I collect holiday traditions in the same way people collect recipes or decorating ideas. I read them in magazines, hear about them from friends, and search for them online. I store them away, hoping to find the perfect one for my family. It’s not like my family didn’t have traditions growing up. My parents locked the room where Santa left our presents, opening it only after everyone had eaten breakfast. This was hard on me, being the early-riser in a house full of teenage boys, but we were always able to open our presents together. Now, our living room can’t be locked, so that tradition has been retired. My husband’s family always went to church on Christmas Eve at 10 p.m. After the service, they enjoyed a holiday feast at a friend’s house or at the kitchen table once the grandchildren arrived. While this is a lovely and cherished tradition, my children are not able to stay up that late and still be tolerable the next day. Thus, my search continued.
Holiday Jammies
Many families I talked to enjoy the holiday pajama tradition, though everyone seemed to have a different way of going about it. I, myself, am always too excited about Christmas jammies to wait, so my kids get them as soon as I buy them and only wear them once or twice before Christmas Eve when they get their official debut. As a kid, my grandmother made matching jammies for my brothers and me. Not as crafty as she, I try to buy coordinating ones, if I can. One friend I talked to always washes and wraps the Christmas pajamas and lets the children open them on Christmas Eve. Apparently, the reindeer travel around the world on Christmas Eve to scout out the locations of stockings and leave the pajamas behind. I never knew this before, but if I can possibly hold off on giving the kids their jammies, I am doing this…next year.
Advent Traditions
While the Advent calendar is a tradition many people share, how it is done varies just like snowflakes. I have seen beautiful calendars with a box for each day, filled with treats bought by the parents to enjoy throughout the month. I have seen paper chains where one link is removed each day and candy calendars where one candy is eaten each day. We have a tree that is decorated, one ornament at a time, until the whole tree is filled. Last year, I tucked a couple treats behind some of the ornaments so my daughter would find them on those days. She has talked about it ever since, so, I guess that is one tradition that will have to continue.
During the season leading up to Christmas, in addition to the opening of a flap, placing an ornament on a tree, and tearing off a paper link, many have adopted the Elf on a Shelf tradition. As far as I can tell, an elf sits somewhere in your house watching the kids for Santa. He is moved every morning to a new location, thus building the excitement for the kids. My daughter has decided Santa watches her through the Santa snow globe we have, so we have no elf on a shelf. Instead, we spend the month reading every holiday book we can find, baking treats to give away, driving around to look at the lights, and watching as many holiday specials as we can manage.
Decorating the Christmas tree is a special tradition that some begin as soon as the Thanksgiving turkey is put away while others wait until Christmas Eve. Whenever you decorate your tree, you can stir in some traditions of your own. We gather ornaments from vacations and special events to put on the tree to help us remember those times. This began when the minister presented us with an ornament during our wedding ceremony, telling us that we would put this on our tree every year and remember how much we loved each other that day and how much we have gone through together. Our vacation ornaments bring back so many memories, good and bad. It's always fun to go through them, retelling stories to the children and smiling about times past. Each of my children receives an ornament or two each year, often something to symbolize an accomplishment, something they enjoy or something they've done that year. I keep a record of which ornament belongs to which child and will give each each child their box when they move out so they never have an empty tree. My mother did this for me and included the ornaments I had made as a child. Thus, my ornament stories include the time I misspelled my own name on the ornament. Apparently, at one year old, I hadn't mastered spelling...either that or my nursery school teacher wasn’t paying much attention when she “helped” me.
Twelve Days of Christmas Giving
This tradition is a very special one that can be done every year or as you see a need. When someone you know has had a rough year and might need a pick me up, this is a great way to help. Or, you can choose to pick a different person every year to surprise. In Secret Santa tradition, you deliver a gift every day for twelve days. On the first day, you deliver 12 of something. On the second day, you deliver 11 of something, and so on. When my mom did this for a friend who had lost her mother that year, she snuck a packet of 12 fun holiday napkins one day, a six pack of soda another day, and a set of three gardening tools on yet another day. I am not sure if her friend ever knew who was blessing her. Although, if she reads this, she will figure it out soon enough! You can team up with other friends to make this more fun and to share the joy of giving. I just love this tradition and look forward to being able to do it for someone special.
