What are your favourite Christmas traditions?

[Superworm24]

So for a bit of background, I'm a first time mum who had a difficult childhood/relationship with my mother. Christmas was always a massive chore to her and although she would put up a tree and buy us gifts it would all be begrudgingly. I'm sure it was far better than what a lot of children have but it never felt that special.

So I don't feel like I have any Christmas traditions to carry forward. And although our little one is still a baby I'd like to start doing things differently from the start for all of us (because I'm excited for the first time in forever!)

I know I want to do some kind of Christmas eve box. Obviously it won't really contain much this year but I like the idea of nice new PJs for photos in the morning and then adding craft stuff, hot chocolate etc as he gets older.

I have also got the Christmas chronicles book and the advent baking book after reading about them on here whilst pregnant. I haven't had a chance to read either but I'm hoping to do lots of baking and follow along with the chronicles book at the time.

What do you all do to make the run up special?

And then how does your christmas eve, day and boxing day look? Do you put stockings in bedrooms or hang them on the mantlepiece? What kind of gifts does Santa bring? Do you go for a walk at a set time or to the pub?

Thank you in advance for any replies! And of course there are no wrong answers and everyone does things differently.

Aww how exciting for you! It’s so lovely finding your new traditions and what works for your family.

we always do elf on the shelf. My eldest is 15 now so our elf has been with us a very long time. We just do the traditional moving him into a new spot every night so it’s very easy.

we also do a Christmas Eve box. Again, ours is quite old now. We ordered an engraved wooden box from The Festive Studio and just order a refill pack every year. It’s brilliant and very easy. It has fake snow, reindeer food, letter from FC, nice list certificate, key if you don’t have chimney, plate, glass and bottle for FC, hot chocolate, gold coins and candy cane for kids. It’s so beautiful and feels very special. I’d definitely recommend looking it up. (Also supporting independent business)

we buy matching pyjamas for the family and have a pop up the night before Christmas book for the younger kids.

stockings go on bedroom door. No creeping into bedrooms and stops the kids from running downstairs before everyone is up. They bring them to my bed to open them, (even the teens)

we always host so another tradition we have is take kids to the park during the day. Come home and have a bath (always matey bubble bath on Christmas Eve) new pyjamas then we all bundle in the car to do a festive light scavenger hunt and get a McDonald’s. We go to a drive thru and eat in the car. We don’t live near a McDonald’s so it’s pretty special for the kids and then my kitchen isn’t a mess for Christmas Day.

other things we do is once they’ve broken up for school we do a panto and go to national trust light trail. We used to do Kew Gardens but then it got sooooo expensive. This year we’re tempted to take all 6 kids to Camden market to try some viral foods instead of panto.

I really hope you find some things you love doing with your family! Don’t forget it’s your Christmas too and you’ll all have the most fun if you’re having fun too ❤️❤️

Umm this is genius! I wish someone had told me this years ago. It’s too late now as I wouldn’t be able to find duplicates of their stocking now and they use the same one every year 😭

My mind was blown when my mum told me that she did this when I was growing up 🤣🤯. My dgm had hand made my first stocking and my mum insisted she made an exact replica.

I would say don't overextend yourself trying to 'make' memories. I have found they make themselves over the years and it is the small, mundane things that the kids really loved rather than the extravagant 'forced' things. So from 1st December putting on Christmas music, letting them help put up and decorate the tree (even better if you have a real tree and you have to go and pick it). The occasional hot chocolate and Christmas film (our favourite is Home Alone).

I started a special 'joint' present one year when the kids were young which they loved and it quickly became one of their favourite things to look forward to. One year it was all the things they needed to make slime, another year it was giant bubbles, then a candy floss machine - you get the idea. They are 18 and 16 now so have stopped this as it became harder getting them something they both enjoyed.

Keep it simple, you will be amazed when you ask them what it was that made Christmas special for them. It is usually something you never thought twice about 😉

I'm writing this as the mother of a 19 year old. Some traditions evolve over time and other traditions die away (e.g. the visit to Santa) as your DC moves through different stages - from the baby stage to the toddler stage through the primary school years and into their teens.

Anyway, a few that we still do.

