Hello all

I have a 5 yr old daughter and one on the way. Now that my daughter is getting older and my family is growning. I would like to start some family traditions for the holidays. I was wondering if you all would tell me some family traditions you all have..Please..

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I buy the children a Christmas book each year, and write the year inside with a note. They LOVE getting them, and each year they get unpacked with the decorations, I put them out and they stay on the fireplace, and the children read them over and over. I wanted them to have something that when they grow up they can take with them, and have a memory associated with each one. It is also something they can take and share with their own children, from us.

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I don't really have any traditions yet as this is my first baby but DH and I plan on making the Angel Tree one of our yearly traditions. We will let Dominic pick out an angel that is his same age and let him pick out the gift that the child wanted/needed along with one or two other items. That way the child will get something of interest to his own age group.

We don't really want to do the Santa thing but are still wrestling with how we will handle that. I don't want him to be the one kid at school to ruin it for everyone else, you know? This year he will only be four months old so the Santa thing's not a big deal but we plan to keep Christmas Christ-centered in the years to come. There seems to be a lot to think about in keeping Santa out of the celebration.

I LOVE Lauren's idea about the books. Of course I taught reading to 6th/7th graders for 11 years so I would love that idea.

I'll keep checking back to see what others hopefully share.

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Jo - I was thinking a/b the kids who don't do Santa and if they know to keep it a secret. One family I knew told people that Santa was a very nice man who lived a long time ago. You could also teach him a/b Saint Nicholas. Another family I knew let the child ask for/had Santa bring 3 gifts b/c the Baby Jesus got 3 gifts at his birth. I like your angel tree idea a lot.

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Jo, we had the same feeling as you and in the end we went ahead and let the kids get gifts from Santa. We just didnt know how to do it without ruining it for other kids, since my kids say stuff without thinking.
But we have really kept Christmas Christ centered here and so far the 2 big girls seem to really understand the reason behind the day. We have told them that Santa is someone who love the Lord so much that he brings all the boys and girls presents to celebrate Jesus's birth. We said that since Jesus loves the kids so much he wanted them to have all his gifts for his birthday. Then we have homemade cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning before we open gifts and we put candles on them and sing Jesus happy birthday. There is a really good book about Santa in a Christ centered holiday I read my class every year, I will have to get the title and author (it is a German name) and let you know. It could help even if you choose to do no Santa with Dominic.

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Ooh, that would be great, thanks!

I have researched online and found some neat ideas for a St.Nicholas idea. Basically you tell the child about the real St.Nicholas and his secret deeds of charity. You tell the child that we are all "Santa's" helpers and it is our Christ-ly duty to do works of charity without expecting any praise or thank-you's and that is why "Santa" is never seen giving gifts. It is all of us who are doing the gift giving in secret. That may help with him not blowing it to the other kids and may help him use the name Santa as a place holder for those doing secret works of charity. I hope that made sense.

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Jo, that is pretty much what we do. I think the girls know that we are santa but we encourage them to do little acts of charity all year, but especially around the holidays. Like we always make sugar free brownies for the couple next door and we go over at least once a season and get all thier leaves picked up. I will get that book title for you next week

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My mom did the thing with the picking a child off the tree each year, but she gave me an allowance(I think it was like 5 dollars a week or something silly) for doing little chores, and eventually actual chores and had me put like a dollar a week towards that so that I felt like it was my money and I earned it. It really made me feel good when I was five or six to know that I worked to help somebody all year long. I was also so happy when we went shopping for the little boy/girl i chose. Oh, and by time I was old enough to get it, I didn't feel like I should be paid to help around the house. I realized it was everyones job, so I think if you handle it right you won't run into that issue. I know a lot of people that don't do allowances for that reason.

We also made buckeyes(chocolate dipped peanut butter balls-kicks the pants off Reeses!) every year and gave tins of them to all our family and friends. It was a fun family activity. Not to mention a really nice treat!

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Back- when I was little our christmas tradition wasn't very original, but too me it was great. On the night before christmas just before I went to bed my mother and I would bake christmas cookies for Santa. My mom would give me a paper plate and some markers and have me write a letter to santa on the plate and decorate it.When the cookies were done we would put a few on my plate that I made and put a glass of milk next to it and leave it out. Of course when I was sleeping my parents would eat the cookies and write a thank you note from santa for making his "favorite" cookies and how good they were. The first thing I'd do christmas morning before I even checked under the tree was go look and see if santa liked my cookies. It made my day!

Also another idea that is cute that my sister-in-law does with my neices. On christmas eve night after they make cookies they go in the back yard and spread "reindeer food" around the yard for santas reindeer. It is actually just bird seed, but wouldn't ya know- it's gone in the morning

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These are wonderful ideas! I love Vickie's reindeer food! Maybe one day I'll start my own.

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Jo - I just read this on another board and thought of you - everyone is Santa, that Santa is a spirit of giving to others without expecting credit for the giving. To me, the spirit of Santa is alive and well inside us. I enjoy giving something to others that they will enjoy without getting the credit for giving. We then talk about how we can be Santa to others, like doing the Angel Tree, donating to food banks, etc. We talk about how great we feel doing things for others without needing to be personally recognized or thanked,

I have a 1st grader this year who knows that Santa is "not real" but doesn't have any idea why people believe in him.

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