5 Family Christmas Traditions You Can Start With Your Kids Now
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Christmas is such an amazing time of the year. I think we can all look back on past Christmases and remember good times. In my family, traditions are very important. Just ask my third born. We have to have pizza on Friday nights, no exceptions. In the summertime we eat burgers on Sundays and we eat chili on Sundays in the wintertime. Christmas activities for families are also that important to us. In this post, I’ll tell you about 5 family Christmas traditions you can start with your kids now and continue for Christmases to come!
Meaningful Christmas Traditions
It’s important for us to have meaningful Christmas traditions, and we have two that are really special to us.
The first meaningful Christmas tradition we celebrate is the Shepherd on the Search. This is basically our version of the Elf on the Shelf, but instead of the emphasis being on behavior for Santa Claus, our Shepherd is searching around the house for the baby Jesus, the reason we celebrate Christmas. Every Christmas morning he always makes it to the nativity scene to admire our newborn King. This is a really sweet Christmas tradition that I highly recommend for Christian families.
The second meaningful Christmas tradition for us is A Gentle Advent. We love celebrating Advent, reading the readings every Sunday, and lighting the candles. If you can participate in Advent at your home, I highly recommend doing it! We have come to really look forward to lighting our Advent candles. I keep our Advent wreath as the centerpiece to our table. It’s so beautiful!
Memorable Christmas Traditions
Of course, memorable Christmas traditions are just as important to us, as meaningful ones. One of our most memorable Christmas traditions is the 12 days of Christmas. Every year my grandmother puts together a package with 12 different presents for us to open in the 12 days leading up to Christmas. The sayings are often funny and cute, and the kids love the little treats she puts in each package.
Another memorable Christmas tradition in our family is the Christmas Eve gift bag. I love putting together a gift bag for our kids and filling it with games, hot chocolate packets, a movie, and sometimes new pajamas. It’s always a big hit!
Funny Family Christmas Traditions
The main funny family Christmas tradition in our family is the Christmas Eve party. Our extended family would always gather on Christmas Eve to play silly games, eat good food, and just have fun together. In recent years those gatherings haven’t happened as much as the grandchildren have grown up and moved away with their families, but it’s still possible to throw a funny Christmas Eve party with just immediate family, too!
Last year we had our first Christmas Eve at home with just our immediate family and ordered Chinese food! I decided it was too much to cook both a big Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas dinner, so getting take out Chinese food and opening our Christmas Eve box was just perfect for us.
What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions?
So excited for the giveaway! I know it could not have come at a better time for our family as I’m sure for others families as well. Thank you for all the fun family Christmas ideas as well as the giveaway. I hope it blesses those who need it most.
Thank you for all the Christmas tradition ideas.
What a nice giveaway. Love Christmas traditions.
It’s wonderful to have a bit extra money after bills. Perhaps going to dinner with the family which is a very rare thing, or getting some craft items or doing some special activities with my children and husband.
Thanks so much!
I always love your blog! Thank you for sharing your traditions!
This is an awesome giveaway and a great way to find new blogs, pages and channels! 🙂
This giveaway could be a huge blessing for my family of 9! Merry Christmas!
Not sure if my previous comments went through because I got an error when I pressed send.
This would mean so much to my family if we received any amount of money – especially right now before Christmas. Things have been tough for us the past year but the Lord has been faithful every step of the way to show us he is here and has not abandoned us.
The traditions we do are watching the story of the birth of Jesus Christ a d decorating the tree while listen to Christmas music.
If I was lucky enough to win this AWESOME prize this would help to make my 3 sons Christmas since I’m out of work and my husband had a knee replacement and he is out of work too. Thanks for the chance to win this fingers crossed in hopes of winning thanks for the chance!
Traditions are key for a happy memorable childhood! I can remember a few we had growing up and they were always fun and joyous! Now that I have my own little family I want to be sure to start traditions with them in hopes that they can always remember having a fun childhood. Thanks for the tips!
Fun ideas!
Loved reading about traditions. It’s such a blessing to pass these legacies on to our children.
Winning would bless our family as we travel to be with extended family, have a child going to college, and frequently move with the military.
Thank you for sharing some of your family traditions. These are all great ideas! My favorite is the Christmas Eve gift bag. What a fun tradition!
What a blessing that would be! We have many family traditions! We also have 9 kids ranging in ages 1-21 so we have been loving celebrating with them for many years!
We have 9 kids, so if we won that would be an amazing help for us this Christmas. We would also share as we like to make and give to others!
Winning this giveaway would be such a blessing to our family! We would probably put the money toward paying for our bigger family vehicle that we have to get before baby comes next month.
What a wonderful giveaway and yes this giveaway will be a blessing for someone. Christmas is such a wonderful holiday, the joy of giving, the smell of home cooking. turkey, pumpkin pie, family gatherings, and celebrating the many blessing in our lives.
If by chance I should win I will use it towards Christmas presents for my family. Thank you!
That Shepherd on the Search is so much nicer than that elf! I never liked the idea of it. Definitely sharing about the shepherd.
What an awesome giveaway!
Yay! So excited!!
Such wonderful CHRIST centered ideas. Warms my heart
This would be an awesome giveaway to win. I hope it goes to someone who truly deserves it.
As our children get older the price of their gifts becomes higher. $500 would be a big help in filling their wish lists this year.
Each year I think about Shepherd on the Search, and each year I forget to actually purchase… Thanks for the reminder and the push!
Thank you for sharing these fun traditions!
This is amazing. Thank you!
I love your ideas for A simple Christmas. We have a few traditions we do as a family but I just may try the 12 days of Christmas this year!
I have been wanting to create our own Christmas Tradition, and recently, my 5-year-old expressed a specific desire for this. The ideas here are sparking some ideas! Thanks! How timely!
thank you for such a blessing just before christmas !!!!!
Wow this is a great give away. I am blown away by the generosity of all those who contributed. I appreciate the tips and great advice for homeschooling. Looking forward to reading more.
This is such a sweet thing to do. We do something similar to your Christmas Eve Gift bag. We do a box and try to put in a Christmas book to read with our babies and a movie. As they get older we will add popcorn and hot cocoa but they are only 2 and 1 so can’t quite enjoy those yet! I love your other traditions and cant wait until my babies are older and we will start the Shepherd on the Search (maybe next year!) 🙂
This would really come in handy for Christmas.
I could use this to help my Mother out with her bills.
Even though my kids are 15 and 12 they still value Christmas traditions. Even when I think that they aren’t going to want to do some of them because they are “too cool” they surprise me and want to participate. I am so thankful that they traditions will someday be passed on to my grnadkids 🙂
I love this list. We already do some of them but I’ve learned a few new ones I want to try this year!