Nontraditional Family Traditions
Do you believe there is a way to create Happy Holidays year after year?
What kind of family traditions does your family have or participate in?
Our traditions became more flexible over the years. We do have a few that we stick with because we enjoy them.
It wouldn’t be Christmas without them!
I don’t know about you but I don’t do any traditions that I grew up with. I don’t know why it’s just the way it is.
Maybe just none of them made a solid impression on me.
Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of great memories of my youth growing up and spending plenty of happy holidays with my family.
Do you have family traditions that you treasured as a kid? Have you continued to do them with your own family?
Or did you start from scratch and make your own? I honestly don’t think there is anything wrong with that.
Some may view this as being nontraditional. But I don’t think that way at all.
I do treasure my childhood memories, but I choose not to carry them over into my adulthood and continue them with my very own children
But let’s get on with what our family traditions are now. There are only just a few but it’s the ones that have made the biggest impression on us as a family.
These are the true traditions that my kids look forward to doing every year.
Simple Traditions Make Happy Holidays
I would like to share what we like doing during the Christmas season and hope some of these will inspire you.
We always do an Advent Calendar. Back when our 2 oldest were younger I bought this beautiful wooden Advent Calendar.
The wooden box is shaped like a house and stands up. The door opens up and there are tiny glass ornaments behind 25 doors.
You hang them on a little tree that came with the Advent Calendar.
Of course over the years a couple got broke, but it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment that my kids have when we get this out for the season.
Then, of course, we always do the chocolate Advent Calendars and who wouldn’t love doing these.
Unless you don’t like chocolate!
One of my most favorite traditions we do is 5 Days Of Christmas. Honestly, I don’t know where I got this from but it’s a hit for any age of the kid.
It starts 5 days before Christmas Day. Each child has a special stocking that hangs from their bedroom door or any space in your house works.
The idea of this is to ward off anxious kids from wanting to open presents up early.
This isn’t foolproof of course, but I found it does help.
So for each night leading up to Christmas Day, I put a dollar item in their stocking each night.
When they wake up in the morning they have a special treat waiting for them.
Of course, I found the younger they are the easier it was to find dollar items they would like. You have to creative as they get older.
Another thing is that we usually do graham cracker holiday houses. My kids love doing these and they can get very creative while doing them.
Well I know this doesn’t seem like a whole lot of traditions but it’s the small things that give us Happy Holidays to remember.
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Let The Gift Giving Be Unique
I don’t know about you but I love unusual gifts. You have to give some extra thought to make sure it fits the person you are giving it to.
And also I want them to be able to use it so I want the gift to serve a purpose. What is even better is that the gift fits the persons personality.
Amazon can be a very good resource when it comes to unusual gifts. Here are a few that I found unique and very quirky but will also serve a purpose.
These are the CHRISTMAS GIFTS I gave my brother in law and oldest daughter last year.
Just click the picture and it will take you to the description and price.
Everyone got a kick out of the motorist cards, well the adults did!
Also, depending on who I’m giving the gift to I always love giving Tees that say something witty or just a good slogan.
Here are also the Tees we gave last year as gifts to a close friend and our son.
Fun And Unique Gifts For The Adults In Your Life
So I want to start out with household items that have a little flair. If you are going to give these as gifts then make them interesting.
Gifts For Kids That Create Creativity
I like giving gifts that create creativity. I always try to at least make sure our kids get at least 1 gift where they have to use their noggins or their creativity
Here is a list of gifts that we have bought our very own kids in the past.
And some I wish I would have bought if I had known about them, or they had been available when our children were younger.
Budget-Friendly Stocking Stuffers
I’ve always loved buying the candy and all those little treasures that you can fit in a stocking.
Love watching my kids go for their stockings first to unveil what all things are stuffed in there.
To me, it’s those tiny moments that make Happy Holidays memorable.
But there is the other side of stuffing those stockings.
I don’t know about you but stuffing a stocking can get pretty expensive.
All those cute and interesting things can add up quickly.
When your children are younger I felt it was easier to stay on budget while filling their stockings.
There are so many things you can buy at the dollar store that they would like to play with.
You just have to think out of the box when it comes to older children.
Here are some ideas you might like:
Let’s Talk About Some Holiday Food
While I was growing up we had a pretty traditional Christmas dinner. My aunt did most of the cooking and most times everybody gathered at her home.
There was turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, green bean casserole, and the normal traditional pies. Of course, there was much more but you get the idea.
So as I got older, cousins grew up, grandparents passed away, and everyone was expanding their families those traditional dinners faded away.
But we started our own traditions by fixing nontraditional Christmas dinners.
Honestly, I’m not that crazy about traditional holiday food anyways. And some of my kids don’t care too much for it also.
What we do is choose a theme for our holiday food. We’ve done Mexican (my all-time favorite), Italian, Chinese, American without the ham or turkey.
Instead, I did a beef tenderloin, super good but not budget-friendly.
And my kid’s favorite was when we did all appetizers. I got to admit it was super easy and also fun.
We always fix sugar cookies and I always make my famous Peanut Butter Fudge and Christmas Treasure Cookies.
I use the Eagle Brand recipe for both of those.
Whatever food you like to fix for your family and relatives is always a personal choice.
The holidays are always about enjoying your family. The presents and food are just the attributes of creating Happy Holidays for years to come.
I hope you get a little inspiration from our nontraditional traditions for Christmas.
From Our Family To Yours Have A Merry Christmas!!!!
Domestic Engineer Mom
Robbin