I LOVE Christmas! And I love fun traditions. Doing some of our favorite holiday things together as a family really makes it feel like the Christmas season. And I love the anticipation as my kids look forward to these things year after year. What better time than 2020 to start some new, fun traditions, right?! Bring on the Christmas cheer, friends!
1. Make a Christmas Movie Playlist
Is there anything better than hopping into some flannel jammies, turning on the fire, and snuggling in with the fam and a Christmas movie? We all have our favorites! Christmas movies bring back so many memories for me, and I love creating them with the kids. Since we only watch them once a year, we like to make sure we have a checklist. I keep a list in the Notes on my iPhone that’s easy to pull up every year.
Here are some of our faves!
- Peanuts Christmas
- A Christmas Story
- It’s a Wonderful Life
- Elf
- The Grinch
- Polar Express
- Home Alone
- Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas
- The Santa Clause
And so many others! White Christmas, Frosty, Christmas Vacation, Rudolph, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Carol. We haven’t seen The Christmas Chronicles yet, but have heard it’s adorable too! The point is, find YOUR favorites and make your list! Or let the kids make a list and hang it on the wall to check off as you watch them!
2. Christmas Countdown Calendar
This might be my favorite! Growing up, my mom got a felt countdown calendar for our wall from a local church Christmas bazaar. Every day, we took a little felt character (a candy cane, a gift, a stocking, a drum) out of the pouch for that day and hung it on the calendar. And in each day’s pouch, my mom slipped a piece of paper with a drawing of some place in our home. My sister and I would look at the picture and then race to that spot to find some kind of little holiday treat. Like a mini scavenger hunt every day!
I was so excited to continue this with my kids! We start December first every year and countdown to Christmas Day. Here are some ideas for countdown goodies!
- Hot cocoa bombs or cocoa supplies
- Family Legos or Puzzle
- Jammies
- Tree Ornaments
- Small gift cards
- Nail Polish
- Blind Bags (Legos, Minecraft, Ponies, Squishies, Hatchimals, etc.)
- Art Supplies
- Books
- Scrunchies
- Christmas Movies
- Fuzzy socks
- Homemade Coupons (one of my faves is a Starbucks date with mom…also a mom win!)
This year we got THIS talking Linus stuffy and the whole family loves him!
3. Christmas Lights with Jammies + Milkshakes
I grew up hopping in the car with my parents and sister and driving around town to “oooo” and “ahhhh” over Christmas lights. When our kids were tiny, we took it next level. Every year, they put on Christmas pjs and we pick up milkshakes before we start our light tour. It’s such an easy tradition that we all look forward to every year!
4. Matching Holiday PJs
I mean, I feel like this is such a given it doesn’t even need to be said. Right?! But here’s what I love about family holiday jammers…there are so many ways to make this tradition yours! Our family gets a new set every year in early December as part of our Countdown Calendar. Then we wear them throughout the month and OF COURSE on Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning!
I have several friends who wrap new Christmas jammies under the tree for the family to open on Christmas Eve. Whatever your tradition looks like, you can’t go wrong with matching holiday jammers!
I love the Wondershop pajamas from Target. You have to either grab them early OR stalk the Target app (check out my tip on how to score the popular out-of-stock Target items HERE). But they fit well, the flannel is comfy and they are a great price point. We got THESE white plaid jams this year. They also have these adorable Disney jammies HERE. Some of our other faves are The Company Store or Hanna Andersson.
5. Hot Cocoa Bar
One thing I love about creating a new tradition is taking something normal and making it extra special. I love a good hot chocolate bar! Even if my kids mostly just like regular hot cocoa and marshmallows. LOL! Pick a night and make a hot cocoa bar every year with a spread of your favorites. Marshmallows, whipped cream, peppermint sticks, peppermint crunch, caramel sauce, mini chocolate chips, sprinkles…whatever you love! We have THESE glass mugs from Target and the kids know they are special for hot chocolate.
Christmas Music Playlist
If you need some holiday music inspo, I created this playlist full of music our family loves. It’s a mix of classic Christmas songs, our contemporary favorites, and all kinds of in between. You can find it HERE!
I have a friend who shared that her tradition is to give her children an ornament to open Christmas Eve each year, so that by the time they are grown they will have their own beautiful set of ornaments for their own trees. I love that! And several friends who wrap 24 Christmas books and open one each day in December leading up to Christmas to read together. Such a cute idea! And if you have littles, you definitely need to check out the Advent Storybook HERE. It’s 24 very short stories (typically 1-2 pages each) about a little bear and a journey to Bethlehem. We read it year after year starting December 1st.
I also shared all my Target holiday faves HERE if you haven’t checked it out yet!
We all need some extra Christmas cheer this year. I hope these give you some ideas for new magic to create with your family in 2020!
XO, Kelli
