25 Christmas Family Traditions
For years, we have enjoyed Christmas family traditions, and today, I am sharing my 25 favorites. I would love to learn about all of yours, too.
Day Twelve is the last day of the Twelve Days of Getting Ready for Christmas. I wanted to thank you for joining me these past twelve days. I hope I inspired you and relieved the stress of preparing for the holidays.
I am a bit crazy when it comes to traditions. Seventeen of the twenty-five on this list are things we do (or have done) for years!
I would love it if you all would add some of your family’s Christmas traditions to the comments. I would love to read about every single one and am ready to add more.
My Favorite Family Christmas Traditions
Sibling Shopping Day
I used to take the boys on a memorable shopping trip in December. Our sons had a list of everyone they needed to buy gifts for, and the four of us went to Target. Andrew and Matt usually finished in about an hour. Michael, on the other hand, spent hours finding the perfect gifts. As much as his brothers complained, Michael’s gifts were incredible and well-thought-out.
Watch a Favorite Holiday Movie Together
I love having a special family movie you can watch with your family. When I was growing up, my sisters and I loved watching “White Christmas” every year. I think I know every word of every song and most of the dialogue throughout the movie! As hard as I have tried to get my boys to watch the movie “White Christmas”, they haven’t shown much interest.
Of course, with the boys’ input, we are more likely to watch Elf or A Christmas Story. Times do change!
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Family Cook-a-Long
I love cooking in the kitchen with our family. A few years ago, we started a tradition of teaming up, and each team cooks a course. We all cook together, and it is so much fun.
This evening is one of my favorites during the holiday season. Of course, it relieves my stress of having to cook another meal!
Gift Wrapping Night
Our family has always wrapped gifts on Christmas Eve. I finally changed this habit and usually have all of my gifts wrapped before Christmas Eve! Now, the rest of the family … not so much.
I hope we can change that plan this year and start a tradition of doing it earlier. I keep telling them all it makes for a much more relaxing Christmas!
When do you wrap your gifts?
Making Gifts
Many of you know I made gifts for my family every Christmas for about forty years.
I will be sharing a lot more homemade gifts between now and Christmas. I would love to ask our boys to make one handmade gift. How do you think they would react?
Adopt a Charity
We participated in the Adopt a Family program when the boys were younger. We sponsored a family and shopped and bought all of their Christmas gifts. I love this program; it’s a fabulous idea.
Buying the Tree
Buying our Christmas tree has been a huge tradition in our family. We have always bought our tree at the YMCA, and the boys played hide-and-seek in the tree lot. Somehow, we were never kicked out!
Sadly, the YMCA doesn’t sell trees any longer but we still buy our trees in our hometown. Now, it’s usually Dave and I, but we love it!
Decorating the Tree
We always have a fresh tree in our living room that holds our treasured family ornaments.
We decorated the tree yearly until the boys grew up and moved out. We have many wonderful handmade and family ornaments, and we all love decorating the tree because it brings back fond memories.
See the gingerbread ornament? I made that when I was six. It is genuinely vintage now. Hehe.
Hosting a Christmas Party
This year, we will be hosting our 37th annual Christmas party. This is my favorite party of the year and has grown from 40 to 250 guests. I still cook all of the food, and it’s quite an undertaking! Stay tuned for lots of party preparation!
Citrus Singers
You may not be familiar with the Citrus Singers, but this college singing group is out of this world talented. Every December, we get together with some of our closest friends for dinner and a performance by the Citrus Singers. It is one of my favorite evenings during the holidays.
Reading the Night Before Christmas
When the boys were young, ages 8 months, 2, and 3, Dave started reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” every Christmas Eve. He still does this every year, even though the boys are now 33, 32, and 30!
Traditional Dinner (Beef Tenderloin/Pasta)
We always have a traditional Christmas dinner on the 24th, and it’s always enjoyed at the dining room table.
Since Christmas dinner is always a traditional turkey dinner, I prepare either beef tenderloin or a pasta buffet. Every year, I let the kids decide!
Ice Skating (even in California)
Ice skating is fun, and most large towns have an ice skating rink. This has always been a fun thing to do during the holidays. When my in-laws had their home in Lake Arrowhead, we used to ice skate every December.
Opening the Stockings – youngest to oldest
We open our stockings in order of age, youngest to oldest. This is when I must remember that I am the oldest in our family. I am two and a half months older than my husband, and somehow, this feels more real on Christmas morning. We have done this every year since we were married. (That would be 38 years!)
Opening Gifts – Oldest to youngest
After we open the stockings, we open our gifts, but this time, we open them from oldest to youngest. I love this tradition so much.
But unfortunately, I am still the oldest.
Christmas Morning Brunch – family recipes
I love that every Christmas morning, in three different states, my brothers and sisters and I (and our families) enjoy my Mom’s Overnight Sausage Casserole. This recipe has been a tradition in our family for as long as I can remember. You can only imagine how hard I cried when my daughter-in-law, Charlotte, gave me this gift a few years ago. It was so thoughtful!
