Top 23 Christmas Traditions to Celebrate with your Family!


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Christmas is my absolute favorite time of the year. It’s a time to celebrate our Lord & Savior, it’s a time to spend with family, and it’s the time to eat really good food! My family and I have some special Christmas traditions that make the season even brighter and I wanted to share them with you!

  • Get a letter from the North Pole.

For years I have bought letters from The Santa Claus House in the North Pole, Alaska. These letters come post marked from the North Pole. It’s absolutely magical! My son loves them and the best part is they’re affordable!

Christmas Traditions - Letter postmarked from the North Pole from Santa! Santa Claus House

  • Write a letter to Santa

Even though we get a letter from Santa, my son always sends a letter out to Santa.  Normally I just put these letters up and never send them.

  • Have professional pictures with Santa

I have a wonderful photographer who does lovely Santa pictures every year for us. They’re treasures and the basis of our Christmas cards every year!

Christmas Traditions Photography Santa

  • Watch Santa feed his reindeer

You can watch Santa feed his reindeer! Santa comes on at certain times of the day and you can even download the app! Reindeercam.com

  • Call Santa

Did you know you can call Santa and get a recording of him? 951-262-3062

  • Leave out reindeer food on Christmas Eve

Hunter loves doing this! We make reindeer food from oats, sprinkles, and glitter and throw them in our yard to attract Santa’s reindeer!

Christmas Traditions - throwing out reindeer food

Christmas Traditions - Throwing out Reindeer food

  • Make a Gingerbread House or train

Every year we make a gingerbread house and a gingerbread train! It’s so much fun! Get yours here.

Christmas Traditions - Gingerbread House & Train

Christmas Traditions - Gingerbread house & train

  • Bake Jesus a birthday cake

Every year we bake a cake for Jesus’ birthday. We end up eating it, but the celebration part is all worth while. We even sing Him Happy Birthday!

  • Go Christmas light watching

What better way to enjoy Christmas with your family than to go riding looking for lights. Make it fun – bring along hot chocolate and see who can spot different scenes first!

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Lights

Christmas Traditions - cHristmas Lights

  • Cookie Swap

If you haven’t been to one of these, you need to! It’s so much fun! Basically you get together with friends and girlfriends and you bring cookies! You can share ideas, play games, and play the white elephant game. It’s so much fun!

Christmas Traditions - Cookie Swap

  • Watch Christmas movies and drink hot cocoa

This is one of my favorites! Our family loves to watch Christmas movies and drink hot cocoa!

Christmas Traditions - Watch Christmas movies and drink hot chocolate - Christmas ideas

  • Donate to a canned food drive

Christmas is the season of giving and what better way than to donate to a canned food drive or a coat drive! We also like to participate in local toy drives!

  • Shoot down mistletoe

This is a season favorite for me. Ever since I was young my papa would take me out in the woods and let me shoot down mistletoe. It seems silly really – but it was fun. I loved shooting the gun to see how many shots it would take before I got it. We’ve been able to pass along this tradition to our son! When I was little, I didn’t keep the mistletoe, but now we hang it in the house until Christmas is over!

Christmas Traditions - Shooting Misletoe down

  • Cut down a tree in the woods for the front porch

When I say – cut down a tree in the woods – I don’t mean a tree farm. I mean, quite literally, we go into the woods and search for a small tree to cut down. We either put it in our sons room, or put it on the front porch to decorate. You can have your very own Charlie Brown Christmas Tree!

Christmas Traditions - cut your own tree - Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

  • Christmas Play

Every year we have a Christmas play at church! My son loves being in the play, telling stories of Jesus and His love for us!

  • Get a personalized family ornament

Another one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Every year we head up to Pigeon Forge Tennessee and go to the Christmas Place & pick out a family ornament to be personalized.

Christmas Traditions - Family Ornaments Personalized

  • Elf on the Shelf

Oh… I could go on and on. This is my absolute top favorite… Elf on the Shelf. If you haven’t started this as one of your Christmas traditions, you need to head over to my Elf on the Shelf page now and I’ll explain it all.

Christmas Traditions - Elf on the shelf

  • Sock Swap, Ornament Swap

Every Christmas Day with the in-laws we have a sock and ornament swap. This is much more fun than the typical white elephant game! You play the exact same, but each person brings an ornament and a pair of socks!

  • Make handmade ornaments for the parents/grandparents from upcycled material (wood, corks, etc)

My family LOVES this one. Every year I make them some type of handmade ornament or doodad. I’ve made wooden snowmen, wooden reindeer… all sorts of cute things!

Christmas Traditions - handmade reindeer made from wine corks DIY

Christmas Traditions - handmade wooden snowmen from pine tree

Christmas Traditions - Christmas craft - snowmen ornaments DIY

  • Design custom Christmas cards

I typically design my own Christmas cards and have them printed. We usually have a bible verse on them and the pictures from my sons Santa photography shoot. They’re absolutely ADORABLE!

Christmas Traditions - Custom personalized Christmas Cards with Bible verse about Jesus

  • Toy advent calendar

Usually the elf brings this when he comes and my son LOVES it! This year the elf brought this one here with dinosaurs. Last year the elf brought this Lego one! It’s a gift every day!

Christmas Traditions - Advent Toy Calendar

  • New Christmas pajamas

I LOVE pajamas. They’re so stinking cute! Every year I buy pajamas, like the ones here, for my son to wear on Christmas Eve!

Christmas Traditions - Christmas Pajamas

  • Story of Jesus

This is another favorite of my Christmas traditions. Jesus is the whole reason for the season. Our family gets together, usually around the fire, and reads the story about Jesus’ birth.

Christmas Traditions - Story of Jesus to read before Christmas

 

 

What traditions do you and your family celebrate? Does your family have any of the same Christmas traditions as we have?

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