8 Simple Kid-Friendly Christmas Traditions

December is one of the busiest months for me, and not for the obvious reason. In our household we have two birthday’s to celebrate, one anniversary to commemorate, and a Christmas celebration to host. Our month gets filled up quickly when you add in the gift shopping, Christmas card writing, Holiday party hopping, and what not. Even with the full social calendar we make time for our Holiday traditions. These are 8 simple kid-friendly Christmas traditions worth trying.

Homemade Advent Calendar – We use a wooden Advent Calendar which is basically a box with 24 drawers. Each year I write out 24 thoughts, questions, or treasure hunt clues related to the true meaning of Christmas for our children. As they get a little older I gear these little notes to the meaning of Christmas. I find this daily exercise so valuable in teaching our children about the true meaning of Christmas and how important it is to have a giving mindset.
Allowance Donations– If you have read my Save, Spend, Share blog you will know that we give our children allowance which they divvy up into three containers. Near the end of the year we start discussing with our children where they want to donate their Give money. Then we make a point to have them deliver this gift. Either via handing it to a donation coordinator, putting it a collection basket or church, or participating in mailing the money. This has really made our children proud of supporting others.
Community Helpers – A couple years ago we were fortunate to have a new Ronald Mc Donald house be build in our community. The children were not sure what that mean until they had the opportunity to tour the facility. Since there exposure my eldest son and husband have visited twice to bake cookies for the families residing there. In almost every community you will find a place or event to help connect with volunteer service around the holidays. One New Years Eve when my husband and I were newlyweds, we volunteered at a local Church funded senior citizen home in order to allow the staff a night off. There are so many options out there – pick one.
Christmas Tree Time – Its not always perfect, but I do try to assembly our old gargantuan fake tree with the help of my family. Last year we did it in record timing and had the lights and ornaments up in roughly an hour. Only a few branch limbs were sacrificed. Yes, we have a ancient tree, did I mention its also immense? After the tree is up we have a simple picnic under the Christmas tree sometime between then and December 25th. Often the feast is homemade pizza in our pajamas.
Christmas Pie – This tradition can probably be traced back to my grandparents, if not farther. As a little girl my mom would shop for inexpensive small gifts for each guest on Christmas. They could be wind up toys, cassette tapes (yes, I am that old) or other silly games. She’d wrap each on up and tie around it a piece of curling ribbon with about a 3 foot talk of ribbon hanging off of each. At the end of the ribbon she would tape on a small piece of paper with a name of the recipient. Then she would stack the gifts in a big basket, set it in the middle of her formally set dining room table and spread out the long ribbons all over the table. Guest would be ask circle around the large oval table and find there name. Then you grab hold tight to your ribbon and on the count of three you pull your ribbon and find out beautifully wrapped gift. It was silly, and funny as the ribbon’s tangled up with others. Some year the “pie” as we called it was decorated elaborately with fake snow and Christmas scenes. Other years it was just a gorgeous basket and simple trailing ribbons. As it is, this tradition has continued.
Cookie Gifting – Even though this takes a little more time, its always such fun time for my children. While I am on winter break we spend a day making my favorite Sugar Cookie Dough and then baking and decorating our creations. Once we have sampled a few of the fruits of our labor we pack them up and deliver them to family, friends, and neighbors. My kids love scurrying around dropping of the bundles of cookies and making sure to let the recipients know they made them.
Christmas Eve Dinner: Sushi – Maybe raw fish is not your families thing, I get it. But if you don’t already have a Christmas Eve dinner tradition, consider starting one. Sushi may seem like an odd choice until you hear how the reason we started getting it was because it was the only restaurant/carry out available on Christmas Eve when we lived in Chicago. Maki rolls before candlelight mass, anyone?
Luminarias– We used to call these luminaries when I was growing up, but in our new community its called Luminarias. Each Christmas Eve we will up multiple small brown paper backs with a little sand and luminaria candles and light them to glow through the night. To some, Luminarias symbolizes the welcoming of Christ and to others they are a form of Christmas lights. Early belief is that the lights would guide the spirit of the Christ child to people’s homes. Even thought our kids are not old enough to be lighting the candles, they enjoy dumping in the sand and setting up the bags around our side walks. Its a breathtaking sight when our whole neighborhood is lit up with these.