Christmas Traditions - Thousand Oaks,CA

Something I thought was fun is being able to open a gift the night before, but it's usually a pair of pajamas, then you get to wear them that night.

We have a nice dinner and a birthday cake to remind us that we are celebrating Christ's birthday. We open one present each Christmas Eve (pj,and slippers) and also a special Christmas movie. We watch it while making sugar cookies. Christmas morning we have the large Santa gift unwrapped but all the other ones are wrapped- one great thing we do is put everything together and fill them with batteries and then wrap them (if possible in a box often times in a bag).

One tradition is letting everyone open one gift on Christmas Eve. Usually it's PJ's or slippers something they can use right away.

The second tradition, that we just started this year is the Elf on the Shelf. There is a book and Elf that go with the tradition but I had my own stuffed elf that I used. The day after Thanksgiving the elf was sitting on the shelf in the living room with a note next to him explaining the rules. If you want all the details you can go to http://www.elfontheshelf.com/#/home
My kids, 3 and 10, love it!

-On Christmas eve my hubby moves our fire pit to the front yard. We drink cocoa and keep watch for Santa.
-The kids get to open one gift on Christams Eve-new jammies to wear.
-We also make reindeer food to leave outside. It's oatmeal mixed with red sprinkles (to help the reindeer fly). Don't forget a bowl of water.
-Santa wraps most of his gifts and the kids pick out speacial paper to leave for him.
-And of course, the chimney must be clean. this carries over from when I was young. Since we have don't have a wood buring one, th ekids just get rid of all the spider webs. When I was little we were in there sweeping up the ash.
-My hubby reads them "Twas the Night before Christmas" before they go to bed.
-Family fun magazine had some great traditons in their Dec. issue so you may want to check that out. An idea that sounded fun was to save all your wrapping paper, wad it into balls, then when opening gifts was over, have a wrapping paper fight. Since we don't have snow here I think the kids will get a kick out of it.
-One last thing, throughout the year we jot down special events, places we visited, funny things that happened, etc. and keep them in a can. On New's Years Eve we read them all to remember what happened the last year.

***update-A couple more that I forgot- I also started the Elf on the Shelf this year. The kids are having fun with it. We also track Santa on Christmas Eve using NORAD's website. They've got graphics and reports from around the globe.

One of our favorite family traditions is "Bubble Bread" on Christmas morning! Bubble Bread is basically yummy, gooey cinnamon rolls that bubble an ooze out of a bundt pan overnight and when cooked.

Here's the recipe sent from my mom! Enjoy!

BUBBLE BREAD PULL APARTS -- from your wonderful Mother
1 pkg. Frozen Rhodes Rolls
1 C Brown Sugar (can use less)
1 small box Instant Butterscotch Pudding and Pie Filling (do not prepare pudding, just use the powder)
1/2 C white Sugar (can use less)
1 T Cinnamon
1 stick Butter or Margarine
Chopped nuts of your choice: walnuts, pecans

Assemble the night before: Place frozen rolls into a Bundt baking pan. Mix pudding, brown sugar, white sugar and cinnamon in a mixing dish; sprinkle over stacked rolls. Sprinkle nuts over top. Melt butter; pour over top. Place overnight in unlit oven on a cookie sheet as dough will rise overnight to double height (so allow room, i.e. place on bottom rack with plenty of room above it).

Bake in the morning, 25-30 minutes in 350 oven. (I just start the oven with the rolls inside; no need to preheat. May need to increase time a few minutes if you oven takes a long time to heat). Let cool; invert Bundt pan on platter and serve. Yummy caramel and nut topping; can just pull apart.

