Family Christmas Traditions

What is in a Christmas tradition? What is the story behind it? How did it come to be? Why is it something special within your family?

I’m so fascinated with Christmas traditions and the stories behind them. Growing up, keeping family traditions was very important to us kids. As an adult, I have found ways to make the holidays my own. And as a mom, I have loved making my own new traditions for my little family.

I love learning about other people’s family traditions, as well as sharing my own. These are some of my own family traditions and the stories behind them. I hope you enjoy learning all about what makes our Christmas special.

Christmas PJs

Growing up my mom always sewed flannel Christmas PJs for the whole family. We’d wear them to sleep on Christmas Eve and while we opened our presents Christmas morning. I have so many memories of her staying up late every night leading up to Christmas to get them done in time. They were always so cozy and I have continued to wear them for PJs into my adult years. Even when I lived across the country she’d mail me my PJs every year to wear. I love this tradition. Now that I have my own little family I knew I wanted to keep this special tradition alive. I learned to sew during my 1st pregnancy and I’m not a clothing expert but I love sewing. I only make pants, not a whole outfit, but I love keeping this special tradition going with my family.

Christmas Movie Marathons

Christmas movie marathons are a staple of Christmas. I do this every year, no matter where I am. From old classics like “White Christmas” and “Miracle on 34th Street” to new favorites like “Elf” and “I’ll be Home for Christmas” rewatching all my favorite Christmas movies is a must. I’m also a HUGE Hallmark fan so there are many Hallmark marathon days and nights during the holiday season. From Halloween until Christmas, it’s pretty much all Christmas movies for me.

Christmas Crafts

As a kid, I loved making themed crafts for every holiday. Christmas ones are some of the best! Paper snowflakes and painted pictures, there are so many fun Christmas themed crafts. I keep this alive with my kids too. This year we make handprint and footprint painted crafts of wreaths and mistletoe. Who doesn’t love a kid’s Christmas craft?

Decorating the Tree

Whether you get a real or fake tree, you always know it’s Christmas time when you decorate the tree! As a kid, we loved decorating as a family. Getting out all our special ornaments and hanging them up was so fun! This is something I’ve always loved doing even in my adult years. This year was the first year my kids could help decorate the tree and it was a blast doing it all together! It’s going to continue to be our tradition every year for sure.

Painting Ornaments

Now that I am a mom I wanted to start some new traditions with my little family. I came up with this one last year and love it! Every year we’re going to pick out a different ceramic ornament shape and have my kids paint them. I write on the back who painted what and their age. It’s a fun way to have handmade ornaments and a little keepsake for my kids when they get older. Last year was the first year we did it. My daughter was the only one old enough to do it but she picked out a snowman. This year she picked out candy canes to paint. I’m so excited to have them do it soon and hang them up just in time for Christmas day.

Acts of Kindness

My family was always generous at Christmas and as an adult, on my own, I found ways to give back as well. I want to really instill in my kids doing random acts of kindness too. So I work hard to lead by example why they’re still so young and have them participate in the acts as well the older they get.

Giving Manger

Along the same lines of Acts of Kindness is the Giving Manger. I only just heard of the Giving Manger this year but I am in love with it! It is a baby manger with a pack of straw and the concept behind it is that for every kind thing you do you put in 1 piece of straw so that at Christmas baby Jesus has a whole bed of hay. For our family, Christmas is all about Jesus’ birth and giving. To me, the biggest thing about this season is giving and not receiving. It is something I plan to work hard to instill in my kids as well. So starting next year, I plan to do the Giving Manger with them.

I hope you enjoyed learning about my Christmas traditions. I would love to hear all about your family Christmas traditions too! Share them in the comments below. Merry Christmas!