If you look closely, you can read the recipe!
Mimosas at Christmas Brunch
I started this tradition a few years ago when I made special ice cubes for mimosas. These ice cubes add flavor and keep the champagne cold, which is wonderful. Head to my blog post for all of the details.
Game Night
We love to play games over the holidays, but my youngest son took it to a different level last year. Michael assigned us to be in charge of two evenings during the holiday. My favorites were Rummikub, Ticket to Ride, and Qwirkle.
Fun Family Competition
We have had many team competitions in our family. We played golf inside our home a few years ago, and it was so much fun. You can see the highlight reel here.
Making Ornaments for the Tree
When the boys were young, I hosted Christmas craft workshops where the kids would make gifts for their families, teachers, and pets. This is so much fun!
Making/Decorating Cookies for Santa
We made special cookies for Santa, and I loved it so much! I know the boys are grown, but I hope to do this with my grandchildren in a few years. Graham isn’t quite two, so we have a few years to go!
Can you tell this cookie is a replica of our home?
Writing a Letter to Santa and His Reindeer
There are so many fun traditions you can start with your kids. Making cookies for Santa and writing a letter to Santa are perfect opportunities.
Open One Gift on Christmas Eve
We did this when I was growing up, and I remember that most of the years, we received new pajamas! We haven’t done this with our family, but I know many people love to open at least one. I would love your input and to share why/how it works well.
Looking at Christmas Lights
The last tradition I am sharing is one we have enjoyed for many years. Every Christmas Eve, we put on our pajamas, pile the dog in the car, and head out to St. Alban’s Street to look at the Christmas lights. I put Christmas carols on the radio, and it’s so much fun.
I hope you have enjoyed the twenty-five Family Christmas Traditions. Feel free to make any of these your own! Now it’s your turn to share your traditions.
My Favorite Christmas Decor Inspiration!
If you missed any of my Twelve Days to Get Ready for Christmas, you can find them here:
- Day 1 – How to Choose Christmas Colors for Your Holiday Decor
- Day 2 – Stocking Stuffers for Christmas Morning
- Day 3 – Gift Wrapping Ideas and Sunday Morning Coffee
- Day 4 – Decorating with Christmas Ribbon in the Dining Room
- Day 5 – Easy Christmas Button Crafts
- Day 6 – Creative Ideas for Christmas Gift Tags
- Day 7 – DIY Table Top Christmas Trees
- Day 8 – Seven Creative Ideas to Set a Christmas Table
- Day 9 – Holiday Make Ahead Party Desserts
- Day 10 – Handmade Mercury Glass Ornaments
- Day 11 – My Favorite Christmas Tree Skirts and Tree Collars
- Day 12 – 25 Christmas Family Traditions
You can pin the image below to your decor boards on Pinterest (just click the Pin button in the top left corner) or follow me on Pinterest!
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Thank you Leslie for all the inspiration you’ve shared. I hope you’re Christmas Season loses none of it’s sparkle even during these difficult times. Best wishes to all of you! BTW I am a year and three months older then my husband. It’s worked for us for 41 years!!😘
Citrus Singers, skating & opening presents & stockings. We have done all the rest from when I was a child & brought it into my own family for the last 43+yrs. All these traditions are so much fun. O ya, and our traditional Xmas Dinner meal is tamales & more tamales for breakfast. Family🎅🏼
That golf tourney was the best ever! A whole lot of creativity. I’ve done treasure / secret spy present hunts. My grandson wanted (at age 7) to be a ninja spy so I hid his gifts all over his house and he had to follow clues written in reverse and find his “handler” (uncle Marc) to help him as needed. He had code words and dead drops and everything I could think of. He had a blast. So did the rest of us watching him.
Love all your ideas-thank you.
Thanks for the tips and ideas! I have bookmarked the Citrus Singers and will be adding that to our Christmas grandkids plans!!
Leslie, you and Karianne have outdone yourselves delivering all of your fabulous Christmas inspiration to us over the past 12 days. Thank you! Our family consists of about 30 when we all get together, and we have started playing Left, Right, Center. It is a dice game that you can find at most stores, and is probably available on Amazon. I have even purchased one at Walgreens. We play with three $1 bills, but you can use pennies, or anything you want to. We have played with as few as six people, or as many as 20 (the more that play, the more money (or whatever you are playing with) you win.) Happy Holidays!
These are awesome traditions! Thank you for sharing yours! Our town has had an ice rink the last two years ago that’s become a tradition for us too. Christmas is such a wonderful time of year!
