Part of establishing your family’s own unique identity is creating your own Christmas traditions to enjoy year after year. If you’d like to start some new traditions but don’t know where to start, here are some ideas:

  • Visit a Christmas tree farm and let each family member have a say in which tree becomes your special Christmas tree for that year.
  • Volunteer at a food bank, homeless shelter, Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army, the Ronald McDonald House, or a hospital. You can bring a lot of holiday cheer to those who really need it, and it teaches your children an important lesson about being thankful for all of their own blessings.
  • Adopt an elderly person at a retirement or nursing home and ask the nurses which residents don’t receive many holiday visitors. Then adopt one (or more) of those individuals and make sure they have a great Christmas.
  • Read a Christmas story before the kids go to bed, every night between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or, if you don’t have time to read every night, set aside a special night to enjoy several holiday stories together.
  • Put your own spin on some old family recipes by cooking with your loved ones. Make some homemade Christmas candy or cookies to share or give as gifts.
  • Attend your church’s midnight Christmas Eve service, if you don’t already. It’s a little late for the young set, but it’s only one night, and it’s truly magical to sing all of those traditional carols by candlelight, go home, and go straight to bed to wait for Santa.