Simple, Meaningful Holiday Traditions for Families
The holiday season is my favorite times of year. Yet, if I am not intentional, it can be easy to rush through this season and get lost in the chaos without soaking up the magic of it and creating intentional memories with my family.
While our culture often pushes us to do more and places an emphasis on big gifts and plans, I have often found there is so much more magic in simple traditions.
The case for family traditions
If you’ve been around here for long, you know, I am a big believer in creating regular rhythms and intentional traditions in our homes. And not just at Christmas.
Traditions make up the daily rhythms of our homes ad over time, shape the culture in our homes. A home culture of love, peace, joy, and connection doesn’t just happen. It takes work. Traditions anchor families to one another, giving them common ground, shared memories and experiences, and a rich history of togetherness that binds them together.
Non-Christmas traditions in our home might look like Friday night pizza, popcorn with apples and peanut butter on a Sunday afternoon, and Saturday morning pancakes, just name a few. Notice how many revolve around food. haha.
In this blog post, I would like to share with you some simple ideas for meaningful family traditions. Many of these we have done in our own home and they have become the core of how we celebrate.
Before we dive in, I just want to say that it is easy to feel the need to do all the things in this season, especially if you have young children. Let me gently encourage you that what’s far more important than all of the holiday magic is a present and joyful mama. It is the greatest gift we can give our children. So let this be your permission to slow down and cut out all the things that do not bring you joy or serve your goals and purposes.
Be ruthless in eliminating things that are not necessary and I think you will find a lot of joy in simple traditions with your family. If you need a good place to start in planning your holiday to eliminate stress and chaos, grab my free Holiday Homemaking Planner.
Traditions in the home
Simmer pots
There are so many studies that show that smell is profoundly linked to many memories. I hope that when my children are grown, the smells of crisp bacon and warm cinnamon rolls will bring back delightful memories of childhood.
Simmer pots are one of my favorite ways to bring this power of sent into my home during this season. There are so many ways you can do that with simple ingredients that you have already on hand like cinnamon sticks cloves, oranges, etc. Here is a simple simmer pot recipe. It also makes a fantastic gift!
Handmade ornaments
Someday I would love to do an old-fashioned Christmas and decorate our home entirely with handmade ornaments and decorations, but every year we do a few simple things. Here’s a few of our favorite handmade ornament and decor ideas:
Traditions In the kitchen
Gingerbread houses
Gingerbread houses can be a lot of work, I get it, but if you have the time and mental capacity, they are so festive and fun. Decorating gingerbread houses makes for a fun family night or invite over friends to do it with you. There are all all kinds of gingerbread house kits out there that you can use to make things simple or make your own gingerbread using a recipe like this one.
Cookie baking day
Cookie baking is the quintessential holiday activity and for good reason. It’s such a special time to gather your children in the kitchen with you as you prepare delicious treats to enjoy. Plan a cookie baking day and give some away to neighbors, your holiday cookie exchanges, or just enjoy them for a cookie and hot cocoa movie night. Here’s some of my favorite Christmas cookies to make.
Christmas breakfast tradition
Maybe it’s just me, but I think every family should have a Christmas breakfast tradition. There’s nothing like a warm baked good fresh out of the oven to awaken your senses and create powerful connections of love and memories. I wrote blog post full of easy and delicious make ahead breakfast ideas for holidays, and even shared our family tradition, the Christmas star, which is a little more labor-intensive, but absolutely worth it.
Christmas Eve soup and bread
Some years ago, I heard someone call Christmas Eve dinner a Shepherd’s meal. The idea behind this being a simple meal similar to what the shepherds in the field may have eaten. I doubt the shepherds ate soup in the field, but a rich potato soup or chicken corn chowder, along with a crusty bread is our family‘s favorite way to celebrate Christmas Eve.