HI

Here is a couple of traditions we have done for many years.
since we were a so called "ready made" family. His and mine.
We had to accommodate his ex and mine. So on Christmas eve his kids are with their mom and mine was with his dad.
My hubby and I go out to dinner and enjoy a quite night.
On Christmas day afternoon all the kids come here. We just sit around and watch movies and play games until it gets dark.
They know they have to wait. We eat dinner and clean up, and
prepare for desert. No matter what we are having, cake, pie or brownies, we put a candle in the desert and sing happy birthday to Jesus. We all blow out the candle together.
We gather around the tree and everyone has their stocking filled with treats and presents and one Christmas card.
they are not allowed to open the Christmas card till last.
We proceed with the present openings. But they are so excited to get the Christmas card. Once everyone is done opening their presents, we clean up the mess (most of it) and with cards in hand we say ok, ready open it. the card is just a regular Christmas card, but it has a riddle in it.
like (hickory, dickery, dock the mouse ran up the ??????) and they are running around like crazy, once they figure out the riddle. Clock. Although we may have several clocks in the house. When they find right one, there is another card, they can not open it until everyone has found their 2nd card, so they help each other. Then when they all meet back in the
living room, they open there next card, which says something like this. To find your best present from Santa, you must solve this last riddle. Rumble, tumble it's hot in here.
where am I? They run as fast as they can to find that last present. Which is there big present. (of course that one was in the dryer). They have so much fun with this and every year they ask us, if we are going to do the Christmas riddle cards. My son is grown now, and he still loves doing this as well as my step daughters.
rub a dub, dub three men in a ??? (tub) so many riddles out there to use. Hope you have a special Holiday.
Remember if you have several children, don’t forget to put their names on each card.

Happy Holidays...

Hi C., My tradition is a very small one but it is my favorite, and now my daughters favorite as well. Just about everyone gets an apple or an orange in thier christmas stocking. My mother as far back as i can remember and i am now 49 years old, Allways put Sees candy in our christmas stockings. A 1/2 lb. box or a 1/4 lb. bag. And of course we always got new pajama's that we opened on christmas eve, so we were always wearing something new and nice on christmas morning. Because we always took pictures while opening our gifts. I love these two traditions. J. H.

C.,

My mom was the BEST, when it came to Christmas. She would have the whole house decorated. Unfortunately, I'm not as good as she is....

The one thing she said to me about Santa Claus was to make sure that I bought special wrapping paper for him. After I was done with it, I had to get rid of it, so my daughter wouldn't figure anything out.

For my daughter's second Christmas, we started having a tradition of watching a Christmas movie on Christmas Eve. As a matter of fact, my husband just asked me a few minutes ago about a Christmas movie. I suggest that you don't watch the same movie every year. I tried that once, and my husband and daugter, who was almost two at the time both left the room, because they were bored.

You can also try to make treats for Santa on Christmas Eve.

Enjoy the holidays!!!

K.

There are so many great traditions I learned from this question! Thank you for asking. I can't wait for Christmas now, I am going to start the treasure hunt one this year for my son.

My son always cleans out his toys to make room for the new ones Santa brings. If he doesn't do this Santa won't bring any. My semi sneaky way of clearing out toys he no longer plays with. Then we donate them to a local church or thrift store.

We always go and buy 4 toys, two for girls and two for boys and take them to the fire station to donate for Sparks of Love. Also we get a stuffed dog, usually one that looks like one of our dogs to give too. My cousin does a stuffed Dalmatian each year in memory of hers that passed away.

We are big animal people so we make TONS of dog biscuits and fill small bags with them to give to local shelters as well as friends and family who have dogs. We also buy some tennis balls or cheap blankets to give to the shelters too.

Christmas Eve we always bake cookies for Santa. We leave out a coke in a glass bottle and some cookies. We make sure the bucket in the yard is filled with water for the reindeer.

No one opens presents Christmas morning until Mom and Dad have their coffee! =) The big present from Santa comes last and he has his own special wrapping paper that is hidden at my parents house so my son has no idea. We never use the paper for anything but gifts from Santa and keep it well hidden throughout the year. Santa also fills our stockings with things we need like socks, underwear, a new toothbrush, deodorant, our favorite treat, just not toys. And we always listen to Christmas music while unwrapping presents or making cookies. It helps get us in the mood.

