Family Christmas traditions are a wonderful way to anticipate and cherish the Holiday Season! Children thrive on repetition and routine, which creates a sense of security in their world. I have a Free Christmas Planner for you to plan the best Christmas ever! Includes weekly, daily, and monthly calendar pages, traditions checklist, meal planning, gift planning, activity planning, budget tracker, and more!
In our family, Christmas has always been about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Our Family Christmas Traditions are centered on Christ’s birth, the purpose of His birth, and all that His birth means to the entire world!
Although our children know where the story of Santa comes from (the story of Saint Nicholas) we do not include “Santa Clause” in our traditions. Neither do we include reindeer, elves, or other things typically included in the made-up version of Santa.
Therefore, the following ideas are mostly from a Jesus-focused perspective. There are also a collection of familiar traditions, with a few traditions from around the world, too!
Grab A Simple Advent Journey (Back) To Jesus today!
Family Christmas Traditions You Can Start This Year!
As Christmas approaches, we tell our children that Jesus’ birthday is coming up. We talk about why we give gifts at Christmas, which is to celebrate the greatest gift of all time: Jesus!
In a simple manner, we share the story of the very first Christmas when Jesus was born. We explain how it is more important to give, rather than to receive since that is what Jesus taught us many times through His example in the Bible.
November Activities:
- Put together shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child! This is the perfect way to include children in the process of giving to others — and it is a lot of fun, too!
- Donate to the Salvation Army. Find a store that has the red kettles & bell ringers out front, give our child a couple of dollars or quarters, and let them drop it in the bucket! **This is extra special to me and I share why HERE.**
- Prepare for Advent. Just a few years ago, I had no clue what the word advent meant! Now, we celebrate Advent as a family and it is an amazing way to focus on the true reason for the season — Jesus!
Favorite Christmas Resources!
DIY Jesse Tree Ornament Kit for Advent
The Advent Jesse Tree: Devotions for Children and Adults to Prepare for the Coming of the Christ Child at ChristmasThe Little Big Book of ChristmasJotham’s Journey: A Storybook for AdventCookie Advent Cookbook: With 24 festive recipesLegend of the Christmas Tree, TheOld Fashioned, Keepsake Quality Handknit Wool Christmas Stockings (Christmas Trees – Green)Charlie Brown Christmas 50th Anniversary, A: Deluxe EditionMickey’s Christmas Carol 30th Anniversary – Special Edition (DVD + Digital Copy)
- A Jesse Tree is also an activity that helps the Advent season become a visual and hands-on experience for children. You can either buy a Jesse Tree set or create your own.
- Christmas Books Countdown – Purchase Christmas-related books and wrap each individually. Whether you choose 25 for Dec.1-25 or just 12 books for Dec.13-25, it is a lot of fun to unwrap a new book each day leading up to Christmas to read together with your children.
December Activities:
- Start the Advent reading and activities. There are so many options. In addition to a Jesse Tree, you can find several books based on Advent. We really enjoy this series set in Biblical times.
- Christmas Countdown – Making a Christmas paper chain with the kids to count down the days until Christmas is fun and gives a visual for how many days til the holiday. Drawing a “first Christmas” manger scene and hanging the chain from it will give even more of a visual for the reason we celebrate the day!
- Bake Cookies – In the weeks leading up to Christmas, spend time baking fun Christmas cookies with your children. You will be teaching them valuable skills, preparing for your Christmas party, and creating amazing memories for your family.
- Cozy Evenings – Homemade Popcorn, hot chocolate, apple cider… having cozy winter evenings together as a family crowded around the kitchen table putting together a puzzle or playing a game is a great tradition to start!
- Christmas Tree – Bundle the family up and go to a local tree farm to choose the “perfect” evergreen Christmas tree. Then enjoy decorating it together. Decorating with all homemade decor is even more special — string popcorn and cranberries, make paper chains, etc.
- Hang Stockings – This tradition is a fun way to decorate and save on wrapping paper — just put the gifts in the stockings! Hanging up stockings is part of the legend and original story of St. Nicholas. This is one of the more realistic parts of the legend (unlike a flying sleigh with reindeer).
- Christmas Movies – Great Christmas movies for younger kids: Charlie Brown Christmas and Mickey’s Christmas Carol. While It’s a Wonderful Life
– Little Women – A Christmas Carol are all great for older kids/adults.
More Favorite Christmas Resources!
It’s a Wonderful Life (60th Anniversary Edition) by Paramount by Frank CapraLittle Women (Collector’s Series)Disney’s a Christmas CarolMickey’s Christmas Carol 30th Anniversary – Special Edition (DVD + Digital Copy)The Story of ChristmasClassic German Baking: The Very Best Recipes for Traditional Favorites, from Pfeffernüsse to StreuselkuchenJamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook: For the Best Christmas Ever
Christmas Eve/Day Activities:
- Read the Christmas Story from the Bible – We read it directly from the Bible (usually Luke). This is a great picture book for children that takes the text from the KJV Bible, the illustrations are amazing and the text is classic! See The Christmas Story by Pamela Dalton.
- Christmas Dinner – Whether you have a classic “American” ham dinner with all of the trimmings, choose a traditional dinner based on your heritage, or decide on a family favorite that is a completely new tradition… a big meal is one of the main traditions everyone enjoys for Christmas!
I love having an old-fashioned Christmas with timeless family Christmas traditions, but I also love exploring, learning about, and adding in some fun traditions from around the world. I often add in 1 or 2 things from other cultures, too.
