Traditions for Christmas?

jkanyugi · September 2011

I know its really early, (I'm on bedrest and trying to occupy/distract myself and plan ahead), but has anyone thought about traditions for this Christmas with the new baby?

My great-grandmother used to knit all of the children a beautiful Christmas stocking with their initials, but she is gone and so is grandma...so thinking I need to start my own tradition.

mbgreenwalt · September 2011

My mom makes all the kids in the family a stocking for their first Christmas. Here is DD with her's last year.

Ones that we've been doing before kids, but will continue with them:

I get a personalized ornament each year with our names and the year written on it. I've got one for each year since we bought our house (2003).

We get our tree the weekend after Thanksgiving and watch Christmas movies while we decorate.

On Christmas Day night we always curl up and watch a Christmas movie before bed. A little conclusion to all the events.

jkanyugi · September 2011

I LOVE the stocking your mom made! Does she have an Etsy shop?

mbgreenwalt · September 2011

Thanks, I love them too. She doesn't have an Etsy shop, she only sews on rare occasions. She just has a pattern from 29 years ago when she made mine. It is all fragile and falling apart.

Temp937723687505543 · September 2011

Our traditions are going to be fairly commonplace- cookies and milk for Santa the night before, and we'll hang a big key on the front door to let Santa in (we don't have a chimney/fireplace). Church on Christmas Eve, looking at the lights, stuff like that. I am about to start etsy shopping for stockings- my mom made ours but they're very bead/sequin heavy and take a long time!

BeccaMarie · September 2011

We started a tradition for DD. St. Nick brings Christmas pajamas and other odds and ends at the beginning of the month (morning of 12/6). DD then gets to wear seasonal pjs all month and play with her Christmas themed things during the month.

(St. Nick always came to my house when I was little, it was the pajama part that we started)

shanniebananie · September 2011

We do Christmas jammies... We wrap them and open them Christmas Eve after dinner. Cookies for Santa and we read Twas The Night Before Christmas before bed and watch Rankin Bass movies Christmas morning.

Temp937723687505543 · September 2011

Oh, whenever we put the tree up, I put on the movies "A Muppet Christmas Carol" and "Love Actually" (plus will probably now add "The Holiday") and drink hot chocolate. And we do personalized ornaments for each family member- I forgot about that.

authorofdreamz · September 2011

I want to get her picture taken with Santa every year, starting this year. And get her an ornament every year so that when she grows up and moves out she will already have ornaments to put on her tree. Other than that just normal stuff.

J234 · September 2011

I can't wait to do the Elf on the Shelf tradition. It's a stuffed elf that sits around and "watches" to see if children are being nice. Then the elf "reports" to Santa.

Also there is a book called Santa Mouse about a mouse that helps Santa. We will leave cheese out for Santa Mouse to nibble on in addition to cookies and milk.

Lastly, I fully plan to make reindeer food every year. Mix up old cookie sprinkles and oatmeal in a bowl and sprinkle on the lawn for the reindeer to find your house. If someone is ambitious enough, they can go out and make hoof prints on the lawn.

smilelari · September 2011

We haven't really started any traditions yet, but I'm loving these! We alternate where we are from year to year, so there will be some variation. When we're with my parents we do Christmas Eve services but DH's family doesn't do that. We did do Santa last year, but I'm not sure we're ready to repeat. This is how that went down:

I think definitely decorating the tree, baking cookies, listening to Christmas music. My mom is in the process of cross stitching new stockings for everyone, but that's not really an annual tradition

Melicakes · September 2011

How cute and awesome are all of your traditions!!! I really love the key on the door for Santa since I live in an apartment with no chimney or fireplace. I also love that reindeer food idea!

When I was little our traditions were always red/Christmas themed pajamas to sleep in for Christmas Eve and also leaving cookies and milk for Santa then breakfast before presents (which was torture! Lol)

Some idea I have for traditions are baking the cookies for Santa ( they were store bought when I was little, coincidentally in my mom's favorite flavor!) and decorating the tree after thanksgiving. I'd also like to instill compassion in her so I'd like her to pick a letter from operation Santa at the post office so we can help someone less fortunate. I've been doing it for years and I love it ! Makes me feel so cheerful

shabamwam · September 2011

Im going to try to keep going what my parents did when I was little. We have to wait at the top of the steps(2story house) Until my dad went down to make sure santa was gone. We also go a new pair of pajamas an christmas eve, I loved that.

jkanyugi · September 2011

authorofdreamz:
I want to get her picture taken with Santa every year, starting this year. And get her an ornament every year so that when she grows up and moves out she will already have ornaments to put on her tree. Other than that just normal stuff.

Oh pics with Santa didn't even occur to me! Now I"m excited

harlansmommy · September 2011

We do the christmas eve jammies, pics with santa, cookies, reindeer food as well.

Last year DS #1 and I were in the mall and on a whim decided to buy for 2 kids off of the angel tree. He really seemed to have fun picking out toys for other kids. I would really like to make this a tradition as well.

HPickle23 · September 2011

shabamwam:
Im going to try to keep going what my parents did when I was little. We have to wait at the top of the steps(2story house) Until my dad went down to make sure santa was gone.

I love this idea!!

Our traditions kind of changed every year since we were a military family and were always moving. By the time I was 7 I already knew my Dad was the one putting presents under the tree and eating all the cookies. My only advice is don't let the magic disappear too fast.

The only tradition we kept every year was putting the tree up Thanksgiving Day. My DH and I will have to start our own now that we have a LO.

mrsjabas · September 2011

I'm so glad someone else is thinking of this already. I keep asking MH, "Do you get a stocking for an almost 2 month old?" My answer is "yes." My dad and I used to make cinnamon rolls for Santa on Christmas Eve and leave out baby carrots for the reindeer. We always got an orange in the toe of the stocking and my grandma gave us pajamas to open on Christmas Eve. These days I decorate the tree while listening to Christmas Carols and making cookies (if I'm up to it). I think we'd like to start buying our girl an ornament every year.

Janimal · September 2011

We do Hannukah, not Christmas. But we still have traditions!

DD has a wooden mennorah so when we light candles each night, she lights hers too.

The first Hannukah we were dating, we did presents each night but for one of the nights, our gift to each other is to buy toys to donate to Toys for Tots. It's our favorite gift. We have a BLAST picking out toys and always get carried away and spend more than we planned, then just drop them all off at the front of the store. This is definitely something that our kids will be a part of.

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