1. Opening pajamas on Christmas Eve
Every year my Mom would buy everyone in the family funny pajamas to open on Christmas Eve. Recently she switched to onsies, which has made for some pretty iconic family photos. My husband and I have carried on this tradition together. We typically pick the funniest thing we can find (Chewbacca, Dinosaur suit, Eeyore etc.)
2. Baking goodies for people who deserve It
“We used to spend all day Christmas eve making cookies and then that night take them out the to men and women having to work the gates on base. I loved seeing their faces when they saw the plates full of goodies.” -Shelby
3. Cooking a special Christmas breakfast
Try finding a special meal to make Christmas morning. Our go to? Biscuits and gravy. You could also try pancakes, waffles, or cinnamon rolls. It adds to the fun to have something special that you don’t normally make at home.
4. One gag gift
This is a must for me! There is nothing like having a good laugh on Christmas morning. It has quickly become a competition of who can find the funniest gift. Gag gifts are also an inexpensive to way to bring a smile to your loved ones faces.
5. Have a Christmas movie countdown
Pick your 7 favorite Christmas movies and have a marathon the week before Christmas. Some of my favorites? Elf, Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful life, Charlie Brown Christmas, The Holiday, The Santa Claus, and The Grinch. If you are in the mood for a hilarious corny movie, make sure to check out A Christmas Prince on Netflix.
6. Go to a tree lighting
Cue the Christmas magic! We have already crossed this one off our holiday bucket list.
7. A Christmas program
My Grandma was a choir teacher for years, and she would never pass up the opportunity to put on a show. So every Christmas Eve my huge Mexican family would get together for the infamous Christmas program. We sang a HUGE packet of Christmas carols, we were encouraged to showcase a talent, we read the Christmas story, and opened presents. These programs lasted about 3 hours! My family is pretty theatrical, but there is something special about singing carols with my favorite people. This is my favorite holiday tradition.
8. Christmas Cards On The Tree
“My family always bought Christmas cards for each member of the family and propped them on the tree branches. When Christmas morning came, we would open our cards from our family and then gifts. They would write our names on a card for each of us.” -Abigail
9. Go for a walk to see Christmas lights
“We started this before when we were first dating, but we always take one night and go get Starbucks and walk through a Christmas light park. It’s such a fun time to just walk hand in hand through the magic of twinkle lights.” -Nikki
10. Guess which gifts are yours
“My Mom will get each kid a different wrapping paper and won’t label them. We don’t know whose is which wrapping paper, and then on Christmas morning we’ll put all the presents into groups and each kids will get to guess which paper is theirs. She’ll tell us if we were right or wrong, and we keep going until we find which pile is ours!” -Hailey
Which tradition do you want to add your list this year?
Let me know in the comments what you love to do with your family during the holidays!
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“Go for a walk to see Christmas lights” YES! That’s awesome. I am loving this post. 😀 I love everything Christmas omg ^.^
Love this so much. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Thank you! I love everything Christmas related too!:)
I love these suggestions Jubilee! We already have several of these traditions, but we may have to add a couple more.😊 One other tradition we have is that each Christmas Eve, we sit by the Christmas tree, drink hot apple cider, and read the Christmas story from the Bible. My Mom started this tradition was a little girl, and I’ve carried on the tradition with my family ever since.
What a great tradition! My family also reads the Christmas story every year. They always say, “Jesus is the reason for the season”.That is so important to remember:)
We do a few of these every year. I love Christmas traditions. I’d love to add some of these this year. These are wonderful ideas.
Thank you! So happy you enjoyed them:)
I have done many of these but my new tradition this Christmas will be to make a Christmas breakfast. My kids normally feast on candy from their stockings, but they are getting older and I really want them to come home someday for a good meal. This is my year!
Love that! I definitely spend many eating candy in the morning as well haha. But my husband have loved cooking together in the mornings the last few years:)
Some great ideas. We always opened pjs on Christmas Eve and now my kids elf brings them to them. I think I’ll be doing a movie countdown this year too!
What a beautiful read. Reminded me of the true meaning of the season and traditions we have somehow abandoned. Thanks for the nudge in the right direction.
I love these! We do a few of these too. I really love Christmas baking and watching all of the Christmas movies. We just have a small tree so we like to string our cards up along the window.
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Fun ideas. I’ve always wanted to be apart of one of those families with the cute matching pjs on Christmas too. ha. The last idea seems like an added bonus game to Christmas, very unique. My mom always wrapped each persons gifts in different wrapping paper but we always picked it out prior. The whole who’s is who game we get to play sometimes though when a gift gets wrapped in the wrong paper hahah classic.
this is soo good!
Christmas is an exciting and cozy family moment, and even better when we hve traditions. They are great for me as we are now parents and is a great time to spend with our children 🙂
I love these traditions. I’m Hindu but I love Christmas too. Christmas carols make me feel all gooey inside to this day.My birthday is on the 24th of December. So often the celebration started a day earlier with my birthday. My family Christmas tradition is to bake a fruit cake and a traditional Christmas pudding to have a dessert with custard on Christmas day.
You have written this so beautifully 🙂 I’m Hindu but I have many Christian friends. Love everything about Christmas: decorations, cookies, cakes, gifts 😉
Those are all such fun traditions we do a Christmas wrapping party with the ladies in my neighborhood it is lot of wine and the presents you don’t want the kiddos to see.LOL
These sound so fun! I like the Christmas treats and unlabeled gift ideas. And the pajama one!
I totally love these such simple ways to make new memories. I already bake and take my daughter to see the lights in the city. Will take up some of your other suggestions as well .
These are some really great ideas. Its amazing that I came across this post as I was just thinking about new holiday traditions that I can start with my family. We already open one gift on Christmas Eve. I think I’ll add the Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve and the Christmas movies.
i’m trying to do the pajamas this year! i love that you guys go with funny ones. oh and candy cane lane….i think i’ve finally found one to check out this year 🎄
All of these traditions are precious! I’m such a sucker for all things holidays. One of mines is watching all the harry potter movies.
These are all so wonderful! I especially love #2 🙂
This post made me want to start so many traditions! My husband and I don’t have any at the moment, but I really love the idea of a Christmas breakfast and taking a walk to see the lights. What a lovely list!
Every year, I take my kids to a Christmas Tree Lighting where they also make arts and crafts, listen to Christmas carols, drink hot chocolate, decorate cookies, and write a letter to Santa 🙂
Sweet list to do, Jubilee! Well, I love things to do with presents lol !