Welcome to Christmas in our home! Most families have favorite Christmas traditions, and ours is no exception. In fact, we kind of go overboard just a little bit. From drawing names early in the fall to opening gifts and celebrating Jesus’ birth, we enjoy the warm cozy feelings brought about by familiar traditions from the past. Read on as I share some of our favorites. You can also check out my free “30 Christmas Traditions“ printable to get even more ideas. Maybe you’ll find one or two to add to your own list of traditions.
CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: PREPARATION
Drawing Names
The very first thing my children do for Christmas takes place at least three months in advance. It involves gift-giving. Could you imagine how long we would be opening gifts if each of my children gave a gift to each sibling? Do the math: 12 children x 11 gifts each = 132 gifts! It would take FOREVER! To remedy this, they simply draw names. This cuts down on the number of gifts being opened and helps those who are on a tighter budget. Our married children can choose to participate individually or as a couple.
The rules are simple: there’s a designated price range, and the gifts are to be labeled with the giver’s name only. Who has who is supposed to be top secret until Christmas. Of course, there are those who can’t keep a secret. Inevitably, they will tell a few select siblings who their “person” is. This results in a game of guessing who everyone else has, using the process of elimination.
Siblings’ Shopping Trip
When our children started getting older and were able to go shopping on their own, they established their own Christmas tradition – the Sibling’s Shopping Trip. They would go out to eat and then go shopping. To qualify for this trip, you had to be at least sixteen years old. The younger children would count the years until they could participate. Of course, not all Christmas traditions remain the same. As older children have gotten married and fewer children remain home, the age limit has been removed. The Sibling’s Shopping Trip is now for any sibling still living at home.
Decorating and Christmas Goodies
Although our family tends to play Christmas songs year-round, our Christmas season doesn’t officially begin until the weekend after Thanksgiving. This is the time set aside for selecting a Christmas tree. When possible, we visit a Christmas tree farm, walk around looking for the perfect tree, then take turns with the saw to cut it down. This was always a favorite family outing when my children were younger. Sometimes, we still get to do this, but there are years when only a few of us get to go pick out a tree. Regardless of who gets the tree, once it arrives, it’s time to decorate!
Decorating for Christmas at our house is a three-fold event. First, we decorate the tree. Once the tree is set up with lights, each person chooses their favorite ornament and gets their picture taken while placing it on the tree. After the favorites are hung, everyone works together to get the tree fully decked. Our tree isn’t fancy, but it’s filled with memories of Christmases past.
Next, we set up the nativity set. Although we enjoy our tree, we love having a reminder of why we celebrate Christmas in the first place. When all the children were home, they each had a piece of the nativity set that they would put in place. There were twelve figurines in the set, so each child had one. Because we always had little ones around, we would put it on top of the armoire that held our television. This year, however, we’ll be able to place it down a little lower so that it’s more visible.
Finally, we celebrate by baking sugar cookies and gingerbread. The girls mix up the cookie dough the day before and put in the fridge to chill. After rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes, and baking the cookies, it’s time to get creative. We love using colorful icing with lots of sprinkles. We serve these sweet treats with lots of homemade hot chocolate and eggnog. These treats are our tastiest Christmas tradition.
CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: CHRISTMAS DAY
Reading the Christmas Story
When I was a child, Christmas was all about Christmas trees, receiving gifts, and spending time with family. I was familiar with the Christmas Story only because I heard Linus recite it in A Charlie Brown Christmas every year. However, I didn’t experience this as part of my own Christmas celebration until I was married. My mother-in-law read the account of Jesus’ birth from Luke, chapter two, every year when her children and their families, gathered on Christmas Eve. My husband brought that tradition into our home, and it continues to this day. However, he’s added a little more to it. Rather than stopping at the babe in a manger, he explains why Jesus was born, and then leads the family in prayer. What a beautiful story, from beginning to end.
Opening Gifts
This is the children’s favorite part of Christmas. This year, there will be twenty of us opening gifts. You may wonder how we do it with so many. Read on, and you’ll find out!
Sibling Gifts and Gift Bags
As mentioned earlier, sibling gifts only have the name of the giver on the tag. When it comes time for siblings to exchange gifts, the giver personally hands their gift to the recipient. It’s fun to watch as, one by one, they find out who has had their name all along.
The Christmas tradition of “bag gifts” arose out of necessity. Even though siblings only had to give a gift to one other sibling, many of them wanted to get at least a little something for everyone else. Since we open all our gifts one at a time, this resulted in a very long gift-giving session. For that reason, we decided to place a gift bag under to tree for each person. No one is required to buy bag gifts, but anyone who would like to do so, can. We don’t wrap bag gifts. We just place them in the appropriate bag, and when it’s time, we hand out all the bags at once. Bag gifts can be anything: candy, microwave popcorn, books, jewelry, gift cards, toys, and more. Some of the family shop for bag gifts all year, snatching up clearance items as they come across them.
The Christmas Code
When my children were little, I was constantly having to tell them to leave the presents alone. They would find theirs, pick them up, shake them, and try to figure out what was in them. Because some of the presents were easy to figure out, they would often know, before Christmas, what they were getting. I finally came up with a solution – The Christmas Code.
Every year I come up with a different code for writing names on gifts. It can be based on their name, their age, their birthday, my age when I had them, and more. One year, I wrote names on the gifts, but the gift actually belonged to the sibling two places down the line. Another year, their “name” was my age at their birth plus the number of letters in their first name. The codes are sometimes simple and sometimes more difficult. I usually try to give them the list of coded names a few weeks before Christmas. If needed, I’ll give them hints along the way.
Whoever cracks the code, gets to open the “Code Gift.” This gift is something the whole family will enjoy: a movie, a game, a puzzle, etc. Even though they’re older now, several of my children still ask for the code every year. At last count, I’ve come up with at least twenty-five different codes!
Singing Christmas Hymns
This was recorded eleven years ago! These little ones are now 16, 19, and 22. They grow up so fast!
Next to reading the Christmas story, singing hymns is my favorite Christmas tradition. My children grew up playing instruments and singing. I guess hearing them sing around the house is one of the things I miss most. After we have finished with everything else, we start to sing. Everyone chooses a favorite Christmas hymn, and we sing one verse. If two people choose the same hymn, we sing two verses. I love hearing the harmonies and reflecting on the message of each song. It is truly a time of worship as we bring our focus back to the “reason for the season,” Jesus Christ.
CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: BRING IN THE NEW
A few years ago, the children decided to have a singing contest between the gals and the guys. The challenge was to see which group could do the best job at singing the spiritual, Go Tell It On the Mountain. They had a blast doing it and it was fun to watch. We unanimously decided to add this to our already lengthy list of Christmas traditions.
Christmas worship services, caroling, delivering fruit baskets to the elderly, visiting extended family, annual Christmas parties, stringing popcorn, taking a tour of Christmas lights, Christmas concerts, Christmas parades, and more have all been part of our family’s traditions through the years. It’s a busy time and a happy time. The list of traditions seems to grow with each passing year.
But really, can you have too many?
What Christmas traditions does your family have? I’d love to hear about them. Please feel free to post one or all in the comments below. Who knows, maybe we’ll decide to add your tradition to our growing list.
If you’d like to add some new traditions this year, just click the button below to receive the 30 Christmas Traditions Printable!
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