watch the start of the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race on the telly. It's summer school holidays from just before Christmas right through to the end of January so it's a lovely relaxed, albeit hot, time of year. We're usually pretty low key and spend the holidays at home hiding from the tourists that invade the nearby beachside towns from Boxing Day on.

I've found that your own family Christmas traditions develop over the years to become your family standard. You had your family Christmases; your OH had his, so you'll inevitably have to have some sort of happy blend of those along with your own ideas.

In my house (5 DC from 25 down to 7), it's more about the ritual and convention: the way we do things and when (like where and when to hang stockings, when to open this or that, the Christmas menu etc.) that makes it predictable and uniquely "ours".

Things we did as kids:
Christmas carols round the tree on Christmas Eve.
Opening stockings in my parents' room when we woke up (we would all get in their bed!)
Not being allowed in the living room (where Mum and Dad would have put the presents round the tree after we'd gone to bed) until after breakfast. This added to the excitement!
Specific foods we only had at Christmas; those cheesy football things, a "dip" Mum found a recipe for in an ancient Christmas cookbook, etc.

I agree that a lot of your traditions will arise organically over the years, and the best ones will stick - we have been having the "dip" for over forty years now!

Oops! Apologies, I hadn't realised you just wanted ideas for future traditions. Sorry, I seemed to have gotten carried away on another tangent completely

One tradition we had for small DD was an advent thing I made which had 24 little drawstring cloth bags made from colourful scraps of fabric. They were hung from a pin board and each one contained a simple surprise; a shell, pretty polished stone, a chocolate for example. Each day DD could open one and she could tell how many days until Christmas by counting the remaining bags. We did this from when she was about four to about twelve.

We always did some Christmas crafts together making simple decorations or decorating wrapping paper (using potato prints) or baking treats.

Great fun! Even though DD is 16, she still likes us to do some christmassy activity together.

Christmas is so special when you have children of your own, I loved it!

Getting slightly pissed on Baileys whilst decorating the tree altogether. It is essential that you have Bing Crosby/Dean Martin/Frank Sinatra crooning Christmas standards in the background!

New, Christmas pyjamas to be opened on Christmas Eve so we all look like berks the next morning.

It is 1 day- treat it as such and don't sweat! Never get into debt for Christmas.

We buy our tree and put it up on christmas eve, we then all decorate the house. Christmas at home starts then. That is the best tradition we have.

We all pick one present from under the tree then the others hide it and make a treasure hunt around the house to reach it. Provides double fun as writing the clues is great then the actual hunt is a riot... and fills up some of the afternoon stretch. And gets good value out of a present! Started off pre-kids when we wouldn't have all that many presents so it extended the fun

Best tradition once we had teenagers- leave the country. Christmas is much more fun on a beach in Asia.

We are also in Australia and my insistence on creating Christmas traditions my children would remember (all born in Brighton) has come back to bite me on the bum

Everyone gets new Christmas pjs on Christmas Eve. We watch The Snowman and The Grinch (substitute your favourite Christmas movies) and there are Christmas picture books we have always read before bedtime that 14yo DD still insists on. We are still reading the books I read to DS1 for his first Christmas ( he is now 24), but have mixed in Aussie Jingle Bells and Aussie night before Christmas (lots of references to Roos and Utes) along the way. There are stockings. Dinner Christmas Day is the full on turkey and ham roast, any suggestion of something more weather appropriate is met with a riot. The only concession is that the seafood pancakes that used to be a starter on Christmas Day are now Christmas Eve supper after church (that only DD and I attend) because you really cannot eat that much hot food in full on Summer. Mince pies are baked Christmas Eve (though we generally end up in the pool while they cook as having the oven on is unbearable).

DH thinks I am mad, my (big) kids LOVE Christmas. DS1 gets married in a few weeks and has already spoken about how important it is that he continues Christmas traditions with his family so go for it!

We have a couple of family traditions now. Christmas pjs - everyone gets new (often Christmas themed) pjamas on Christmas eve.
We also like a Christmas radio station - Soma fm "Christmas Rocks!" Which we have on in the background from mid December 1st December
The children love these things, just little details that add up to a xmas feeling.

When putting up the Christmas tree we love unwrapping the "special" decorations. First there are the personalised"Baby's First Christmas" ones, then the ones we've picked up on our travels - like a little sparkly Eiffel Tower, a miniature Delft windmill from a holiday in Holland, a wooden Pinnochio figure from Italy, a little beach scene from Tenby. Whenever we're on a lovely holiday, we try to buy something small for the Christmas tree. My DC is fifteen now so our Christmas tree is full of reminders.

For us...

All Christmas shopping is done by 1st Dec, so we can enjoy Christmas. We try to do something Christmassy most weekends in the build up.

First weekend in Dec the tree goes up. We always play Xmas music, eat mince pies and drink mulled wine as we do it. The Christmas candle is burnt for a lovely Christmas smell and we decorate the living room together.

One weekend I take my DDs with my mum for a shopping weekend. Sometimes we get a hotel and stay overnight, other times we go for the day. This is when the DDs buy their presents (and any last minute gifts I might need). We also take them to see FC, buy a new bauble for the tree and so on. They're teens now and it is a lovely tradition.

At the start of Dec, one present (the joke present) is wrapped up and disguised. Each day the children can feel, sniff and make one guess as to what the gift is. If they guess correctly (they never have) they can open the present. On Christmas Day, when they open the joke present - it is in layers with clues inside. For example, this year it's tickets to see Hairspray. It will be given inside the lid of a can of hairspray.

Xmas eve morning, DH takes the children to see a Christmas movie at the cinema. There's usually a good golden oldie on at the children's club. I get the house ready and they watch the movie.

Xmas eve one of our friends has a party. It's a lovely way to start Xmas and then we move onto the pub after. All the children get together...

Before bed, everyone is allowed one present from under the tree. This is usually a new set of PJs and something to entertain the children if they wake up stupidly early in the morning.

Christmas morning, FC presents are opened in bed with us. Then we get up and shower, followed by a special breakfast - pancakes, maple syrup and Buck's Fizz.

Big presents opened after breakfast, round the tree. Usually about 10am. Presents are spread out over the day, so it's not all about the presents, but equally it's not all over and done with my 11am! Last set of presents are opened with evening tea.

One present will always be a board game that we'll play together as a family. Generally, no tv on Christmas Day, and the children tend not to go to their rooms (no rule as such, we just spend time together). The girls make the most of having our undivided attention!

Evening we play a game of cards that my grandparents used to play with us (and my DC). We play for money, and whoever wins gets to keep the money. The DC love that, and it's a nice way of remembering my GP at Christmas.

The week between Xmas and new year, we try to see different friends / family most nights. Presents are swapped, we have a meal and play games. It's a nice time to catch up and relax.

I'm like op - organised, a planner and totally in love with Christmas! For us, it lasts a week, not just the day!

These are great! Some of them make me feel a bit emotional Dare I mention the drudgery of Boxing Day too? What cheers up Boxing Day?

Top tip - if you don't like children decorating the tree but want them to be involved? I get them a bauble to decorate / make. They do that as I'm putting up the tree and then they get to put it in pride of place when they're done for me to move when they've gone to bed.