Hi C., because it is hard to incorpoate both sides of the family's traditions, when our kids were small as when I was growing up, Christmas Eve our kids all camped out in one room, to share the excitment, and talk about what they were hoping to get, once they were asleep my husband and I would put the gifts under the tree, then we would go to be late, in the morning the kids would get up, we would pray then start passing out the gifts to the kids, on some iy said from Santa, then some said from mom and dad, and the rest said who ever they were from, grandma, grandpa, aunts uncles, I for got to mention we let the kids decorate the tree, and we would leave the ornaments where ever they put them, Iknow parents who would adjust the ornamennts after the kids would go to bed, so the tree looked pretty, for us it was for the kids so we didn't adjust the ornaments, and my husband and I did the middle andthe top part of the tree. Then in the afternoon the whole family would go yo my parents houe for Christmas dinner, our kids our grown now, but since 1991 I have done the Holiday cooking for the family, started our own traditions, and the place to be for Christmas is our house, my mom and dad opend the doors to family, well we have family and friends, we usually have 16 people or more for dinner, Christmas Eve we do smores in the fire place, our son and our daughter in law are always here, our middle son and his girlfrinds family comes, plus our imediate family, In the morning it's my husband and I our 3 grown kidss plus our daughter in law, we sit around the fire we say a prayer, we share at least 3 things we admire about one another, then we start passing out the gifs, when were done we clean up paper and boxes set of the buffet tables and we prepare for the family Christmas dinner, after dinner and dessert, we play spoons, pictionary, untill 10:00 or 11:00 at night, and the kids have looked forward to this every year as they grew up. Have a happy Holiday Season. J. L.

Ohh, what a fun topic! I can't wait to have more free time and read everyone's responses.

We had a lot of "traditions" when I was a kid, here are a few;

-We always read "The Night Before Christmas" (by Clement Clarke Moore) before bedtime on Christmas Eve.

-My brother and I each had a small tree of our own in our bedrooms and Santa would leave us one small toy each under "our" trees. Usually it was an activity book or something to keep us busy in case we woke up too early xmas morning (we weren't allowed to wake up our parents until 6am and sometimes we would be up at like 5am, - too excited to go back to sleep! lol)

-When we got home from Christmas Eve Mass, we were always allowed to open ONE small gift (any one of our choice that was under the tree already). And then we'd get to stay up late eating my grandma's Christmas cookies, and other special goodies and we would also sing Christmas songs ( my family is very musical -everyone except for me that is! lol)

-We always left out carrots for the reindeer, and some milk and cookies for Santa.

I'm sure there were lots more little things like this, but those are the ones that stick out the most - the ones I am going to try and keep alive with my family now!

Happy Holidays Everyone! :)

So fun to read everyones responses!

I agree with the ornament every year, opening 1 present christmas eve (it was usually pj's for us too!) and also driving around looking at Christmas lights with hot chocolate. We did all of those growing up!

Another fun one was that every Christmas eve, we would get ready for bed and then we would all regroup downstairs. We each would get a lit candle to hold, then we would all sing Silent Night while walking upstairs. We would drop off everyone one by one to their rooms. They would blow out their candle as they went to bed. It was such a special time and a calm way to go to bed before christmas morning.

Also, we always had a Christmas movie night. We would get to sleep downstairs and we would make smores in the fireplace while having hot chocolate. We know continue that tradition with friends and will continue it for our kids as they get older.

From Oriental Trading www.orientaltrading.com
There is the tale of the Christmas Pickle...
Just go to the website and put in the search word "Christmas pickle."
We also choose a needy family each Christmas to donate items to.