Traditions In giving to others
Gifts for neighbors
It’s a sad reality that we do not know our neighbors like the generations before us did. I find Christmas one of the few times that people reach out to each other and I like to take advantage of this by giving gifts to our neighbors. This might look like a basket of cookies or a loaf of fresh bread. Something simple to let them know that we are thinking about them and wish them a merry Christmas. You can find a list of 14 inexpensive and meaningful gifts to friends and neighbors in this blog post
Christmas shoeboxes
One of our fundamental traditions and values as a family is to give to others at Christmas. We never want to lose sight of how richly blessed we are and that there are many in this world who do not have the same gifts and privileges. We’ve been packing boxes for Operation Christmas Child for the last several years and find it is such a fun and meaningful way to give and bring joy to children around the world
You could also consider your local Angel Tree organization or other adopted child-type programs and make this a family activity to shop for a child. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to teach our children to give to others.
Christmas cards
Christmas cards get expensive, I know, and in a social media age they’re not as popular anymore. But I still feel like they are such a special way to connect with friends and family and to let them know you were thinking about them this holiday season.
One of the most cost-effective ways I have found to do that is to create my own template using Canva or something similar and then send it to Staples to have printed. This has saved us a ton of money and is a very cost-effective way to do this.
Traditions in our faith
Advent reading
There are many wonderful resources and studies out there. Our family uses the Jesse Tree Advent from Pip & J Papery and it is a delightful way to focus on Christ during holiday season. If you have young children, I absolutely love the Christmas themed unit studies from Brighter Day Press and Treehouse Schoolhouse, and they are rich with literature, crafts, and simple activities to do with your kids during the holiday season.
Nativity reading
We have a family tradition of reading the Christmas story from Luke 2 in the Bible first thing on Christmas morning and it is one of our family‘s favorite Christmas traditions. I’ve also known families to read a chapter of the book of Luke every day for the month of December, another simple way to keep Christ first in your home this season.
Birthday cake for Jesus
Our family has not practiced this, but I know it is a sweet tradition for many people to make a birthday cake for Jesus to sing and eat on Christmas Day.
More slow and cozy Christmas traditions
Christmas pajamas
Pajamas were a tradition in my family of origin and every year on Christmas Eve we would open a new pair of pajamas that we wore the next day for Christmas. I have carried this tradition over into my own home with a little twist.
We do the same and black buffalo plaid pajamas every year. My husband and I have plaid pajama pants and just buy a new set of pajamas for our growing daughter each year. This is one way to have a pajama tradition without buying new Christmas pajamas every year.
If you still want to have a Christmas pajama tradition, but don’t want to spend a lot of money, another tip is to buy Christmas PJs at the beginning of the season and allow your children to wear them all winter long. This feels a little more justifiable than buying PJs just for the month of December. Old Navy often has great deals on holiday pajamas leading up to Christmas and is one of my favorite places to grab matching sets.
Christmas carols by candlelight
If you enjoy Christmas carols at all, this tradition will be especially meaningful. There’s some things so sweet about singing the dear old Christmas carols by candlelight. Sometimes I will play the carols on the piano or my husband will play guitar, but often we just sing with our voices and it’s such a rich tradition.
Sleeping by the Christmas tree
One of my favorite Christmas traditions with my daughter is to sleep by the Christmas tree the first night it is all set up. We pile a bunch of blankets and pillows on the floor, eat Christmas cookies and drink hot cocoa and fall asleep by the light of the Christmas tree. It is such a special time.
Hot cocoa and Christmas movie
Of course it goes without saying that Christmas movies are just one of the easiest and most fun parts of the Christmas season. We love the old black and white Classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, and Miracle on 34th Street, but we also enjoy watching more modern classics as well, or even Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker ballet
I love to make up cups of steaming, chocolatey hot cocoa, and snuggle in with a pile of blankets. This hot chocolate recipe is similar to one that I make is free of refined sugar. For an extra special touch, be sure a batch of homemade marshmallows as well.
Choosing the right traditions for your family
I hope this list has given you some inspiration for your own family traditions. Never feel like you have to keep doing something you don’t enjoy just because it’s a tradition. You can always switch things up, try new things and see what your family likes and enjoys.
Here’s a few questions to consider as you think about your current traditions or new ones you might want to try:
- What memories do you want your children to carry into adulthood?
- What rhythms make your home feel most peaceful?
- How can you bring joy without adding stress?
I wish you a blessed and memory filled holiday season as you embrace your home and loved ones and seek to make rich traditions that will live on your families hearts for a lifetime.
