Start a Christmas tradition with your kids. It will be something they look forward to every year as they are growing up, and will remember with fondness all their grown-up years.
My tradition with my kids was that we would make rolled sugar cookies the week after Thanksgiving. And we had lots of Christmas Cookie cutters. When they were baked, I would wrap and store them in the freezer, and the day they got out of school for Christmas vacation (they usually got out early on that day), I would spend the morning filling small bowls with many colors of icing, raisins, chocolate chips, cinnamon red hots, colored sugars, sprinkles, etc. I would prepare the kitchen table as a workplace.
They spent the entire afternoon decorating cookies, some to eat, some to save for our Christmas, and some to give to friends and relatives. Lots of loving fun was enjoyed by all.
Our family traditions include eating Pillsbury cinnamon rolls in our pajamas while opening one gift at a time which has been kris kringled (delivered) by the youngest one there. The recipient has to guess what's in it. We frequently use puns on the gift tags as clues. My son, 42, and daughter, 33, and granddaughter, 16, show up at our house on Xmas morning in their pjs. I always hope they don't get stopped by the police on their way here.
When my teenagers were small, I decided that I would rather spend Christmas morning playing with them instead of making a big breakfast and having to do dishes, so I bought some Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls and popped them in the oven and we had milk (in paper cups) and cinnamon rolls served on napkins for breakfast on Christmas morning. That turned into the tradition that they most look forward to. This year they told me that they don't even care about the gifts- as long as they get their Christmas breakfast!
we too gave each child an ornament of their own each year to put on the tree and now i'm starting it with the grandchildren. i purchase my ornament after christmas when they've gone on sale.
Here's our christmas tradition... for the last few years, my son "feeds the reindeer" right before going to bed on Christmas eve. I take a package of instant oatmeal (any kind will do) and mix some glitter & sparkles in with it. Don't cook it! Just take it outside and let the kids sprinkle the dry mixture on the sidewalk/lawn. Apparently the reindeer can smell the oatmeal and the glitter will sparkle for them to see. By the time the kids wake up, its been blown away or melted into the snow. My son looks forward to this every year! Its something that I learned from a daycare teacher, and thought it was cute. And it gets him to bed really early!
Another great Christmas tradition that my sister did was to make or buy a special ornament for each child every year. When they are grown and leave home they have a good start on their own ornaments and many memories. You could date each one so they know the year it was given to them.
I did the exact same thing when mine were small. The only difference is, each got to invite a friend over to help decorate the cookies. This allowed the friend's mother to have some time to finish shopping, wrapping gifts, or anything else she needed to do. At day's end, each child took home the cookies he/she decorated.
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