It's real fun for kids!
Good luck,
Susan

WOW! I enjoyed reading your responses! A couple of traditions we have always done:
1. I have a box of Christmas books that we have accumulated over the years. Dec 1st I bring out the box and we start reading those for our bedtime stories. Some are beautiful hardcover books, others are just paperbacks but it is fun to have a whole new book selection for the month.
2. Our community does an "Angel Tree" which has paper ornaments on it listing local children or families less fortunate and an item they are wishing for. We go and pick an ornament, then shop and wrap the gift together.
3. Metrolink does a really cool Holiday lights train. We have gone to that every year as my boys love trains. The train is covered with Christmas lights/decs and then it stops and they do a short skit with Santa coming out at the end. I don't know if it goes thru your area but it is something to see!
4. We always find a community event to go to. (A live Nativity scene, a snow hill, carolers, etc.) we are lucky to live in an area that has a lot to choose from and this just gets the season started for us.
5. Lastly, there is an area near Granmda's house that every house decorates to the nines. We go pick Grandma up and stroll around to llok at lights together, sometimes other members of the family join us too. Then we go have hot chocolate together. Great family bonding happens on this night, in a non-stressful, nobody has to cook or "host" kind of way! :-) Thank you for positng this. I will continue to check back and see any other responses that come in!!

My sister in law gave her kids three presents on Christmas day - one for each wise man. Everything else went into the stockings.

Every year my children and I do Toys for Tots. They each get to pick a toy for a needy child, and I find things throughout the year on clearance that we take as well. We go to our local fire department to distribute and every year a firefighter gives us a tour, letting the kids climb in the truck and try on the boots etc. My kids love this and they are learning how fortunate they are, and to be compassionate toward others.

Santa left presents unwrapped, mostly, but sometimes wrapped (in special paper). Also, stockings were from santa and had one little wrapped gift. Good luck, Merry Christmas

Well of course there's the requisite baking your little one can definitely help with ...cookies, or fudge for the neighbors can be a fun way to share the spirit. Also, my kids and I have always donated either a toys-for-tots toy, or recently we've started a collection for Food for the Poor - a great group that can feed hundreds of people for only 20 bucks. It's so good for them to know they can help people, and teaches what the season is about, even at a young age.
Have a blast!
M.

im thinking singing all together christmas songs. as your child(ren) get older maybe kareyoke christmas song to keep awake until midnight or what ever. my teens use to play their band instrument to play x-mas songs when ever guest came by.

also in my family, that is a dying tradition in my culture, is making tamales every year. maybe you and your child can start baking or cooking a favorite treat that will be passed on to future generations.

We host an annual Christmas Cookie Decorating Party. I make the dough and provide icing and a few decos. We ask each family to bring a topping and a dish to share. The older kids get to help roll out and bake the cookies, while the younger ones just decorate. (Put disposable table cloth on the table.)

We have music in the background, or play the original How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon. It's a nice time for adults to get together also (a little mulled wine helps with the noise).

Have fun!

Here are some ideas. Each year make a x-mas orament for tree and date it. Make cookies or candy and share w/ neighbors, take a ride to see x-mas lights, visit an elderly nursing home to spend time and your children will learn a valuable lesson of charity. We have a x-mas game we play, which is filled w/ folded papers you open up and they are filled w/ conversation starters, songs, pantomines, and challenges. Easy to make and you can get together to make it. Sincerly, D.

As a child, we use to drive around the wealthier cities in Georgia to look at their lights and decorations on Christmas Eve. This was when Santa would come and leave all of the big and unwrapped presents. When we got home we would open all of our presents. Christmas Day was for eating and visiting. Here is California we dont go light looking but we do open our presents on Christmas Eve. In past years I have taken all of the presents and wrapped them and placed them under the tree. For 12 days before Christmas everyone gets to open 1 gift of choice. Whatever is left on Christmas Day is whats opened. In this case I take things that come in multiples like socks, underwear and other items and wrap them individually and put them in the mix. The excitement builds to unwrap one present each day!
Hope these give you some ideas.
Happy Holidays!!