• Putting up the Christmas tree and decorating it. We often buy a Christmas decoration/bauble if we visit a foreign country and it's nice to be re-acquainted with them at Christmas - "Oh, remember we bought this in X city/country"
• Watching the Late Late Toy Show (although this probably only applies to Ireland)
• A day out/lunch in Dublin. When she was small, we'd pop into a few toy shops. Now that she's older, we're more likely to be frequenting the beauty/make up departments of department stores or clothes shops. We drop hints for present ideas.
• Baking Christmas cookies
• Watching Christmas movies
• New pyjamas for Christmas Eve for both of us (not necessarily Christmassy ones). My Mam always bought us new pyjamas for Christmas and new clothes. They don't come in a box though. DD always picked them out herself in the run up to Christmas and then we put them away for Christmas Eve.

DD was a little old for the Elf on the Shelf and I'm so glad we missed out on it. The thought of having to come up with a scenario night after night, for the whole month of December (and having to repeat this every year) fills me with dread. It's hard enough trying to remember to leave out the tooth fairy money. So if you're going to start a tradition, make sure you're in it for the long haul.

It's lovely that you've all those Christmases to look forward to.

I reread "The Hogfather".
Watch "The Polar Express", "Elf" and "Arthur Christmas"
Decorate the Christmas Tree and the fireplace- the latter with greenery from the garden. Have a special playlist to listen to whilst doing this.
I'm not religious but we sometimes have carol singers in the local park, so go and listen for a while.

I start to feel very festive after the Christmas nativity play at church or carols. We do a lot of the things mentioned above. We always play the same music first thing on Christmas morning so for the children this is now the sound of Christmas day! We have a second hand /preloved present tradition which may be quirky or something like a bike. This helps feel like we have lots of presents without spending too much but has become a charm in itself.

We have a tradition of my kids each getting a special Christmas decoration.

My kids have a massive paper sack each for all their presents to go into. On Christmas Eve I fill them up in my bedroom and then sneak them downstairs like a ninja.

Every Christmas morning, after all presents have been opened, the kids climb into and stand up in their paper sacks and I take a photo of them together. Have loved doing this over the years and seeing the difference in them every year.

"Kids" are now 20 and 16 😆 but this tradition is still going strong! (and the paper sacks were bought for 50p each in the M&S sale a few days before Christmas in 2015!)

The local pantomime, a few days before Christmas. We dressed up in party dresses, had an ice cream in the interval and went for dinner afterwards. We still go but now the mums and aunts are the grandmas, and the cousins are the mums and dads!

I honestly still love it — I might not admit it but I'd be so disappointed if I didn't go. It's really the start of proper Christmas for me.

We also loved the Crib Service at the parish church on Christmas Eve. Our grandparents took us so mum could get a bit sorted!

We also had the stocking and one present from Father Christmas, everything else was from people (but he delivered it all).

Each year each of my children chose a tree decoration. They are all adults now, but every year, they still love the memories associated with each bauble, which is now a very eclectic collection but is very sentimental to us.

Choosing the tree. Watching my son go from choosing the tree to being the one to heft it on to his shoulder and wrestle it into the car.

Re stockings yes to having one to stuff in secret and swapping it out but also get more for any future children you may have too if you want them matching. Or make them, buy extra material for any future ones.

We build to Christmas so 1st December is wreath on the door and a reusable advent calendar we have had for years. I agree that a Christmas eve box is better given on 1st December with lots of things you will reuse the next year, books, movies, Christmas mug. We do new pyjamas but not Christmas themed every year so they can continue to wear them throughout the year and remember fondly the Christmas just gone.

The tree goes up around 7th, the dining room gets its Christmas make over around 15th, we have an oil cloth so easy to wipe up spills, no need to wash it. Christmas place mats etc. We have a completely different colour scheme for Christmas Eve and have the same meal every year because we are out on Christmas day for lunch with relatives.

Don't forget window clings or if you are creative chalk pens on the windows. Window clings can also be used on drinking glasses too and are reusable so put them away each year.

ScanTheNextOne

I love this build up through December.
My stockings are a hotchpotch - some I take to person, some get opened here, seems a bit mean to snatch back the stocking! I have to keep making them.

Stocking downstairs definitely... sneaking around excited kids bedroom is my idea of hell. My middle child would definitely try to stay awake all night, wake up as we where doing it and be a hyper nightmare.

