I absolutely love family traditions. And I really really love Christmas. So family Christmas traditions are my cup of tea! I love creating meaningful traditions for my family members to enjoy during the Christmas season. Family Christmas traditions are a great way to create special memories for the whole family, so I think they are worth the time and work that it takes to plan and make them happen. We do the popular traditions that many others do at Christmas time in the United States – we go see the Christmas lights, make gingerbread houses, drink hot cocoa, decorate Christmas cookies, and all those fun things. But we also have a really special Christmas family tradition that I’d like to share with you. Read on to learn about one of our family’s favorite Christmas traditions!
A Favorite Tradition – with a Twist!
When my husband and I first got married, I started thinking right away about special family Christmas traditions that we could start. As a child I loved reading Christmas books, and I knew I wanted to do that with my children during the holiday season. So I started searching for the best children’s Christmas books that I could find. I read so many books looking for special stories that warm the heart and are full of the magic of Christmas. Over time I collected my very favorite Christmas books, with the intention of reading one a day during Christmas time. To make this tradition even more special, I also started collecting unique ornaments to go with the stories. We now have a special Christmas story and an ornament to go with it for every day from about Thanksgiving until Christmas Day.
Let me explain how the tradition works. Beginning a few days after Thanksgiving, our whole family gathers in the living room around the Christmas tree for a little bit of family time. To set a warm and cozy mood, we turn down the lights, turn on the Christmas tree and garland lights, and a few candles if we need some extra light to read by. We start by reading a scripture and hanging an ornament from our Jesse tree. Then, one child chooses from our collection of Christmas stories. We read that story together and the child who chose the story hangs the ornament for the story on our Christmas tree. After we have read the story, we sing a Christmas song together. Then it is time for a prayer and bed!
This tradition might seem elaborate, but our usual bedtime routine for our family includes scriptures and prayer, and story time for the little kids. If I can fit it in, I try to read a book aloud for my older kids as well, and even though they are teenagers, they still enjoy that. So this family Christmas tradition doesn’t really take any extra time, now that we have all the stories and ornaments collected. It does have a big impact on our Christmas season though. This cozy family time brings lots of holiday spirit into our home and is a fun way for us to make lasting memories together.
We vary the way we do our Christmas storytime a bit for Christmas Eve. We put on our Christmas Eve pajamas, cuddle up with some hot chocolate, and read three or four stories instead of just one. There are some special stories that we use every Christmas Eve – like T’was the Night Before Christmas and a story called I Believe in Santa Claus (which is actually a story about Jesus).
We treasure this family tradition. It’s such a wonderful way to slow down and enjoy some warm and peaceful moments as a family during this busy time of year. If you think you would like to make this a new tradition for celebrating Christmas with your family, I have a few tips for you!
Tips for Starting Your Own Christmas Family Tradition
For finding Christmas ornaments to go with the stories, ebay is a great source! You can finds ornaments of all kinds on ebay. Just search for the character or object that you want to use to represent the story, and most likely you will find lots of options. Hobby Lobby also has lots and lots of ornaments of different kinds to choose from during the holiday season.
If you and your children enjoy doing crafts, you can also make some of your story ornaments yourself! My children and I make a Christmas ornament together every year and it’s so much fun to hang those ornaments and remember when we made them. It’s another great way to build lovely Christmas memories together.
If you like the idea of starting this new tradition with your family but reading a Christmas story every night isn’t realistic for your family’s schedule, feel free to create a version of the tradition that works for you. You might read your Christmas stories on the weekends only, or only on the twelve days leading up to Christmas, or for one week before Christmas, or whatever works for you! Adapt it however you like.
If you need some ideas for Christmas stories that you can read with your family, check out my list of our family’s favorite Christmas stories by following the link below. There are all kinds of Christmas stories on the list – it includes religious stories about Baby Jesus, secular stories about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa, and heartwarming true stories about children on Christmas morning. You are sure to find something you love on that list!
I hope that this family Christmas tradition or some variation of it will bring some extra holiday cheer to your family this Christmas season! Thank you for visiting and Merry Christmas!