Christmas Eve Traditions
If you plan to cook a big dinner on Christmas Day, you may not want to do another big meal on Christmas Eve. One family I know always hosts a no-fuss Christmas Eve dinner filled with appetizers and snacks. Another orders Chinese takeout. This would probably be my family’s favorite since we are the oddballs who always order Chinese food for Thanksgiving dinner! If December overwhelms you with sweets and promises a Christmas dinner filled with more indulgences, go light on lunch that day. Put out a tray of veggies, fruits, cheese, and crackers. I make sure there is something everyone likes and I prep it ahead of time so all I have to do is pull it out of the fridge.
Leaving cookies for Santa is a common tradition, but how many of you leave a plate of carrots and celery or reindeer food out on the lawn for those hungry reindeer waiting outside for Santa? One friend told me that her son was adamant about leaving out a diet soda for Santa since Santa might get tired of all those cookies. I hope he still does that every year! Christmas Eve is the time to leave a key for Santa, especially for those who have no chimney. Children sometimes wonder how Santa will get into the house to leave the presents. The Santa key is the answer! Our key came with a little poem explaining how you hang it on your doorknob so Santa can come in. Now that we have a chimney, we still leave it. When we have gone away for the holidays, I have told my children that the key allows Santa to get to us, wherever we are. Even if we stay home, we can’t bear to part with the tradition of leaving the key out and leave it just in case he can’t fit through the chimney.
Christmas Morning
Years before I had kids and the only tradition I knew was to lock the room with the presents, I came across an idea in a magazine while waiting for a doctor’s appointment. A family who wrapped presents on Christmas Eve ended up with some extra paper, so they wrapped paper across the doorframe to the room where the presents were kept. The children came down in the morning and were convinced that they were so good that year that Santa wrapped the entire room. They waited to burst through the paper together and began a new tradition. I loved this story and couldn’t wait to try it out on my kids. Alas, we have never had a house where this was feasible, so, on birthdays, I occasionally decorate the kids’ doorways while they are sleeping.
Have you ever heard of the Christmas pickle? You can usually purchase the pickle in ornament stores with directions. Santa hides the pickle, and whoever finds it on Christmas morning gets a special treat. The first adult to find it gets good luck for the year. I adapted this when I received 3 snowman ornaments that opened up to reveal a hole inside perfect to fill with a rolled up dollar bill. Each child receives one and has to search for it in the morning to find their money.
When I was little, as my brothers got older and slept later and later, my parents appeased me by allowing me in the present room and letting me open my stocking. Our stockings were made by my grandmother and were covered in little decorations that she felt reflected important things about us or our family. As the first girl, mine had a doll and a barn to represent the farmhouse my mother grew up in. When my brothers and I married and had children, my mother and I continued the tradition, making special stockings for the new spouses and grandchildren. Our stockings won’t make the cover of a decorating magazine, but they are special nonetheless. In my family, stockings were always opened first on Christmas morning. I have continued this tradition with my children. I know of others who save the stockings for last. One year, my father-in-law watched as the kids pulled their stockings out of their suitcases and put them up in his house. He quipped that he wished for a huge stocking filled with goodies to make everyone jealous. Pop-pop’s giant stocking filled with potato chips, chocolate covered cherries, and peanuts was born and was the hit of last Christmas. I am sure the giant stocking will come out every year from now on, providing Pop-pop with a story to tell the grandkids year after year.
So, whether your traditions are passed on to you from generations past, read in this article and adopted, or born on their own, I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!
Ellen Deebel has a BS in Early Childhood Education from Bucknell University and over 15 years of experience in the field, both as a teacher and administrator. She focuses her time now as a mom to her two young children, alternately packing lunches and chauferring them to various activities.
Reindeer poop
Last year I used some tootsie rolls to create some reindeer poop. On Christmas Eve we put out some food for the reindeer and in the morning the kids checked to see if the reindeer ate the food. They laughed really hard when they saw that the food was gone and there was a pile of reindeer poop left behind. With 2 boys I think we found a new tradition. Beware...this tradition may result in a huge amount of potty talk for a little while but its all in good fun :)