You have gotten some great ideas already.
* Choose one book to read on Christmas Eve. We read "The Gift of The Magi."
* A special dinner on Christmas Eve. We make crepes and have a ton of toppings
* We make cinnamon rolls that night so on Christmas morning we wake up to fresh cinnamon rolls!
* Have the kids choose one ornament for the tree each year.
* Choose one charity to buy for. We chose Samaritan's Purse. We filled a shoebox full of goodies for a girl (you can choose). It was great to go to the store and let our daughter pick stuff out, we wrote a note to put in the box and wrapped it up. A great project!
* We do Christmas cards. I address them and let my daughter (3) put the return address on the envelopes and decorate them with Christmas stickers.
Enjoy the season- S.

C.,
a new tradition I will add this year is leaving carrots on the front porch for the Reindeer! I think my 4 year old will get a kick out of this. I read online that some parents will go out that night after the kids have gone to sleep and drop Raisinets (looks like Deer poop) on the grass as evidence that the Reindeer had been there. Enjoy the holidays.

What a wonderful question, I loved reading the responses you have gotten.

Over the years, I have had to alter some of my traditions as life changes but some stay the same.

When I was a child my mom would make a big spaghetti or lasagne dinner for Christmas eve, the family would gather and after dinner the kids would take a nap and we would get dressed up and go to midnight mass. This was nice, but it was a bit hard on us kids, all the waiting.

Later when my mom had divorced and remarried, she needed to make new family traditions and Christmas eve became a buffet of finger foods, sandwich makings, cookies and salad - very casual - lots of food and an open door policy. Friends dropped by and as we kids got older we came in later, spending time with friends before coming home. Christmas movies played on the tv and we watched or talked with those who stopped by. A lot of my dad's sigle friends would come by. I loved this one, and keep it up now.

Also my dad always found a radio station that reported the tracking of Santa's flight. He had worked at a satelite tracking station years ago and said it was something they did every year for the kids.

I make cookies every year to give out to friends and family and coworker's. My daughter helps choose which ones and helps bake or not, depending on her schedule. We have some that we make every year and try a new recipe or two most years. I bake almost all of December, but it is what makes Christmas for me.

And I agree with the tradition of giving your child an ornament every year. My mom did this for us and I do it for my daughter. When I went out on my own, I had many treasured ornaments to take with me, and so will my daughter.

I now live far from my family and my daughter and I have been "adopted" into a loving family here. Christmas is for 50+ people. We do a pot luck usually with 2 turkeys and a ham. Also we do a Christmas exchange every year. They start with one person to open their present. They go to the center of the room to enter their gift. Then that person takes the gift they brought and gives it to that receipient to open and so on to the last.

Other traditions just include certain special foods. My mom always makes her pumpkin pie. I always make cranberry mousse, I was thinking about that this year, my mom or I have been making that for over 30 years.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

I am always looking for inexpensive activities for my family and one Christmas tradition that we started has become the kids' favorite.

We give the kids their bath, put them in pjs, give them some chocolate milk, load them in the car and then we drive around our neighborhood and look at Christmas lights. It costs nothing and the kids nearly jump out of their skin with excitement whenever we announce that's going to be the evening's activity.

We try to go once or twice a week leading up to Christmas. As we drive around we announce which side of the car the kids should look out when we see lights coming up, for example, "Christmas lights on Lindsey's side!" The kids squeal and giggle and we sing Christmas songs, it's so much fun and doesn't cost a dime. Plus you can do it anywhere, even if you wind up out of town for the holidays.

Happy Holidays!

