Christmas is a very important time for us as a family – we are totally Christmas mad – the tree went up on the 30th November for goodness sake *sorry* Both my kids see it as their favourite time of year, even better than birthdays, so it is important for us to try and make it special for them every year.
We have our own Christmas traditions in our house that we stick to each year to help…and this year we are going to bring in the old….
- If it is December, the decorations go up – got to get your money’s worth out of them, right?
- Santa gives one present and the stocking, everything else is from family – my parents did this, and it seems to work
- Our stocking presents are all wrapped up – my husband did this, and at first I thought it was rather weird as wasn’t the stocking the wrapping? However, the kids have taken to it, so we continue with his tradition…
- Our Christmas Tree gets in on the act and gives presnets on Boxing Day. I know this is a little odd, but my parents did this as well…and we are carrying on the tradition!
- We have Gammon on Boxing Day, depite having a mountain of Turkey to get through. We will then make a Risotto on the 27ths with the turkey and the gammon, which the kids really like. Risotto is awesome for leftovers you know…
BUT, this year, we thought it would also be nice to start something new….so here are some other Christmas traditions and ideas that we could incorporate into our Christmas to make it a llittle newer, and sparklier in 2014!
So perhaps we might go for…
Getting a visit from the big man
This is a little hard to organise, but perhaps we could invite a friend over on Christmas Eve … dressed up as Santa to give gifts to the kids. This does take a little thought and planning of course, but for younger children in particular, this could be rather wonderful don’t you think?
Using technology to get into the spirit of things
YouTube is ubiquitous, so why not use it to help Christmas have a bit more of a twinkly feel? We can pop the computer in a prominent position such as a sideboard, and have a singalong – perhaps a touch of Sherry might help us all to sing with a little more gusto – excluding the kids of course! There are plenty of videos with the words included Kareokee-stylee. This could work really well for uniting generations and a wee bit of family bonding.
Organise your presents to help younger children – cheers Mothers Ramblings
If you have younger children in the family who aren’t yet able to read, pop over to Mother’s Rambling to get information on a genius idea for your wrapping to help them out. My kids are possibly a bit old for this, but I think they would still enjoy it – they like a bit of order!
Santa’s Footprints
To create a bit of excitement for the kids, we could make fake footprints from the fireplace to the stockings and back? Little Hiccups has an amazing suggestion for how to do these, and even make them glittery so they are far more authentic, well to a three year old anyway… ;-)
Sparkers aren’t just for fireworks night
We could literally make Christmas sparkle, by adding a sparkler (made for the purpose of course) to the proceedings. There are indoor sparklers for older children, but they can also be stuck into the top of a Christmas cake or Christmas pudding too *sizzle.*
So that’s my ten ideas, old and new for this Christmas – now it is over to you…..
Do you have any traditions for Christmas that you can share with us – would love to hear from you – share below, or Tweet us!
Photo credit: Marin from freedigitalphotos.net
Helen
Helen is a mum to two, social media consultant, and website editor; and this site is (we think) the only Social Enterprise parenting magazine! Since giving up being a business analyst when juggling travel, work and kids proved too complicated, she founded KiddyCharts so she could be with her kids, and use those grey cells at the same time. KiddyCharts has reach of over 1.1million across social and the site. The blog works with big family brands (including travel) to help promote their services, as well as offering free resources to parents of kids under 10. It gives 51%+ profits to Reverence for Life, who fund a number of important initiatives in Africa, including bringing running water and basic equipment to a school in Tanzania. Helen has worked as a digital marketing consultant (IDM qualified) with various organisations, including Channel Mum, Truprint, Talk to Mums, and Micro Scooters. She loves to be creative in the brand campaigns she works on. Get in touch TODAY!