Good Holiday traditions to start with kids?

2bFitNTrim

My family has done many of the things mentioned on this thread & will continue to do so. But here's one that I do w/our son:

When my son was newborn, we got several "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments from family and friends. I thought, wouldn't it be neat to have at least one special ornament for each year while he grows up. When he was little, I picked them out for him. As he grew older, I had him select the special ornament. Over the years, he has chosen all kinds to match his interests: trains & planes, a trumpet when he was in the marching band, a bitty camera one when he got into photography.....you get the idea. The trips to select the ornament are always special. After carefully selecting his ornament, a special lunch and/or afternoon ice cream tops off the day.

My son is 19 years old now & we enjoy going thru those special ornaments each year. My plan is to let him take them with him when he moves out on his own ( I many keep a couple from the very first year). That way, he can always reflect on Christmases gone by as well as enjoying the current Christmas.

seventwenty

Favorite memories of Christmas/things that would make traditions:

Sledding, skiing, ice skating etc if you live in a community that is cold enough to do it.
Driving around looking at Christmas lights
Christmas classics on stereo, egg nog in my cup, and a fire going. Clear Channel's overplaying Christmas covers may ruin this for you, but Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Ella Fitzgerald, Andy Williams, Louis Armstrong etc. just put me in the holiday mood.
New Ornaments every year
Lionel train set!
Adopting an angel
Working at a food bank

For the adults
Mull Wine. I've been making it for my family for the last 5 yrs, and I'm starting to get pretty good at it.
Jingle bell underwear... oh come on, like you haven't thought of it.
"Hiding" presents. My sister, a few yrs back, wanted an iPod for Xmas, and her BF turned husband and I chipped in for it. We didn't put it under the tree; we hid it in the couch. After we'd opened all our presents, I hemmed and hawed a bit, my sister-- a little bummed for not having an iPod, but she was stoked for her other gifts like one of those seat belt bags-- finally felt the "bump" in the couch cushion and went to investigate. Her eyes widened, as she knew what I did. To this day, she claims the couch is a better gift giver than me.

A consideration for those of you travelling this holiday season, especially on Christmas: Recall that the flight crew and flight attendants stand a great chance of not being with family this Christmas. Bring a present for them. $5 gift cards to Starbucks, a SHRINKWRAPPED box of chocolates (seriously, would you trust home baked food from a stanger?), or similar go a long way. My dad, a retired airline pilot, always managed to be home for Christmas or fly us to where he was for Christmas, save once or twice. I can tell you, being away from family on Christmas to ensure other families are together on Christmas is nice, but it wears a bit on the crew.

flutterby6973

me and my son do elf on the shelf ... he's 8yo and still loves his "elfer"
we also drive around for christmas lights, hot chocolate with x-mas tree marshmallows ... mmmmm (sorry thats naughty)
dancing and singing to x-mas music (love ella, bing crosby, armstrong, and other classics)
we also try to watch every x-mas movies that comes on tv ... last night was rudolph!

beeblebrox82

Every year since I was a kid we went to the store to pick out one ornament, and my mom put the year on it. Every christmas we (four boys) would have our own box of ornaments to hang on the tree.

When I moved out I had about 15 ornaments (lost a few over the years) that meant something special to put on my own tree. Now that I have kids we've started the tradition with them. Just this weekend I was showing my 4 year old an ornament that I got in 1986... when I was 4 years old. Fantastic tradition.