I LOVE Christmas, and definitely tried to make it very special for my daughters by doing some fun and festive activities together every year. I know they got a huge kick out of these things as young girls and enjoy some of them still today!

My daughter sent me this a couple years ago and she’s 28! It made me cry!! SO sweet; and makes me feel so happy that I helped make some great memories. Hopefully she’ll continue these with her own family one day! Try them with your children!

Their own Christmas card design. My kids got a kick out of doing a photo shoot for their holiday card. Even when they lived separately, they would come home specifically to do this. In the past few years when that hasn’t been possible, they find a good picture of themselves to turn into a card or have fun going back through the years to put together a collage! They choose the design, print, and send them.

Home-made presents for family and friends. See my post on home-made gifts from children! This has been a tradition for us for years. It has multiple benefits…the girls have fun making the gifts together and the recipients love them! A personal gift made by a child is just precious!

Making/opening advent calendars. I always either bought or made these each year, including recently when I sent each of my daughters a chocolate calendar! It’s just such a fun tradition seeing the girls open a door each day in December leading up to the excitement of Christmas Eve. See my post on the many creative ways of making your own advent calendars!

Matching jammies. You have to do this, right? When you have multiple children like I do, they love to feel like they’re part of the pack, and matching clothes in general are just cute (as long as you don’t do that with twins, which I’ve heard they don’t like). The huge variety of different holiday pajamas just make it fun to pick out something you know they’ll love and wear all holiday season and beyond. 

Getting the tree. We went for years to a place that already had the trees cut and drilled and everything, but a few years ago my daughter and I decided to go to a real tree farm. We picked out the tree, had the guys cut it and prep it for us. So much fun!

But be careful to accurately estimate the height of your ceiling. Ha! We WAY over-estimated the size of the tree, and had a pretty difficult time getting it in the house and up on the stand!! We’ve decided to go back to getting a pre-cut tree, which is still lots of fun to pick out and get it home and situated. It’s an annual adventure!

Decorating the tree with ornaments, popcorn, and gingerbread men. Once the tree is in place with lights, the girls love decorating. They have ornaments with their names on them that they enjoy finding and putting on personally. We also have a tradition of stringing popcorn. This is fun to do if you put on a Christmas movie (see below). A big bowl of microwave popcorn, needles and thread- and it’s a party! Another thing we always make for the tree are gingerbread men. These just come out so cute- just put a little hole in the top, and string some ribbon through them to hang! 

Wrapping. This job is not just left to parents (mothers more likely)! There are ways you can certainly involve kids in this and make it a tradition. Ways of decorating presents with drawings, stickers, and treats are SO fun for little ones especially! See my post on creative wrapping ideas!

Gingerbread house. This is a tradition the girls do even today as young adults. Warning, these are never easy to do- the roof just seems to fall in every year. But it’s the challenge, I guess, that keeps them coming back. And they eventually come out pretty good! I love having these as centerpieces on the holiday table!

Feeding the reindeer. When the girls were young this was a cute idea. We mix oatmeal with glitter, and put out in the front yard for the reindeer! 

Making cookies for Santa. Along the lines of prepping for our visitors on Christmas Eve, we always left cookies and milk out for Santa Claus. Remember when you’re filling those stockings to take a few bites and sips to make it look like Santa ate some of the snack. When my middle daughter was a little older and likely realized I was Santa, she said, ” maybe Santa would want some wine and cheese instead?” HA!

Holiday movies. If you get the Hallmark Channel or Free Form, these always have both traditional and very cheesy holiday movies at this time of year, so whatever your mood you can find something! For younger kids I suggest Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph, and The Year Without a Santa Claus– they’re oldies but goodies. For us older ladies, I personally love The Holiday and, of course, Love Actually, which I watch maybe three times a year 🙂

There are so many ways you can celebrate holidays with children. Making things, decorating, and just enjoying being together as they anticipate Santa’s arrival!

Create your own traditions this season, and let me know some things you enjoy!