Christmas is such a fun time of year, especially when you have children. We like to try and make it as special as possible, since our time with our girls home is fleeting. And what better way to do that than with some family traditions? We do these traditions each year, and whilst I sometimes wish I hadn't started them (I'm looking at you elf), I love them so much.
Elf on the Shelf
When Elf of the Shelf gained popularity I swore we'd never be a family that had one. Well that didn't last long, as I got suckered into the magic pretty quickly. It's so lovely to see the girls’ excitement each morning as they run downstairs to see what the elves have gotten up to. I have zero regrets on starting this tradition. I will say though, that our elves (yes we have two - I jumped in hard) only get up to pretty simple stuff. Such as raiding chocolate bins, hanging on the tree, drawing on bananas etc. It only has to be as complicated as you make it.
Christmas Eve Box
One of my favorite traditions is our Christmas Eve Box. Each year I fill it with: matching PJ’s, chocolate, homemade hot chocolate cones, a family board game, and a book. We open it together in the morning and enjoy the contents throughout the day.
Christmas Eve Board Games
Every year on Christmas Eve we play some board games together as a family, we start with the one from our Christmas Eve box, but as our girls still have short attention spans we usually end up going through a few different ones. My husband and I like board games, so this is a really fun way that we get to involve the girls in our hobby.
Leave a Mince Pie and Bailey's out for SantaI learnt upon moving to America, that leaving alcoholic beverages out for Santa is a Enlgish thing. Our friends here in America all leave out milk and cookies, but we've decided to stick with our English tradition, I think it's nice to keep some things to remind us of back home. We also leave some carrots out for the reindeer!
Open Stockings First Thing on Christmas Morning
In our house Santa does the stockings, and we do the other gifts. The girls leave their stockings at the end of their beds on Christmas Eve and then they open them in our bed on Christmas morning. I love seeing the excitement on their faces as they run through in the morning with stockings that are now stuffed. It's total choas trying to squeeze them all into our bed, but it brings me so much joy. Having the girls open their stockings first thing also buys me some time to make my coffee before we move on to other gifts.
Watch a Movie Together on Christmas
After Christmas lunch we snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie together. Sometimes it's a Christmas themed movie, other times it's not. Usually at least one of us will fall asleep, haha, and one if not all of the girls are bored before the end, but it's fun nonetheless.
I hope you can find some inspiration from our Christmas traditions, and even if not, I hope you enjoyed reading them. Drop your favorite Christmas/holiday traditions below!
Lizzie