Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, do you know what your Christmas traditions are?
With relatively small children and extended family obligations that change every year, we are still trying to solidify our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day traditions. You too? Phew!
I’m not looking for meaning packed into every minute of these 48 hours, but it would be nice for my kids to expect certain things and develop a fondness for the holiday. I’m being very intentional this year to redo things that have worked in the past for us and keep traditions alive from my childhood and my husband’s childhood, all while keeping things as chill as possible. Impossible? I don’t think so.
Here is what we have planned for these next two very special days. It may not go exactly as planned and I’m prepared to PIVOT in a way that would make Ross Gellar proud. I hope you find some last-minute inspiration for Christmas traditions that you can adopt, but don’t put too much pressure to pack your days full of traditions. And if what you this year doesn’t work, you can try again next year.
Christmas Eve
1. Make and decorate cookies for Santa
If you read my Mom stressors post from 2 weeks ago, you know that cut-out cookies are a huge stressor for me. Despite this, we will make and decorate cut-out sugar cookies on Christmas Eve to leave for Santa as a token of our appreciation for him stopping by later that night.
One extra tip that I didn’t mention in the Mom stressors post: don’t leave too many cookies out for Santa. We left him a whole plate full last year, and he only took a few nibbles off one or two cookies. My son was very concerned that Santa didn’t like the cookies he made for him. This year we will leave two cookies out for him, one from each kid. Santa should be able to handle that much better.
2. Bake Jesus’ birthday cake
Jesus’ birthday cake is a holdover from my childhood, which was a holdover from my mom’s childhood. Christmas, as we know, is the celebration of Jesus’ birth. What’s a birthday celebration without cake?
My family always sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus and ate his birthday cake on Christmas Eve. My husband’s family gets together on Christmas Eve and does not have the birthday cake tradition, so we have shifted this Christmas tradition to take place on Christmas Day for our nuclear family. We still bake the cake on Christmas Eve, though. A new tradition born out of an old tradition!
3. Christmas Eve box
I started making a Christmas Eve box when my son was just a few weeks old on his first Christmas Eve. I put Christmas pajamas for each kid plus a new Christmas book in a box to be opened on Christmas Eve. The kids get to wear their special jammies that night and we have a new book to read.
I see the contents of the Christmas Eve box changing as the kids get older, and I’m totally up for that. As they get less excited about festive pajamas, maybe some hot chocolate and a holiday mug would be a good swap for the box. The options for what goes into the box are endless!
4. ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
I have very vivid memories of my dad reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas to my sister and me on Christmas Eve every year when we were young. We would sit in the living room by the Christmas tree and listen to the familiar poem, getting more excited for Santa’s imminent arrival with each page.
Now my husband has the honor of reading this classic on Christmas Eve. I hope my kids have the same fond memories of the poem when they’re pushing 40 that I do.
Christmas Day
1. Stockings
Most people do stockings, but it seems like everyone does them slightly differently. In our family, Santa fills the stockings and then sneaks upstairs to leave each family member’s stocking by his or her bedroom door. When you wake up in the morning, you don’t have far to go to get your first taste of presents. The kids have been too young before now, but I’d like to bring them into our bed this Christmas morning and have them open their stockings there.
Another random stocking thing in our family is that the small presents in the stockings are wrapped in tin foil. Rumor has it that Santa ran out of tape when my mom was little, so he used tin foil instead of wrapping paper. Santa was so impressed with this solution, it has continued for a few more generations.
2. Christmas breakfast
I don’t know about your kids, but my kids wake up starving. When they are up, they want something in their bellies immediately. This can be a little problematic on Christmas morning because they also want to open their presents immediately. Hmm… a conundrum.
My solution to this problem has been to prepare a make-ahead breakfast the night before that I can just pop in the oven on Christmas morning. I’ll usually pop it in right when we come downstairs so that it’s ready at about the same time we are finished opening presents. This year I’m making French toast casserole because my 4-year old requested it. What about the hunger pangs that might rear their heads while the kids are opening presents? Have something small ready to go that you don’t mind them eating by the Christmas tree. A breakfast bar, dry cereal, something like that will do just fine.
3. White Christmas
Without hesitation, I will always say that my favorite Christmas movie is White Christmas. I have such good memories watching it with my mom as a kid (and as an adult). Watching it feels like a hug from my mom. Especially in years when we will not see my family at Christmas, it’s nice to put White Christmas on during the day on Christmas day to feel a little bit closer to them. Feel free to substitute your favorite Christmas movie!
4. Ham
It’s really not Christmas without ham for me. Ham just screams holiday and I am here for it. Lately, I’ve been doing the easiest thing ever and popping a ham in the crockpot with a can of pineapple tidbits. Everyone loves it. Even my dad who doesn’t love fruit involved in anything. Seriously, if there is one thing you take from this list, make it be the crock pot ham to save yourself a lot of kitchen hassle on Christmas Day when you’d rather be playing with your kids. Unless you don’t eat pork. Then maybe go with Jesus’ birthday cake. Can you tell I like food?
I hope you find your Christmas traditions and you have a great few days with your families.
Merry Christmas!