Non Christmas day traditions

[Tootsietoes]

My oldest will be 3 almost 4 by Christmas so really want to start building our family traditions and the excitement of Christmas.

I've been lurking in this area for a while and read lots of threads old & new but curious to know what stuff do you and your families do that's festive to celebrate Christmas?

Of course there will be a making Christmas card and maybe a few decorations but that will be early December so we can send to family.
Putting up the tree and visiting santa are a given but I don't know what else to do that won't cost the earth (like lots we're affected by covid so want to plan ahead).

Last year there was a wonderland type attraction set up but would be £60 for 2 adult and 2 under 3 to get in and we couldn't justify that cost when the kids were so young. We had friends go who said it was good for kids but very pricey for refreshments and the souvenirs etc and only last an hr.

@Tootsietoes - when our dses were younger, we used to read “T’was The Night Before Christmas” on Christmas Eve, just before bedtime. We would read it by candlelight, and follow it up with the Christmas story and a carol,or two - it was a nice time to spend together, and it helped to quieten them down before bedtime, so they weren’t too excited to sleep.

We walk around our town most nights in December and look at the pretty lights. I bought 24 second hand christmas books a few years back (from charity shops, Facebook market place, ebay etc) and gift wrapped them for a book advent calendar, we've re using the same books every year. We also did a reverse calander, basically put 1 food item/toiletry into a box every day throughout December and then donate to the local food bank. We also do north pole breakfast on the 1st Saturday of December. We also watch a Christmas movie every night as a family.

I have always tried to bring DD into town for a "girls shopping trip" midweek in December - collected after nap time from creche, or after school. I do my own shopping at other times - it's to allow her to get what she wants for others (I usually give her the money and let her do the transactions too), but its also a chance to have a nice hot chocolate and cake stop somewhere to watch the hustle and bustle, enjoy the decorations in town, and go visit the "Live Crib" outside the Lord Mayor's House.

Our box of Christmas Stories (built up over a number of years) only comes out in December - a mix of short ones and longer ones(Christmassy Mr Men, Thomas the Tank and other young DC types), a French one about 24 mice doing different things every day throughout December, a couple of anthologies etc. And some DVDs in there too that DD could watch in afternoons or at weekends. It goes away with the decorations in January.

On Christmas Eve, we have a few specific ones.

I usually have to go into work for a short while, so DD comes with me and DH meets us in town afterwards for nice lunch and any last minute shopping. If not, we tend to go to the Christmas Eve swim in aid of the RNLI and catch up with friends at the sailing club. (Or else we are visiting DPs and DMIL, so its a chaotic day of visiting all houses and usually doing lots of jobs for both).

DH and I always do the prep for Christmas dinner (peel veg, make stuffing, make turkey neck stock for soup etc) in the afternoon at home, and DD has always made cookies for Santa at the same time. With lots of help initially, now she does it all herself. We always use the same simple recipe, which only needs a bowl and spoon not the electric mixer. And one that can be made earlier - so I always make a batch earlier in December and only bake half, freeze the other half - which can be just thawed, sliced and baked on 24th if we don't have time or energy for proper baking.

After a dinner which is a cold buffet on the table for everyone to pick what they would like, we go into the sitting room and the youngest (DD) lights the Christmas candle - a red pillar candle that traditionally goes in the window to show weary travellers that there is room in our "Inn" if they need it (Irish tradition) - we put it on the mantle over the fire. And we take a few minutes as a family to reflect on the good and bad in the year just finishing, remember family and friends who have died, and any new arrivals, and (twee though this sounds) basically counting our blessings, with a short prayer to finish to make the season of rebirth and renewal.

After that, we take out our version of the Christmas Eve hamper - new PJs for everyone, a festive bath bomb each for DD and I (and a nice shower gel for DH), a Christmas craft beer for DH, naice hot chocolate for all of us, DD's snowman covered hot water bottle, her plastic santa plate and glass, and her stocking, and our family copy of Twas the Night before Christmas. (HWB is years old and used all winter, plastic crockery are from her toddler days and while they used to be used all December, they now mostly just get used for Santa's snack, stocking and book are both the ones that we got for DD's 1st Christmas - and the rest are new but we'd use them anyway in winter).

DD lays out the stocking and cookies and milk for Santa, then goes to have her bath. In her new PJs, she has a cup of hot chocolate, and then I read the book to her in bed (even though she has long since grown out of regular bedtime stories).

We go to a local village which is basically one street of about 50 houses. All but 3 decorate like mad and then when visitors come to look they make a donation as the village raises money for children’s charities. This costs a couple of quid and really makes us feel festive.

We also have Christmas bedding and towels which come out on the first of December.

We tend to watch a few Christmas films In December and always have relatives over on Christmas Eve, where we cook an early dinner and then when they leave we settle in for 2 days on our own. We haven’t fallen into the trap of relatives one year and then mine the next we stay at home and please ourselves.