We make sure we choose gifts for charity. Usually we let each child choose something for a child of their age and gender. We choose a friend and leave something at their door anonymously on Christmas Eve. We spend part of Christmas Eve driving through the most decorated parts of town. Christmas morning, we read the Christmas story in Luke, chapter 2 before opening gifts. And we have to have a cooked meal for breakfast - no cereal on Christmas! :)

We wrap Santa's presents in different wrapping then the others, we open them one at a time to give each other the opportunity to see what each person got. This took some time on Christmas morning and it was fun to prolong the gift opening. When my husband was a kid, the kids got their pile and just started ripping them open-it only took like 10 minutes and no body saw each others but when we went to his parents on Chrismas Eve thats how we did it there. So my kids got to do it both ways.
When we decorated the tree, we made chocolate chip cookies and hot chocolate before we started so we could have that while we decorated.
Also on the first day of Dec we would start opening the little window panes on a book/board that I got counting down the days til Christmas. We did it right before bed each night. My kids are 21 and 17 and still like that one-guess I better fish that book out tonite-neither of them live at home this year but I will call them and tell them what is behind the window pane. It will be interesting to see what traditions they take with them into their families.
Enjoy your traditions-neither of my kids will be home for Christmas this year-my daughter just moved and got a new job and has to work and my son has a hockey tournament-we will go see him and stay with him in Chicago(the 17 yr old) but it will be the first of many years we will not all be together over Christmas. Time does fly!! Things change. Enjoy your traditions and make many of them.
Oh I forgot to mention my kids made a tent in my daughters room with blankets and would sleep there together until morning-this was a biggie because when my daughter was older and "knew" she would still have her little brother sleep in the tent with her so she "played" the part and he always looked forward to it. I also told my daughter if she ever "told" my son or any other child- Santa would no longer bring her gifts because there was no need for him anymore. She learned early from another little kid which really annoyed me. But she did her best to keep the fun of Santa alive. As my older brother did for me when I was a child.

My mom started this tradtion and we have carried it on. On Christmas Eve there were always 3 boxes with big bows on them. My mom would let us each (3 kids) open one present - of course we wanted the ones with big bows - and they were pjs. We would all go try them on and once we were in our new Christmas pjs, the transition to bed was much easier and we looked great in pictures the next morning because we were all wearing new pjs.

Hi C.,
My children are grown now, but we are passing the traditions we started with them on to our little 16 month old grandson. I'm not sure what your faith beliefs are around Christmas, but it was important to me to incorporate the fun of Santa and also keep the focus on the story behind Christmas and the root of my Christian faith. So to honor Christmas and the glory of the birth of Christ, the manger was under the Christams tree and all the wrapped gifts under the tree where from each other. I hung stocking on the fire place and the gifts beside each stocking some wrapped, some not, were from Santa. I also kicked off the holiday season on December 6, which is Saint Nicolas's feast day, by leaving a little gift at the foot of their beds from the Christmas angel. Sets up th expectation for Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

I am trying like crazy to start traditions with my kids too. It seems like every year we are wanted at everyone else's house but I am starting to have Christmas with the kids at home. The only thing I have been able to keep consistent are that my younger sister (with no kids) comes over and spends Christmas Eve night at my house so she can be here to see the kids open gifts too. The other thing is that when I was a kid, I recognized that Santa and my mom had the same handwriting so I make sure Santa signs the gifts "differently" than me (I'm a righty, if you catch my drift ;) )

Best,
~V

We like to leave a small plate of cookies or fudge (just a few pieces) and a holiday glass or mug of milk or coke for Santa on the hearth. You could leave it on a table if you don't have a fireplace. Best wishes to you, too.
B.

I would definitely wrap the gifts from Santa - that's the best part - ripping them open! For our kids, we have a treasure hunt for the biggest gift, and they run all around the house trying to find the clues. It's really fun. When they were smaller we drew pictures of where to look, then they would find the clue there for the next clue. We do this on birthdays too. When they were smaller and believed in Santa, we also would look up on the internet where he was on Christmas Eve. Google Santa Norad and that should work.

Hi C.! Santa always wraps the gifts he brings my kids in thick white paper. My ex-husbands family always did this, so I continued doing it so there was consistency for our son. Now my two younger ones get their gifts from Santa in white paper too - it separates the things from family and friends from Santa's and we love it!