We had xmas eve 'boxes' as a kid but they weren't 'in' boxes... it was PJs and a book on xmas eve. They use to be laid at the foot of the bed when you went up to bed but we do it as a family thing in the living room where we have hot chocolate & ginger breadmen and then the kids get ready in their new PJs.

We have added in loads over the years. We added:

St Nick (on the 6th) - its just a nice excuse for a family meal and the kids get their xmas jumpers delivered by St. Nick.

Wrapped presents - we are from the North and 'Santa' delivered everything unwrapped and laid out on the sofa when we where kids. We have added in gifts from each other which are wrapped up under the tree and appear throughout December.

Stockings - as it wasn't much of a thing growing up, it was more tradition/decoration and usually an after thought. Often had nuts, maybe an orange, maybe chocolate coins and a selection box in (some old selection boxes even came shaped as stocking in lieu of having a 'stockings'). Its still not huge just a few little novelties in the stocking, usually done before bed on xmas day (in opposition to basically everyone else who seems to do it first thing).

Santa Sack - I think these are pretty modern trend, we have the B&M velvet ones. They only have in classic toys (football, yoyo, recorder etc...) and come from Santa.

Table games - we have added in playing a game after dinner as a family.

We also go to the pantomime in the run up to xmas and see the free Santa at the shopping center.

One thing I miss is when where where a kid 'Santa' would come round on his sleigh... it was a big light up parade type thing that drove the streets stopping to have kids come out and meet Santa and it use to stop right outside our house. There is nothing like that where I live now so I guess it was just a local person doing it.

Things we dont do: we trialed doing those fill your own type advent calendars, that one did not last and was hard work (I rarely use the term tat but honestly you will end up resorting to tat to fill it as nothing worthwhile fits and it all becomes 'samey' very quick) and our kids love the cheap £1 chocolate calendars anyway. I also have no urge to get an elf on a shelf either and not sure I even understand it.

How on earth is having clothing and books materialistic... do your kids sleep naked?

Xmas eve tradition actually came about due to the exact opposite of materialism, it was Xmas done during rationing or WW2.

One thing I miss is when where where a kid 'Santa' would come round on his sleigh... it was a big light up parade type thing that drove the streets stopping to have kids come out and meet Santa and it use to stop right outside our house. There is nothing like that where I live now so I guess it was just a local person doing it.

It's the Rotary Club around here. Maybe see if you have a local Rotary or Lions Club who do it and you could drive to meet them on their route?

I don't have children but myself and husband spend it the same most years
We have a nice meal Christmas eve I cook Christmas dinner and we chill in front of Christmas tv but this year we want to do something different so we're going away Christmas eve just checking out flights at the moment to decide where to go

Mine had sacks under the tree with their names on.Traditions evolved as they grew and now I'm not allowed to change anything. Personally I never did Christmas eve boxes/ elf on the shelf. Do what you and the dc enjoy, definitely find a good place to visit FC.

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I find keeping momentum going for the whole of December hard and when I did try once Xmas day was just another Xmas day.
So I started two weeks before including Dec's.
Xmas eve I always found really hard with two dc madly excited but ran out of ginger bread house and a film.
So I decided to go out to a show or activity on Xmas eve and that works best here.
Ginger bread house each year.
We used to go and buy a bauble.

Because they can get them on Xmas day? It's not hard to comprehend that adding more gifts/stuff for another day = increased materialistic purchasing for it!!

Christmas eve is a Christian Holiday, I think WW2 came a long time after ;)

We do the International Elf Service letters through December. Honestly, they’re brilliant. Started when our oldest was 3 with their activity letters and believe letter but they have something for all ages. Amazingly quality and so authentic.

@CinnamonTart would my 5 and almost 3yr old be a bit too young for this?

Because they can get them on Xmas day? It's not hard to comprehend that adding more gifts/stuff for another day = increased materialistic purchasing for it!!
Christmas eve is a Christian Holiday, I think WW2 came a long time after ;)

The Christmas threads are a nice place. Lets not decry other's traditions. If they are not for you, that's fine, but Christmas Eve boxes are a part of the tradition for lots of families.

I’ve got the Christmas chronicles but someone mentioned an advent baking book. Can anyone tell me what that it? Thanks.