The experiences we have with family is what our kids will remember, not the money we spent! Check out these awesome traditions below from some of my dear friends (and me)! Take one and adopt for your family!
Saralyn Lash My parents started this when we were kids: to/from gift tags are all nicknames and inside jokes. Reading the tags makes us all laugh
Wendy Viduka Mang We started a new one last year. I bought a gingerbread house kit for each person and we had a set amount of time to complete it. I took pics and posted on FB for everyone to vote. The winner for a gas card. This year we are doing teams instead of individual. Another tradition that my mom and grandma did for me that I have carried on, is I get an ornament each year for the boys, sometimes a couple of them if we were traveling. This way when they moved out and had their own homes they would start with a nice heartfelt collection.
Kelly Rainwaters Our family had one tradition that I miss … My Dad always bought my Mom a box of chocolates. It was always the last gift opened. Years that the weather was bad, it still appeared. Even years that my Dad was sick, the box of chocolate still managed to show up, wrapped and under the tree – he would call my sister and have her get the chocolates for him. My Dad died in October 1989, and that Christmas was a sad one. But, magically, after all the gifts were opened, another gift, my Mom’s chocolates were under the tree. My nephew, who was 11 at the time, decided that he would carry on the tradition of buying my Mom chocolate. This continued for many years, even after my Mom remarried. Every Christmas, the last gift opened was Grandmother’s chocolates. My Mom passed away in April 2008. My nephew, now a pastor, spoke at the funeral. He made us all cry a little bit more when he gave my Mom a final box of chocolates.
Krista Patton Reading the Christmas story of Jesus birth. Also singing Christmas carols.
Lorri Fischer Malone My mother was the queen of staging Santa gifts so that when I got up Christmas morning, it was pure magic: new baby dolls and stuffed animals arranged around my old play table that had been set with a new tea set, for example. I made a point of staging my son’s gifts as well, so he too could feel that Christmas morning magic.
Amy Jo Greer Varble New (matching) Christmas pjs – Also, all my God children get them from me
Carol Adams Going to Aunt Carolyns and Dan after they did the Christmas story and sang Carols they had tons of food and Candy. I always looked so forward to that.
Chris Oslonian When Mindy and I got together we all went out and all picked out our own ornaments and dated them for the tree.
Teresa Jessup Instead of a traditional Christmas meal, each year a different family member gets to pick what we’ll have to eat. We’ve had chicken & dumplings, steak, spaghetti, breakfast food, hamburgers, wings, etc. Its always fun when it’s your year.
Rhonda Garrett Wood Something we’ve done for many years, we always read the Christmas story before opening up gifts. My Daddy used to do this every year, but now all the grandkids take turns reading it. Last year we even got the dvd from where my mom had recorded the last Christmas we had with Daddy, and let us hear him read it again.
Baahnah Hendley Me and my mom have a “tradition box”. We have passed the same box back and forth to each other for over 20 years. It always contains a special gift in it, Often homemade or heirloom.
TaJuana-James Garvin Counting Christmas lights, drivers side versus passenger side. Now that the kids are grown, my husband and I still play it. We also have a tradition of going to a certain place every year, for 23 years now, to see Christmas lights. Great memories.
Terrie Lawson – When our family comes together on Christmas day we play games after opening gifts. At first it was meant for the grown ups but the kids enjoyed them so much we now do it for them! It adds a little extra excitement after gifts are opened. I think they like it more than the gift opening! Then all the small nieces and nephews spend the night at Aunt Terrie’s house and we play games, make slime, watch movies and eat goodies! They love it and look forward to it every year!