Cora's Cottage

The holiday season is upon us.  Flashy advertisements, endless email and text advertisements, sales posts all over social media.  Sometimes in the hustle and bustle of the season the true meaning can be lost.

This Christmas season, I want to be intentionally about slowing down and focusing on the things that truly matter while setting fun traditions.  While I will shop some of the holiday deals (and already have), that is not where I want the focus to be. 

With a new little soul to steward in our home, it is important that we set a good example of a healthy relationship with consumerism and show what it looks like to slow down to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

While this year she is too young to remember any of the traditions we begin to set, it is a good chance for us to find traditions that focus on our Savior’s birth that are special to our family.

In preparation for having kids and a family of my own, I have been collecting holiday tradition ideas for a few years.  While not all of these traditions are things that we will fully implement this year, there are several that we will start this year and grow as the kids get older and more involved.

25 Books of Christmas

This idea came from Elizabeth Parsons (@purelyparaons on Instagram).  This one is simple and straightforward but can have a big impact.  Simply take Christmas books and wrap them. You can wrap as many as you like, but  25 books is just enough so that there is a book for each day of December leading up to Christmas and one book for Christmas Day.

I love this idea because not only does it help to bring the joy of Christmas but it encourages reading in little ones.  The books you wrap are entirely up to you and can change each year. 

While we don’t have 25 Christmas books this year, I’m not wrapping them, and our 9 month old barely sits still long enough to read a single page; I am setting out the Christmas books we have so we can read them to her (otherwise know as whacking and eating pages at this age 😂).

One book that does hold our 9 month old’s attention is “Where’s Santa Claus?” by Ingela P. Arrhenius. It is very short and has felt flaps that she loves to pull down to find the different characters.

Some books that I plan to add to our collection include:

• The Mitten
• The Night Before Christmas
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Elizabeth has a list of her family’s favorites on her Instagram post for some more ideas!

10 Christmas Cookies

The basis for this tradition came from Meaghan Gates (@meghanlynngates on Instagram). A couple years ago she shared that she was making 10 different types of cookies with her girls before Christmas, and I loved the idea!

I don’t plan to do 10 different types of cookies this year but I do have 5 different cookies I want to bake before Christmas.  In the Christmas spirit, I plan to share the cookies we bake this year and in the future with friends, family, and neighbors.

While our daughter can’t help bake the cookies yet, she does love to watch the KitchenAid mix … so we will count that as helping! By starting now I’m laying the foundation for a fun, interactive, and educational tradition down the road. (Practicing counting, measuring, and reading a recipe.)

Some different cookies I plan to incorporate into this tradition include:

• Chocolate Chip
• Sugar Cookie
• Snickerdoodle (Recipe coming soon!)
• German Christmas Cookies
• Butter Cookies
• Angel Kiss Cookies
• Maple Cookies
• Peanut Butter Cookies
• Sandbakkals (A Norwegian cookie)
• Gingerbread Cookies

Meghan has a highlight where she shares more ideas with recipes on her Instagram.

Christmas Lights

Though we live pretty rural, there are several small towns around us that do fairly elaborate light displays.  We can make a night out of driving to the town with hot cocoa and enjoying the lights and festivities while supporting local!

One of the towns local to us has a historical museum that is always decorated for Christmas that will be a fun stop for older kids while providing an education opportunity as well. Younger kids would enjoy the park that is decorated for Christmas and offers hay rides and concessions in addition to opening their rides (a small Ferris wheel, carousel, train, and swing ride.)

Christmas Eve Service

Christmas Eve service has always been one of my favorite church services of the year.  I love the candlelight service and singing Christmas hymns in the low, flickering light. It has always seemed so festive and special to me.

This is something I hope my kids grow up to love as much as I do, and will be tradition that my family had growing up that we carry on with our littles.

Gifts

There are lots of versions of this method of giving gifts to kids, and love the idea.  It allows them to have multiple gives to open, but keeps it practical as well. 

Something I Want

This is an item that they have been wanting and asking for throughout the year.  That new bike, barbie, train set, or water gun.

Something I Need

An item that is useful and something that would be purchased anyway.  Maybe a new winter coat, stocking cap, or gloves. Or maybe it’s a new backpack or another item they need for school.

Something to Read

We want to encourage readers and life long learners, and books are a great way to do that! A book that is age appropriate and involves something they are interested in is the perfect way to encourage an interest in reading.

Something to Wear

Gifts don’t always have to e something they want, but something they need that is useful.  One of the gifts under the tree each year will be something for them to wear.  This could be a new t-shirt with their favorite character, those new jeans they need because their old ones are just a little too short, or something as simple as socks and underwear.

Something to Do

Part of encouraging life long learners is encouraging their hobbies.  Purchasing something they need for a hobby is a great way facilitate this learning. Think things like coloring books and crayons for a young artist, Legos for the your builder, sewing supplies for your upper elementary seamstress, or a tool kit for your budding high school mechanic.

Something to Share

This could be one gift or more than one, but the idea is that it is something that some or all of the kids can share.  Things such as board games, movies, a puppy, swing set, pool, or trampoline. 

Another option would be shared family experiences such as the zoo, a museum, park, or other attraction. The goal is to facilitate relationships between siblings!

This is another one of those traditions that isn’t starting quite yet this year … partly because our 9 month old is perfectly happy with the empty boxes I have wrapped to go under the tree.  She much prefers the boxes and wrapping paper at this age to any gifts we would get her anyway!

Christmas PJs

While we aren’t a matching pajamas kind of family, I would love to give new pajamas that can be worn on Christmas Eve each year.  I’ve recently seen several advertisements for Bible verse themed pajamas that will make this tradition easy!

Each year for Christmas Eve the kids can open a present that will be Bible themed pajamas they can wear to bed and for opening presents on Christmas morning. With Holy Pals pajamas they could all match, but they certainly don’t have to match. Our family will likely be mixing and matching these pajamas.

Christmas Morning Bible Reading

I don’t remember where I first heard of this tradition, but I love it and want to bring it to our family.  I have even heard of some families acting out the Christmas story as it is read, which can be very meaningful as well.

The reading of the Christmas story on Christmas morning before opening gifts helps to bring it back the meaning of the season (whiling helping to teach patience.)

I’m sure over the years we will add new traditions and change old ones to fit us as our family changes and grows.  The main factor to the traditions we keep will remain the same: Do they contribute to relationship and remembrance of the true meaning of the Christmas season?