Our tradition is that the people in the family give each other gifts that are wrapped and opened on Christmas eve. We have a buffet type supper, and as many of our extended family as possible attend, and even some long-time neighbor friends. Then, on Christma morning, any children in the family come down to discover their stockings and a few presents that Santa has left, unwrapped, under the tree. As our childen have grown up, I've been happy for our tradition, because as children marry, it means that they can then spend Christmas Day with the relatives of their partner without our Christmas being spoiled.

Another tradition is that, for the family gifts, the youngest person opens one present, thanks the giver, and then the next youngest, up to the oldest person. After a few rounds, the adults have usually opened all their presents, and then the children are just given the rest of theirs to open. Our friends have often remarked at how great it is to see children who are not just tearing things open without thought, and that the family members seem to take pride in choosing things that the other person will really enjoy, rather than just giving something to be fulfilling a duty.

Now that the children are grown and we are dealing with grandchildren, we have a drawing for the adults, so each adult gets one present from his or her Secret Santa and one from his or her partner. Last year, with the grandchildren getting older, we even did a drawing among them. Since we have 10 adult "children" who attend, along with 7 grandchildren, it still makes for a lot of gifts, since adults are free to give gifts to all the children!

Of course other traditions include special ornaments we add to, special cookies we always bake, with children helping, and special foods we enjoy. When my children were young and lived at home, we also chose a family (through an agency) and picked out presents for the entire family.

Good luck in establishing your family traditions.

S. Toji

We have an ornament night! We make ornaments from what we have around the home then we pile into the car Go see some christmas lights, Then dinner somewhere special. Then we buy each kid an ornament that they pick out

This not only has a Sentimental value for our children expecily when we unpack them every year. For us as well we keep the homemade ones and when they leave they have 18 ornaments for their adult tree. Pluss years of memories like when and where they got them. Hope it helps.

My family wraps each others gifts mainly with brown kraft paper and vintage ribbons and tags. We save the ribbons and tags every year. The ribbons get rolled into a big box and the tags get divided into "From" envelopes. So I get a envelope of tags from me and use them to wrap the next years gifts. It is so special to give my mom a gift with a tag from when I was a wee tot. Or to get a tag that she made me years ago. I wrap all my gifts with paper at home and then bring them to my mom's house and we pull out the ribbon box and tie ribbons on the gifts and put them under the tree. It is also a great way to recycle!

We also have a tradition of giving cards last. You put your cards into the Christmas tree in the morning. After dinner we pull all the cards out and give them out. It is especially nice for those guests who might not get gifts, new boyfriends, etc. as they do get cards. We have to warn everyone who comes to the family dinner...bring cards!

My Mom has a big bowl with all the cards from over the years in it. It is fun to look thru...

Merry Christmas!

Hi C.,

One of our traditions we celebrate is St. Nicholas Day, which is on December 6th. This is a German holiday and it was celebrated by my husband since he was borned. We continue the tradition with our 3 kids. The night before, our kids would put their shoes by the door and when they wake up, St. Nicholas will leave a little gift inside their shoes, usually something small. We tell them that St. Nicholas is just stopping by to let them know that they have been very good all year and hope for them to continue. (Thank goodness we don't have to lie - because we do have very polite and well-behave children.)

On Christmas Eve, we go to church as a family, come home for dinner and after dinner, we allow the children to open 1 gift and the rest will be opened on Christmas Day. This tradition has been going on for 5 years and hopefully will continue. Family is very important to us.

Hope you will have a wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!

One tradition that we have is each child picks an ornament for the tree (usually has to do with what they are 'into' that year) so that someday, they will have enough ornaments for their own trees when they move out. My mother did this as well.

