Today I thought that it might be fun to share some of our Christmas Traditions! This is a lengthy post, but you have all weekend…right? :)
But before I start this post…I would like to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving weekend! I hope that you get to do something that you love with people that you love!
One of our Christmas traditions that we do is to donate blankets and quilts to one of our local hospitals. We start this in November or even before. I try to make a few quilted quilts and then we all tie several fringed fleece blankets. (click on link for tutorial on how to make these easy fleece blankets)
(I love this cute picture!!! My grandson was only 2 1/2 years old in this picture, he is now almost 6 years old!)
We are going to be working on several blankets this Thanksgiving day and I hope to get them most of the way done! This is a project that we can get everyone involved in, even the guys can tie these easy blankets!
The next tradition that we do is to celebrate Sinterklaas Day! My oldest son served an mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, in The Netherlands, so we have celebrated this holiday ever since that time! It is a super fun way to start the holiday festivities. It is on Dec. 5th and is fun way to welcome Sinterklaas! We usually have our party on Sunday night when we are all together. We have dinner, sing songs and then a special guest appears at our door! The kids love listening for the jingle bells. Santa talks to each child and he gives them a treat bag, he sings a couple of songs with us and encourages the children to be good so that he can come back on Christmas eve! This has been a fun tradition for several years now! My husband and I give the kids a pair of Christmas pj’s…so they can wear them all month and a family book. This last year we did a FHE book called the “Ites” and we have had a monthly FHE with everyone! We will be doing this again next year!
I have always loved the idea of welcoming in the Christmas Season with Santa! We then celebrate the spiritual side of Christmas on Christmas Eve.
Some of the fun treats that we make for Christmas are:
This is a very old recipe that I remember my mom making for Christmas.
I call this next recipe the World’s Easiest Candy! It has two ingredients and it is one of my most favorite candies for the holidays…heck, I love these any time of the year! :)
Years ago, my mom and I would get together and dip chocolates! It would be an all day process and we would make pounds and pounds of these little delights. I remember making fondant and caramel so that we could dip them. Well, I have not really passed this tradition on to my daughter, but we do make caramels and several other treats, just not the dipped chocolates. One of our favorite recipes is Salted Caramel.
Here are a couple other Christmas Treats that you can try:
Another Tradition is to find fun saying and thoughts for this holiday season. I love to have these all over the house!
I have always made my neighbor gifts and friends gifts, so I have to get started early in order to get them done. I don’t know why I have always done this, but it is now tradition… and I love having traditions. Christmas Traditions are what your family will remember!
One of the last traditions that we do every year as an extended family is to let the children act out the nativity. They love to do this and it is so easy with these simple costumes!
Super Easy Nativity Costumes. If you do not have enough children to act this out…you could also do the darling nativity Set that I have in my shop.
Now for my absolutely, most favorite tradition…
You need to take a minute and read this story! This is my husband and I’s favorite time of all the Christmas season. We wake up on Christmas morning and we read the letters that our kids and grandkids have written. There are usually tears that are shed, but it is such a special moment for us! This is one tradition that I hope my family will carry on for years to come!
Well that is a few of our Christmas Traditions that we have chosen to celebrate in our family. What traditions do you carry on in your family? I love having traditions because it is a wonderful way to honor those that have taught you traditions and it is a fun way to keep your family close to you.
I hope that you can celebrate your family traditions this weekend with Thanksgiving and then on to the Christmas Traditions!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I will be back next week with the December Visiting Teaching handout!
“Gobble til you Wobble!
These are wonderful traditions! We have a 24 days of Christmas book that we read each year. Every day has a scripture, carol, and story. Every year we also buy a new ornament for our tree that’s representative of that year. We have our kids’ picture taken with Santa and we watch a live nativity pageant. These are some of our favorites!
I don’t comment often but I love your site. Your ideas, pictures and comments all brighten my day. Thank you for all the time you put into this and sharing so many wonderful ideas.
Your NO-FAIL FUDGE recipe is somewhat confusing because you do not explain what to do on the last part.
Marshall, after cooking the milk and sugar, put the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl, add the hot milk mixture and beat it all together. Then pour into your prepared pans. Hope this helps.