When I think back on Christmases from my childhood, I certainly remember some of the presents. But when I really stop and think about what made Christmas special, it was the Christmas traditions surrounding those presents that stayed with me. It was going shopping alone with my dad, getting a treat afterward, and knowing there were certain things our family did every single year.
Now that my own kids are grown, I realize they remember many of the same kinds of things.
Not necessarily what was wrapped under the tree.
They remember the waiting. The food. The games. The cookies. The Christmas lights. And some of the silly little things that probably didn’t seem very important when we first started doing them.
That’s the funny thing about Christmas traditions. You don’t always know which ones are going to stick.
Sometimes the simplest little thing becomes the one your children talk about years later.
Christmas Traditions Can Be as Simple as Shopping With Dad
One of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up involved shopping for gifts, but the gifts aren’t really what I remember.
My dad would take each of us kids out individually to do our Christmas shopping for the other members of the family.
There were five kids in our family, so getting Dad all to yourself was unusual. That made those shopping trips feel especially important to me.
I remember looking forward to my turn.
It wasn’t just about picking something out for Mom or my brothers and sisters. It was getting one-on-one time with my dad during a season when everything was busy.
And afterward, we would get a treat.
I specifically remember going to an ice cream parlor and ordering my favorite ice cream at the time, chocolate mint.
It’s funny what stays with you.
I couldn’t tell you what I bought everyone that particular year. I don’t remember what the presents cost or even what store we shopped at.
But I remember the ice cream.
And I remember my dad.
Looking back, I think that is such a sweet reminder for those of us who worry about creating a magical Christmas for our children. Sometimes the memory isn’t in the thing we’re buying for them at all.
It’s in the time we spend beside them.
The “Christmas Gift” Game We Still Play
When I married my husband, I inherited one of the simplest and funniest Christmas traditions from his family.
It’s called “Christmas Gift.”
The entire game consists of trying to be the first person to say “Christmas Gift” to another family member on Christmas morning.
That’s it.
There are no supplies. No presents. No elaborate rules.
You just have to get them before they get you.
And somehow, it is hilarious.
Everyone tries to catch everyone else off guard. The kids have tried to sneak up on each other and on us so they can shout “Christmas Gift!” first.
You win by getting the most people before they can get you.
I love that this is a tradition that came from my husband’s childhood and became part of our children’s childhood too. Those are some of my favorite traditions because they connect generations.
The American Academy of Pediatrics actually talks about the importance of family rituals and holiday traditions, noting that they can help children feel more involved in family celebrations and help connect our lives and generations. Their article about creating meaning through holiday traditions is a wonderful reminder that traditions don’t need to be elaborate to matter. [External link: American Academy of Pediatrics, “Holiday Fun & Family Meaning: Connecting Our Lives.”]
Our little “Christmas Gift” game certainly isn’t elaborate.
But Christmas morning wouldn’t feel quite right without it.
Some of Our Best Christmas Traditions Are Made in the Kitchen
Of course, in our family, food has to be involved somewhere.
Christmas morning has a menu.
We always have breakfast casserole, my homemade cinnamon rolls, and fruit.
There’s something comforting about waking up on Christmas morning and knowing exactly what’s going to be on the table. The cinnamon rolls aren’t just cinnamon rolls anymore. They’re part of Christmas.
Cookies are another big part of our Christmas traditions.
During the Christmas season, each of my kids gets to tell me which Christmas cookies they want me to make.
Somehow, the requests seem to come back to the same favorites.
Gingerbread men.
Hidden mints.
Peanut butter kissed cookies.
Grammy snaps.
And Coconut Islands.
When the kids were little, we had so much fun making cookies together. They especially loved frosting and decorating the gingerbread men.
Were they beautifully decorated bakery cookies?
Probably not. đ
But that wasn’t really the point.
Little hands were spreading frosting, adding decorations, and probably eating more than a few things along the way. Those afternoons in the kitchen became part of what Christmas felt like in our home.
If you’re looking for ways to make Christmas more meaningful through giving too, my post about Thoughtful Family Christmas Gifts has ideas for making the gifts themselves more personal.
Christmas Traditions My Kids Remember Most
While thinking about this post, I asked one of my sons which traditions he remembered most from Christmas when he was growing up.
I was curious what he would say.
He mentioned the breakfast casserole.
He mentioned the “Christmas Gift” game.
And then he brought up something that made me laugh.
We wouldn’t let the kids come down and see what Santa had brought until everyone was awake, lined up, and ready to go downstairs together.
