The most magical Christmas Eve traditions you have heard off...

[3littlemincemeatpies]

I have one full Santa believer, one who I think is on the edge (all eye rolls and excitement when parcels arrive from delivery companies but doesn’t want to sleep in her room on her own on Christmas Eve ) and one who definitely knows but all 3 absolutely still love the magic that comes with Santa and the day before Christmas!!

Over the years we have done all the usual traditions on Christmas Eve, gingerbread making, pony rides singing with Santa hats singing Christmas carols, Polar Express breakfast, Christmas Eve boxes, walks in the dark to see all the lights etc etc and still do many of them but as the 1st year I’m all my children's lives where it’s just been the five of us looking for some that might be less known but very memorable for them for years to come.

I read last week about a family who take fairy lights, a big blanket, a flask of hot chocolate and “The Night Before Christmas” into their local woods and sit reading all warm and twinkly and I absolutely loved the idea so much that it made me think how many other memorable and magical traditions do people have on Christmas Eve that are just theirs.

Spent christmas in an italian ski town in Italy. Outside each house they made little snow holes and put nativity scenes in them and the church had a nativity calved out of snow. I expect to them it became very normal but It was retty magical for me.

@june2007 this sounds just wonderful!!! 😍

I sat all of mine down just before bedtime, in front of an open fire and read them 'The Night Before Christmas' by firelight.

Now they are all in their twenties, but my youngest DD (23) still wants me to read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve before she goes up to bed...

Every Christmas eve for years now we have spent the morning baking and the we take a big box of goodies to the police station to say thank you for keeping us safe. My dds love it, and I like that even when caught up in the excitement of Christmas they take time to think of others. We also do nativity at church and a big long bath with a special Christmas bath bomb. This year they are going to have a sleepover in each other's room and always have our pop up night before Christmas story. Love the idea of having it outside, maybe could be to listen for sleigh bells!! Will recruit neighbour to get ringing!!

We don't do much but we do cuddle up in front of the fire and read the night before Christmas.

Always try to do a walk on Christmas Eve, either to the park or into town to soak up the atmosphere. I then cook my ham in the late afternoon and prep veg for next day.

In the evening we have a drink, sneaky gammon sarnies and track Santa on the NASA site to see how close he is to the UK.

Love the Night before Christmas idea :)

One year (not this year, it's my bloody due date week) we had a firepit in the garden. DS had this odd obsession that on Christmas Eve he wanted to roast sausages over a camp fire. It was actually lovely. We have the Robert Sabuda pop up Night Before Christmas book too.

It sort of went...

Up in the morning and open all of our cards we have received from around the world ( we take part in an international card exchange). Some sort of smoked salmon breakfast (we used to do the nicer brekky on Christmas Day but prefer it Christmas Eve now and do early canapés on CD instead). I start prepping the Christmas Dinner with whatever I can get ahead on, and DS lays the table, making name places, picks foliage from the garden for centrepiece and we'll make that together. We'll put a Christmas film on around midday and relax for a bit, then as it starts to darken, we make hot chocolate and walk into town via a nearby estate to see all the lights in people's gardens. That particular year, we picked up sausages for DS, and some sparklers (which were everywhere ready for Nye) and came home and lit the firepit. We lit lanterns, had wrapped fairy like lights around the trees, had champagne, wrapped up in fur blankets and roasted sausages while DS jumped around with the sparklers. It was pretty lovely. We came in and read The Night Before Christmas, watched whatever family program was on, Wallace and Gromit I imagine, put out milk and a carrot, and off to bed.

It wasn't stop in your tracks magic. But it really was lovely and not too labour intensive or tiring, which is actually pretty important if you do quite a lavish Christmas Day/host lots of people.

Courtney that sounds so wonderful and a pretty perfect way to spend Christmas Eve!!

my dad was sometimes away at christmas when i was little so me, my brother, and sister would all write him a letter and leave it out for santa to deliver on his way back to the north pole. sitting down in front of the fire in new pyjamas to write with new gel pens and a nice writing set is one of my favourite memories of christmas (obviously the years my dad was home were much better though!) in the morning when we woke up they’d be a special present each where the letters had been that was from our dad.

Oh sunshineandshowers21 that’s got me teary, your parents sound wonderful!

i teared up too remembering it! the letters did actually get sent to my dad after christmas. he kept them all too. he recently got them all out from storage and we all had a good laugh (and cry!) reading through them.