Wow, so many great resources!!!
Great list! Thank you!
We watch The Nativity every Christmas Eve with our kids, dressed in their brand new, warm jammies and eating fun finger foods with homemade egg nog. It’s been such a great, relaxing tradition that I hope to keep going for many years to come! Plus, I bawl like a baby every time I see the Nativity. 😀
Love the ideas for “new” traditions. There were several I hadn’t thought of and will be adding to our festivities.
The LORD knows how to make sure you are fully satisfied. Jesus Christ is the best give to receive. (-:
Christmas is my favorite time of the year. It give me the opportunity to show the kids the beauty and mercy of God’s greatest gift in our lives. We do the Jesse tree and plenty of Veggie tale movies as well as incorporate some German Christmas traditions.
Thank you for the list.
Looking forward to celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior! ❤️
Great ideas for Christmas traditions. Me and my kids love reading festive books especially Christmas books. Thanks for so many great resources.
Happy Holidays!
My favorite part of the Christmas season is when we all go to the Christmas Eve services. I’m always happy when Christmas falls on a Sunday.
This article is filled with great and useful tips and resources. My favorite is starting new traditions with the family. My favorite holiday is Christmas. People get all wrapped up in gifts, good food, decorations and tend to forget the real meaning of Christmas… celebrating Jesus!
Your family Christmas traditions sound wonderful. It’s our favorite time of year. My favorite tradition has always been decorating the Christmas tree while singing/listening to Christmas music. I have very fond memories as a child and I now try to recreate those cherished memories with my son.
What a wonderful post and generous give away! With a family of 7, $200 goes quickly. It would be a blessing!
Happy Christmas Season!!! Blessings!
I never knew there were so many great homeschool resources Happy holidays
These are great ideas that are meaningful and simple enough to being making new traditions this year!
Thank you for the great ideas!
When my sons were growing up, we did the 12 Days of Christmas. We would pick a family we thought would enjoy a pick me up during the holiday season or one year, we picked our local Fire Department! Starting 12 days out from Christmas (depending on whether we wanted it to end on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day). On the first night, we would usually give something like a loaf of homemade bread. We would put the bread where dogs couldn’t get to it, like on their door knob or between a screen door and their front door, knock, and run or hide. That’s the easiest night! lol The second night, we would do something like two loaves of bread or 2 quarts of eggnog. Knock, and run or hide. Most of the time, they still didn’t have a clue, so it was still easy. Now, on the third night, it was a bit more challenging, because they were ready for us. Sometimes, we’d take our goodies by during the day or go to their back door if that was possible. We’d take by something we made ourselves on the third night. On the fourth night, ‘we’d leave a 4 pack of toilet paper. The fifth night, maybe five slices of pie, five oranges, five apples. On the sixth night, we took a pie or cheesecake cut into six slices. So on and on the eighth or ninth we made reindeer out of candy canes (eight reindeer without Rudolph nine with him!) and connect them with yarn or string, which would slow them down from being able to follow us! For the Fire Department, we took 11 oranges and 12 apples. On the last night, we would actually knock or ring the doorbell and sing the last verse of “On the 12 Days of Christmas” substituting the items we had left sometimes and sometimes not. We live in a rural area where people are pretty far apart and it would be too easy to catch us, so unfortunately, we haven’t done this in many years.
My mother was born on the 16th of December and when I was growing up we would decorate our tree on her birthday. To remember her, we still do the actual decorating on her birthday although we’ll put the tree up and only put the lights and topper on earlier in the month, then decorate on the 16th.
On Christmas Eve, we make a nice meal. Afterwards read the Christmas Story from the New Testament and sing Christmas Carols that match what we’re reading.
Christmas Day, I get up and put a pan of monkey bread in the oven and apple cider into my crock pot to warm. Then, I get everyone else up and we open our gifts that are under the tree. Then, we eat the monkey bread with either hot spiced cider or hot chocolate. After that, we empty our stockings, which are quite large so we can put small gifts and I usually add an apple, orange, nuts, and a few pieces of candy in them instead of having problems finding the gifts under the tree.
I hope these ideas may help with ideas to try for Christmas.
I loved reading your post and will be adding in a few of your suggestions to our Christmas time
We’ve had a year of ups and downs. I married my wonderful husband only to have to transition from planning our life together to planning care for my mother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and Dementia. Most of our funds have gone into taking care of her and catching up on her bills while trying to stay on top of ours. This would be a blessing to help give our children and grandchildren a nice Christmas without causing additional strain.
Oh I love all of those Christmas movies. We also watch the Grinch every year and A Christmas Story.
Our family holiday tradition is to participate in a holiday cookie bake and exchange with family and friends!
I’m thankful that my basic life needs are met, my Spirit is in Christ, and will use this to bless families who need help!
The book list is great.
Marilyn
I make Molasses Popcon balls every year for Christmas- these have more flavor that the dull store bought ones made with cornsyrup.
This is really a great Christmas idea useful tips and resources. I love to give at this time of year not receive. Let’s all of us not forget the real meaning of Christmas celebrating Jesus Christ!!
I’m very excited about the holidays this year. I haven’t been out and about since the pandemic, so seeing my family this year will be extra special! I’m praying that everyone stays safe and healthy. God bless you.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I really love this time of year with family, so thanks for all the great activity ideas to do with our children!
I love the organizers… definitely need as much organization as I can during the holidays!