Sometimes we didn’t get everyone assembled until around 8:00 in the morning.
I know.
Torture for a child on Christmas morning.
I’m sure there were mornings when they had been awake for what felt like approximately six hours waiting for us adults to get moving.
But nobody got to sneak downstairs and peek.
Everybody came down together.
At the time, it was probably a rule my children wished would disappear forever. Now it’s one of the Christmas traditions they remember.
That makes me smile.
We Didn’t Open Everything Christmas Morning
We also spread Christmas out a little.
As I mentioned in my post about stocking stuffers, our stockings weren’t opened first thing in the morning. We saved them until later that night.
That gave everyone something else to look forward to after the excitement of Christmas morning had settled down.
We also usually had one family gift.
That gift wasn’t opened until after lunch.
It was typically something we could all enjoy together, such as a game or another activity for the family.
I loved having something under the tree that wasn’t for one person.
It was for us.
There’s nothing wrong with individual presents. I love finding something I think someone will really enjoy. But I also think there is something special about occasionally giving a gift that says, “This is something we’re going to do together.”
Christmas Traditions Don’t Have to Cost Much
Another favorite tradition in our family has always been going to look at Christmas lights.
We’d pile everyone into the car and drive around looking for decorated houses.
Sometimes we’d come home afterward and have hot chocolate. Other times we’d stop somewhere while we were out and buy hot chocolate.
Again, nothing fancy.
But I can still picture everyone together in the car, looking out the windows for the next house covered in lights.
It’s a good reminder that Christmas traditions don’t have to add another big expense to an already expensive month.
Drive around and look at lights.
Make hot chocolate.
Bake the same cookies Grandma made.
Play a ridiculous family game.
Watch the same movie.
Make the same breakfast.
Those little repeated moments begin to say, “This is what Christmas feels like in our family.”
Let Your Children Tell You Which Christmas Traditions Matter
One thing I’ve learned now that my children are older is that the tradition I think was important isn’t necessarily the one they thought was important.
That’s why I loved asking my son what he remembered.
Sometimes parents put enormous pressure on themselves to create traditions. We see all kinds of beautiful ideas and think we need to add more.
Maybe we need a special Christmas Eve box.
A complicated advent calendar.
Matching pajamas.
A new ornament tradition.
A special outing every weekend in December.
Those things can all be wonderful if your family enjoys them.
But we don’t have to manufacture memories.
Sometimes it’s worth simply asking your children, “What’s your favorite thing we do at Christmas?”
Their answer might surprise you.
It might be the breakfast casserole you’ve made every year without giving it much thought.
It might be waiting at the top of the stairs.
It might be yelling “Christmas Gift!” before their brother gets the chance.
It might be decorating a very crooked gingerbread man with way too much frosting.
Pay attention to those answers.
Those are the traditions worth holding onto.
The Best Christmas Traditions Are Really About People
When I think about that childhood shopping trip with my dad now, I understand it differently than I did then.
As a child, I probably thought the fun part was Christmas shopping and getting chocolate mint ice cream afterward.
Now I know the real gift was getting my dad to myself for a little while.
And isn’t that so much of what our favorite Christmas traditions become?
They’re little containers for time together.
The breakfast casserole gets everyone around the table.
The cookies bring everyone into the kitchen.
The family gift gives us something to do together.
The Christmas lights put everyone in the car.
The silly game makes us laugh.
Even making the kids wait at the top of the stairs meant we experienced that first glimpse of Christmas morning together.
Maybe that’s why these little traditions stay with us long after we’ve forgotten most of the gifts.
They aren’t really about cinnamon rolls or hot chocolate or Christmas lights.
They’re about the people who were there.
What Will Your Family Remember?
If you’re trying to make Christmas a little more meaningful this year, I don’t think you need to add ten new things to your December calendar.
Start small.
Think about something your family already loves doing and do it again next year.
Make your mom’s cookie recipe.
Go look at Christmas lights and get hot chocolate afterward.
Create a silly Christmas morning game that costs absolutely nothing.
Make a special breakfast.
Take each child out individually to shop for their siblings and get a treat together afterward.
And if you already have Christmas traditions, ask your children which ones they hope you’ll never stop doing.
You might discover that something you’ve barely thought about has become one of their favorite parts of Christmas.
Someday, they may even carry it into their own homes.
And maybe that’s one of the loveliest things about traditions.
We start out thinking we’re making Christmas memories for our children.
Then one day we realize we’ve given them a little piece of home to take with them.
đ¤ Making every house feel a little more like home.
