10 Christmas Traditions Our Family Actually Does Every Year
Christmas at our house is not about trying to squeeze in every holiday activity we can find. The things I love most are the traditions we have repeated year after year—the ones our kids expect, the ones the whole compound joins in on, and the little routines that make Christmas actually feel like Christmas to us.
Some of these are simple. Some turn into a whole-family event. A few have changed as the kids have gotten older and now only our youngest daughter still living at home. But these are the 10 Christmas traditions we keep coming back to every year.
1. We Decorate for Christmas on Black Friday Weekend
As soon as Thanksgiving is over, Christmas officially starts at our house. Black Friday and that weekend are when we pull everything out, decorate the house, put up the tree, and get the outside decorations going.
I love that it gives us a clear beginning to the Christmas season. We are not trying to rush through Thanksgiving, but once Friday gets here, it is fair game. The tree goes up, the lights come on, and the house starts looking like Christmas everywhere you turn.
2. We Have a Compound Christmas Baking Day
One of our favorite days of the season is when everybody gets together and the kitchen basically becomes Christmas chaos. We make cookies, buckeyes, and whatever else we decide needs to be covered in chocolate, icing, sprinkles, or powdered sugar that year.
It is messy, loud, and somebody is always eating something before it is finished. That is kind of the point. The food is good, but the part I care about most is everybody being together making it.
3. We Have a Family Christmas Craft Day
Baking gets its own day, and crafting gets one too. We get everybody around the table, pull out the paint, markers, glue, ornaments, and whatever Christmas craft sounded fun that year, and just make stuff together.
The crafts do not have to look perfect. Half the fun is seeing what everybody comes up with. Over the years those homemade things become part of the decorations too, which makes them even better.
4. We Go to Sara's Farm Adventure Every Christmas
This has become one of those outings that is not optional anymore. We love to go to Sara's Farm Adventure for the Christmas activities, all the lights, and the Santa pictures.
Their Santa pictures are some of my favorites, but we also just have a genuinely good time walking around, looking at everything lit up, and doing all the Christmas activities together. It gives us one big night out that feels completely different from being at home.
5. Two Nights Before Christmas, We Go Look at Christmas Lights
Two nights before Christmas, we load up and drive around town to see all the houses decorated for Christmas. We bring hot chocolate, turn on Christmas music, and just ride around looking at everybody's lights.
There is nothing complicated about it, which is probably why I love it so much. Nobody has to host anything, cook anything, or get dressed up. We just get in the car together and enjoy Christmas for a while.
6. Christmas Eve Means New Pajamas and The Santa Clause
On Christmas Eve, our kids have always been allowed to open one present early. That present is a new pair of pajamas. They put them on that night, sleep cozy in them, and usually stay in them all day on Christmas too.
Once everybody is settled in, we watch The Santa Clause together. At this point it is not Christmas Eve at our house without it. New pajamas, a Christmas movie, and nowhere else we need to be is exactly how I want Christmas Eve to feel.
7. Christmas Morning Starts With Cinnamon Rolls, Coffee, and Everybody at Our House
Christmas morning starts early. Cinnamon rolls go in the oven, the coffee gets going, and the family on our compound comes over to our house for breakfast, stockings, and presents.
While everybody is opening gifts, we usually have White Christmas playing or Christmas music on in the background. The house is full, everybody is talking over each other, wrapping paper is everywhere, and that is exactly what Christmas morning is supposed to look like to me.
8. We Keep Christmas Day Slow
After presents are opened, we do not rush off to fill the day with plans. We start opening boxes, putting things together, and doing whatever our daughter is most excited about from what she got. Since she is the only one still living at home, I really like having that time to just enjoy the morning with her.
The rest of the day stays pretty relaxed. Christmas does not need to be an all-day marathon to be special. Some of my favorite parts are when everybody finally sits down and there is absolutely nothing we are supposed to be doing.
9. We Have Christmas Dinner at Our Best Friends' House
Later in the day, everybody gets together again for our Christmas meal at our best friends' house, which is also right here on the compound. That makes the whole day easy. We can spend the morning at our house, walk or head over for dinner, then come back home afterward and settle in for the night.
I love that our Christmas meal is about being together without anybody having to spend the whole day running from house to house.
10. We Always Have a New Board or Card Game to Play
At some point during Christmas, there is usually a new board game or card game waiting for us. Once things calm down, everybody ends up around the table learning the rules, arguing about the rules, and laughing when somebody gets way too competitive.
It is such a simple tradition, but it gives everybody something to do together after the gifts are open and dinner is over. Those are usually the moments that end up being the funniest anyway.
The Traditions Are the Part I Want to Keep
Christmas looks a little different as your kids get older. The toys change, there are fewer people waking you up at the crack of dawn, and some years everybody's schedules take more work than they used to.
But these traditions give us something familiar to come back to. Decorating on Black Friday weekend, making a mess in the kitchen, our Christmas outings, pajamas on Christmas Eve, cinnamon rolls in the morning, and everybody ending up together again by the end of the day—that is Christmas to us.
They are not expensive or complicated traditions. Most of them are just excuses to slow down and be together, and those are the ones I hope we keep doing for a very long time.
A little help keeping family life organized
For everyday routines, home projects, cleaning lists, and family schedules, I also created a printable Family & Home Organization Bundle. See the Family & Home Organization Bundle
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