My boys have always left notes or pictures for Santa. In the morning they wake to find a note left back for them written backwards so they have to run to the mirror to read it (writing backwards is second nature for me and I can read it just as quick LOL). My mom used to do this for my brother and myself as well. Easter bunny, tooth fairy etc also do the same.
The kids leave milk and cookies in the refrigerator for Santa and have left a carrot for Rudolph when we have them in the house. We have cats who would eat them if we left them on the table.
When we go out at night to run errands and such we take different slightly longer routes there and home assuming we're not running late and look at all the lights and decorations put up on people's houses.
Santa doesn't wrap presents anymore here though he has wrapped some here and there over the years. We now leave out our reusable large felt bags and he puts nearly everything in there. You can get them at Michael's for about $3.00 each(sale prices are even better). We've collected them over a few years now. Started when my MIL saw them and put all the gifts at her house in them for the boys. I like that it's more eco friendly then all that wrapping paper and I never have any free alone time to wrap anything either. They have plenty of paper at my parents house to rip though LOL
When I was little we always got a new pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve, usually made by my mom and then later store bought. We've tried to do that for the boys but somehow it's not always happened.
One unusual thing here is the boys don't have stockings, they have Thomas the Tank gift bags. I honestly have no idea when on earth it started or why anymore. I kinda think it started the year my second was born. He was born just a few days before Christmas and it was a mad scramble to make anything happen for Christmas that year for my oldest who was almost 3. It was the first year he was super excited about Santa. My family was extremely helpful in getting us set up. Granted the train table he was supposed to get(it was bought and hiding at Grandmas house) he didn't get until 2 months later for his birthday.
Before going to bed the living room has to be spotless as well. The presents that go under the tree are presents for others usually separated in bags for where they go. The presents Santa leaves go on/under/around the coffee table and sometimes on the couch behind it.
We donate to Toys 4 Tots and will add the dollar to our purchases for the various charities when we can (though we do that a lot all year).
We also spend a ton of time at Disneyland this time of year.

On the day we decorate our tree we all make our own pizzas Have everythig cut up and ready to go. While there cooking we decorate the tree.

My mom still does this with us. She wraps the baby Jesus (from the nativity scene) and on Christmas morning she reads the story of Jesus birth and then one of the grandkids gets to open the baby Jesus.

We also drive around and look at lights. We always pop up some popcorn for the ride.

We bake cookies!! This is one that I cannot escape, it is in my genes. Every year, my girls and I make about 10 different kinds of cookies, then we wear our santa hats and deliver plates of them around the neighborhood. Since the kids are small, we like the kind of cookies that can be decorated or cut out or use a cookie press. It is really fun (and messy) and I know that nobody needs the fat and carbs, but making cookies is part of our Christmas tradition.

Another thing that we do - we live far away from relatives, and we receive lots of presents in the mail before Christmas. I put them under the tree, and we start to open them several days before Christmas. Open one gift, play with it for a day. Then before the next gift is opened, write the thank you note to the relative. This really helps with the motivation to write thank you notes!

We always bake and decorate sugar cookies with lots of frosting and sprinkles, etc. on xmas eve day. Also, I buy each of my children an ornament that kind of represents the past year in their lives and write a little note to go with them. When they are older...(all are boys, so maybe not until they are 20+) I will give them their ornaments and hope they will use them to decorate their own trees.
M.

We wrap one present in brown paper because santa doesn't have fancy paper, and it's usually either one for each child or an expensive thing they can share.. ( play kitchen was last year and it was big, we were thinking a power wheel this year) we usually only buy 4 or so presents because them they play with it more and we have a big family so they get extras... but we get dressed up in new nice clothes ( usually a dress and suit from walmart or target so it's not to much) and go visit about 3 different houses and end it in new jammies and cocoa >>... Not sure how long it will last we are only 4 years in with kids

I am now 53. My mom was an early environmentalist and would save wrapping paper, ribbons, and bows. That meant you couldn't crinkle up the paper as you unwrapped. Early on in life that was a bit of a drag, but we didn't really question it too much. The paper was stored away and used and reused. As we got older it got to be a game, piecing old bits of paper together and then it got to be a challenge to see who could make use of the oldest paper as it inevitably shrunk. Seems crazy, and it was, but we all still laugh about it. Sometimes the silliest traditions can evoke the fondest memories.