Some of my best associations with the holidays are my memories of family traditions repeated each year – decorating the tree, baking cookies, family singing of Christmas carols, etc.

Today it brings even more joy to see our grandchildren experiencing these same activities. Traditions have been shown to strengthen families by developing a sense of belonging and security. So here’s a list of family traditions that have been shared by various people, compliments of All Events Advisor website:

Reindeer Dust – A Great Christmas Tradition for the Kids.
Every year our family makes magic reindeer dust for the kids to spread all over the lawn on Christmas Eve night. Magic reindeer dust is made from oatmeal (to fed the reindeer) and glitter to help guide Santa Clause to our home. The kids have a lot of fun spreading the dust. There is usually a lot of signing and dancing that goes with it. This also helps release some of the bundled up energy!
-Kristi’s Family Tradition

Recapping the Previous Year – A Family Christmas Tradition
I think the best part of our Christmas Eve is sharing stories about what has happened over the last year. Everyone in our family tells their favorite, most memorable or even horrible experiences of the year. Sometimes we call it our highs and lows. My kid’s stories usually send everyone laughing (the things that they remember). It is funny to see how differently everyone’s stories and thoughts are. I take advantage of this moment to jot down everyone’s stories. Then we can read them the next year or years down the road. It is a great way to sum up our family’s year.
-Tammy’s Favorite Christmas Family Tradition

Party it Forward – A Christmas Party Tradition
Every year we throw a Christmas party and have everyone bring a small gift ($10 and under) for a needy family that we have found. Sometimes the family we pick isn’t necessarily needy but they are deserving. We put some effort in finding that perfect family or person that needs a little pick me up for Christmas. Last year we picked a family where the dad was over in Iraq and the family had been struggling financially a little. They were the nicest of people and we believed that they would be a great pick.

On the invitations to our Christmas party, each guest gets a description of the person that they are buying for. We want our guests to know a little about the family (without naming names) they are helping out. A lot of times we don’t even know the family very well. Then after we have collected all the gifts, we make sure all the kids have the same number of gifts and fill in the missing presents and then we drop them off anonymously. This has been such a great Christmas tradition for us and our guests. We have been able to fill up plenty of bags to help out many different families.
-David’s Christmas Party Tradition

Designing Ornaments – A Fun Christmas Tradition for the Kids
Our family Christmas tradition is to make ornaments at the beginning of every December. Everyone makes one to put on our tree and then we typically make a few extra for gifts. We usually put a day’s worth of time and effort into making our perfect ornaments. We have made our ornaments using pinecones, bells, glass balls, beads, clay, seashells, wire, corks, wood, almost anything we can think of. -Wendy’s Family Christmas Traditions The Hunt – A Grandparents Christmas Tradition Every year we have a Christmas Hunt for our grandkids. We start out by handing them all a Christmas card; the Christmas card will have a clue leading them to their first destination. There they will find a treat or present of some sort and a clue. Then they take it back to our Christmas tree and read their next clue. We typically have 10 clues for each of the kids. The hunt usually starts after dinner. This keeps them busy while we pick up the kitchen. Then when everyone has collected all their gifts, they each take turns opening them. I love this tradition. It has been something that the kids always look forward too and I love to see the excitement on their faces.
-Helen’s Christmas Tradition

Golden Pickle – A Unique Christmas Tradition
For the Kids The golden pickle has become one of our favorite family Christmas traditions. We found these golden pickle ornaments one year and my daughter just had to have them. It turned out to be one of our best purchases. The pickles open up, so we stuff them with money, rocks, candy or whatever we feel like. There are enough pickles for each of our kids, so every Christmas Eve night we fill and hide the pickles in the tree. Then they wake up on Christmas morning and search for the golden pickles in our tree. Typically they are all filled with the same thing, with one containing a small star. Whoever finds the one with the star gets the winning gift. The gift is usually something small.
-Keith’s Family Christmas Tradition

Cooking for Santa – Fun Family Tradition
Every year my girls and I bake Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve to leave out for Santa. It is just nice to have something that is our thing. They are now 11 and 15, and the tradition is still going strong. Obviously it is not all about leaving Santa a snack now days, but it is just something we love to do together.
-The Woodson Girl’s Family Tradition

Wish Trees – A Kid Christmas Tradition
Each one of our kids has their own mini tree to decorate. Each year they add an ornament with one of their wishes or goals for that coming up year on the back. It is fun to look back at what they have written over the years. My son’s wish (for when he was 2), was to meet Superman; sadly that dream never came true. They all love to get out their own trees and ornaments each year.
-Susan’s Family Tradition

The Gift of Giving – A Christmas Tradition for Anyone
One year my sister received a bag full of gifts left on her porch. There was a note inside, thanking her for making a difference in so many lives. She worked at a children’s home, so we figured it had to do something with that, but had no idea who it was from. Now, every year we pass that on and pick one person or family to leave a bag of gifts for or sometimes just a simple gift basket. The people that we have picked have been both people we knew and people that we didn’t.
-Kim and Jackie’s Christmas Tradition

We’d love to hear some of your family traditions as well. Send them to us by emailing ntoups@elearningk12.com, and we’ll share it in next year’s holiday Inbox Learning.

Have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!