Love all these traditions! Thank you for sharing. Our family has a few too. We keep a Christmas book where we each write an entry on Christmas. I started it when my daughters were children and we’ve had it over 40 years. We also ask our guests to write in it as well. As the years go by you especially treasure the entries of those no longer with us! We also watch a movie that we created from all of our Christmas’ past, from the time the children were toddlers when we first got a movie camera!
LOVE all your traditions!!
I started this tradition – when my girls were young…..
Every July or August we’d make 100 ornaments (some variation of a snowman).
Then after Thanksgiving all the ornaments are hung a tree just inside the front door. Anyone who knocks on our front door during the month of December gets an ornament. The UPS driver, pizza delivery, neighbors, friends or family – even if you’re at the wrong address. 🙂 My girls loved giving the ornaments away. They are grown-up now – but I still make give-away snowmen every year. XO
I love that! What a fun idea!😊❤️
Best tradition ever!
Oh Leslie!
When we lived in So Pas, St Albans was always a must! And we’ve attended Citrus Singer shows for many years, both Christmas and the Spring show. About 6 years ago we started taking the grandkids to the Christmas show. We are really missing it this year!
My family has made the same breakfast casserole that you make for as long as I can remember. What is the source for the casserole dish? Thanks
My mother was adopted by a German family and they celebrated the feast of St Nicholas on December 6th. This is when they would get their stockings. She carried this tradition to my brothers & sisters and now I do it with my girls. It’s the best time to give Christmas puzzles, coloring book, books, anything Christmasy. It stopped us from saying “when is Santa coming” a million times. It was fun having Christmas related gifts leading up to the big day rather than on that day. My girls are in their 20’s and we’ve already planned a lunch together to celebrate on the 6th.
I love these traditions! Christmas is such a magical time of year with so much joy and cheer that my husband and I decided to get married on Christmas Eve – 10 years ago this year! 🎄
One of our traditions I loved growing up was how my family clipped little candles to our dessert plates. (I think they were actually old fashioned Christmas tree candlesticks). When we had our traditional Christmas (Eve) dinner, we would go around the table and each person would light the candle of the person next to them, while saying something they love about them or sharing a special memory from that year.
When we got married, my husband and I went around and lit the candles of our family members to honor this tradition and signify our two families joining together. Our caterer actually cried and said it was the most beautiful and symbolic thing he had witnessed and he felt honored to be apart of it. Which, naturally, made me cry! ❤️
As for Christmas Eve presents, we open one present which is always no surprise – pajamas. We usually watch a Christmas movie in those pajamas shortly after opening them. You could easily incorporate that tradition, since you already get in Christmas pj’s to go see the beautiful lights. There’s nothing like fresh new PJs on the most exciting evening of the year! And even though we always laugh and say “My, my, I wonder what this could be!” I think everyone knowing it’s new PJs makes it even more fun because everyone is in on the secret.
Oh! And when I was little, my mom created a secret cinnamon roll recipe that is out of this world. We make “Bodacious Buns” each year and the smell of those baking on Christmas morning is divine. The only way to learn the recipe is through marriage, much to the chagrin of all our friends. But worry not, they get plenty when we make them for gift deliveries each year! 😅
Just wanted to share- we have always opened a gift on Christmas Eve. The gift has always been a new pair of pajamas.
Hi Leslie! First of all I love your home and your traditions. Our family has some that will be new to you. One of our traditions is having fried pies every Christmas Eve and that is when we eat them. We have been doing that for 35 years. Another tradition we have is reading the Christmas story from the Bible found in St Luke. That is always a wonderful story enjoyed by everyone. We always open gifts on Christmas Eve and Santa comes on Christmas Day. And we always see Christmas thru the eyes of a child, most always one of ours. That’s what makes our Christmas so special.
Hi. Well I have finally met, so to speak, someone who loves the holidays, butlers pantries , and tables scapes as much as I do. Can’t wait to follow your blog🌺🌺
Oh I am so glad we have virtually met Linda! Yes, I am definitely a fan of holidays, butler pantries and tablescapes and entertaining, decor, recipes and DIY crafts! I am so glad you are following along. I have so many incredible ideas to share! Thank you for reaching out with your kind comment. Have a great week ahead!
So many fun traditions. This year is going to be extra fun with the baby being older. Enjoy!
Oh it’ll be the best! We are so excited. Thank you! ☺️
I used to love Christmas and celebrating at my mom’s house. Since she passed in 2020 and we sold the family home in 2021 it has been hard to enjoy the holiday. It just isn’t the same. I love reading all the traditions though and long for that sort of holiday time again.
I’m so sorry for your loss Leila. I hope that you can make happy memories this year. ❤️
I love how you’ve shared such a wonderful mix of family traditions—there’s so much warmth in each one! One tradition our family has added recently is decluttering before the holidays to make space for new memories. We rented a dumpster to help with cleaning out old decorations and clearing space in the garage, which made the season feel less stressful. I think it’s a great way to start fresh while still holding on to the cherished parts of Christmas!