@sunshine

That's truly lovely

We have a picnic by the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve. When I was a child I grew up in a different country to my dm's extended family and we'd always travel on Christmas Eve, arriving around 6pm. My Granny would have the picnic mat set out with sandwiches, ginger beer, vol au vents, bowls of crisps etc and us children would eat sat on in the sitting room floor lit by candles, smelling of pine needles by the tree. We'd all get a little present as well which she said the elves had left for us when they lit the candles to light us home. We'd then hang our stockings and go off to bed.

Ds who is 4 absolutely loves it.

I sat all of mine down just before bedtime, in front of an open fire and read them 'The Night Before Christmas' by firelight. Now they are all in their twenties, but my youngest DD (23) still wants me to read The Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve before she goes up to bed...

I love this!

I don't think you need to try too hard. Christmas is a magical time anyway and the dc will remember it as such. My parents were shite but i still loved Christmas.
We generally have a quiet day. We go to church at 4 30 for the family service. We're not religious but i enjoy the ritual of it and the carols. We go with family and friends and then come back home for drinks, stopping to watch the Carol singers in the Square. I tend to slow cook a joint of beef and we have beef baps and gravy. I will have hidden some presents (pj's/bath bombs etc) before we left so kids will open them and get ready for bed. The neighbours come round with their dc in pyjamas and they all watch a Christmas film whilst we have one too many mulled wines. Kids leave milk, mince pies, carrots etc for FC. Then we go upstairs and read The Night Before Christmas before dh and i collapse in a heap in front of the TV.
We have done this for years now (dc 14, 12,9,) and i think it is my favourite part of Christmas.

We have a picnic by the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.

LOVE this

Aww these are lovely.

We go to the local church for christingle. We also put the carrot, milk and mince pie out. We sometimes call at my mums.

We always go on a Santa steam train in the morning. The children are given gifts to take on the train, then when we get off, they queue for their private audience with him, meet the reindeer and go on a vintage fairground. We use the time after that to prep the veggies etc, while the children have some down time with a film and popcorn, before heading back out to the village crib service. It’s dark when we head home, so we heat up some buffet treats and eat them in front of the open fire. We finish the day by watching the Snowman and reading ‘T’was the Night before Christmas’. We then get the special Santa plate out which we made at a pottery cafe when they were 15 month and three. We retell the tale about how our youngest had their handprint done while fast asleep, then we attempt to get them to sleep!

It’s probably no more magical than other people’s, but it’s special to us, and the boys loves it.

I should also point out that the day is punctuated by many checks of the NORAD app, just to see where Santa has got to.

The Christingle service we go to.
The church is packed and all the children light their christingles, the vicar turns off the lights and we sing away in a manger in the candlelight.

Then the pub for a drink and home. Perfect.

I’m really enjoying this lovely thread but I feel compelled to add that there’s also a lot to be said for very simple traditions that can carry you through hard times, that don’t require money, or good health.
For as long as I can remember our family (my parents and their parents before them) have left out a treat for Santa, placed a candle in the window and read a Christmas story. It’s remained constant through bad weather, and stretched finances, and on those years when we’ve had loved ones who were terminally ill they were still able to participate in these things.

The storytelling in the woods sounds amazing. Movie-esque. Can't imagine it being so perfect in reality though

We used to switch the lights off apart from the tree lights, light some candles and read the Night before Christmas all snuggled up in pyjamas. I carried on even when none of them really believed. It cost nothing, I could have a small sherry and, despite my youngest now being 22, they still remember it with fondness.
It was a tradition my parents did with me over 50 years ago so it’s a tradition that has stood the test of time.

I've posted it on another thread: I know someone who used to do pretend sleigh rides for the children on Christmas Eve. The children were shown videos of cities at night from the air, so they could imagine what Santa might see from above. They then wore their coats and gloves, ready for the ride.

When it was their turn, each child was blindfolded (because the real Santa operates in the strictest secrecy). They were led into the garden, able to feel a sack of presents, and they took their seat in the sleigh: actually a chair which was lifted up and moved about, so they would feel as if they were flying, while they heard sleigh bells and a commentary about what was below. A big electric fan was also there to give the feeling of wind rushing by. They loved their rides, even though they couldn't see anything!

We have some family over and make s'mores over a homemade fire pit and then usually some buffet food. Nothing fancy but kids love it