As the holidays approach each year, I start to think about our family traditions to make the holiday special. I think it is fun to share traditions and hear what other families do. What is a holiday tradition that your family has?
A Christmas tradition that our family has is we do not put names on the presents under the tree, instead each present has a number. Only I have the master list of who the numbers belong to. This solved a problem of children counting how many presents belonged to them compared to their siblings or having a curious child open and rewrap their gift. The other thing that I like is we avoid the free-for-all on Christmas morning where everyone rips open their presents without waiting for their turn or seeing what someone else received. We each take turns selecting the gift and I look at my list for the number and the person who it belongs to opens it. After all the time and effort I spend to buy and wrap the gifts, it allows me time to savor the moment and hear what they think when they open their present.
A Christmas tradition that our family has is we do not put names on the presents under the tree, instead each present has a number. Only I have the master list of who the numbers belong to. This solved a problem of children counting how many presents belonged to them compared to their siblings or having a curious child open and rewrap their gift. The other thing that I like is we avoid the free-for-all on Christmas morning where everyone rips open their presents without waiting for their turn or seeing what someone else received. We each take turns selecting the gift and I look at my list for the number and the person who it belongs to opens it. After all the time and effort I spend to buy and wrap the gifts, it allows me time to savor the moment and hear what they think when they open their present.
4 comments:
Yeah Lauretta! You got on! It was just the email address being your work, not your home. Sorry. I love your traditions! I am so excited for Christmas this year. I love to hear other's ideas for making things special. The # idea is clever. We don't put presents out till Christmas night, after kids are in bed. They are always surprised to see all the presents when they wake up!
Lauretta
I love that idea and I love holiday traditions. Hopefully this will be the start of MANY people sharing some fun ideas. Does anyone have some fun family Thanksgiving traditions they can pass along?
Great idea Lauretta! A favorite family tradition we've had even before our kids came along is attending Ballet West's Nutcracker on Christmas Eve day with my side of the family and then going over to Hires for a hamburger before we all disperse for Christmas Eve activities with the other side of the family. It has been especially fun the past 5 years since Hailey has been in it!
Here is another tradition that my family is just starting this year. Each year we usually draw names for our extended family. This year, instead of buying gifts for our extended family, we are going to use that money for service projects as an extended family. Each of us (my brother and sister) are going to select a service project that the entire family will participate in. We are looking at projects such spending time with the kids at the women's shelter, donating needed items to Primary Children's hospital, etc. Between Thanksgiving and Christmas we will all participate in the service projects. This will truly be a sacrifice since it seems to be easier to write a check than to give time. I'm excited for all of the kids to participate.
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