What traditions you have for Christmas Eve day that you enjoy? We always have dinner with family in the late afternoon/early evening, but we would like to have some special things we do earlier in the day too. Our kids are between the ages of 15 mo. and 5, so a Christmas movie wouldn't be fun for all. We have all of our decorating and baking done (usually!) and head home pretty early after dinner to get the kids to bed on time.
Do you do something during the day on Christmas Eve that your family enjoys?
Christmas Eve my children get to open one gift right before they go to bed. Its always pajamas, but sometimes there might be toothpaste, a toothbrush, a washcloth or someother little gift. I know it might not be fun for a 15 month old but even though my children know they are getting pajamas(they like to find out what they look like and if there is another gift inside, they look forward to opening a gift on Christmas Eve.
It's sort of related to dinner, but a few years ago, when the last of our local family relocated out of state, and we realized we would be spending Christmas by ourselves, we decided to create a new tradition: Christmas Eve Fondue. Come on, who doesn't love fondue? We made a list of everything we thought we might like (cheese, chocolate, various fruits and vegetables, marshmallows, pretzels... you name it!) and then we went to our local ritzy grocery store (the one we never shop at because it's WAY too expensive ;) and shopped for our fancy fondue dinner. Then we prep all the ingredients while the kids drink Martinelli's and the grown-ups have some kind of festive cocktail. This has become tradition ever since, and as well, we watch Norad online to see where Santa is!
Now, I don't know how enjoyable all of that would be to a toddler, but kids who are a little bit older enjoy it. :)
We celebrate my birthday. But my I think my kids feel burdened by that.
We check out TV (no cable) to see if any holiday things are on, and I always try to have a few Christmas videos ready. We like both Charlie Brown Christmas movies, Home Alone (1 and 2), A Christmas Story, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not Jim Carry's disaster), etc. I always let our girls open one present that I select (so I can make sure I pick a toy and not a package of underwear) to play with during the day.
I make a tray...meats, cheeses, olives, pickles, crackers, candy, cookies, etc...to have sitting out to nibble on. My husband gets up between 12 and 2, and he's pokey and it takes him at least an hour and a half to drink coffee and be fully "ready."
We'll have dinner...something easy to clean up after, probably tacos...and then we open presents!!! YAY!!!
During the day we are often doing some visiting, dropping off gifts, cards and baking to people we won't see the next day. I usually make ham for dinner. After dinner we go to church for the early family service. When we get home the boys each get to open one gift. Then we put out milk and cookies for Santa and some carrots on the front step for the reindeer. The kids can watch a Christmas movie then off to bed.
We usually decorate christmas cookies together and spend time with my mother.
We bake cookies sometimes.
Have egg nog & hot cocoa w/whip cream, sprinkles & candy canes.
We exchange a new ornament (immediate family only).
Have Christmas music playing on the radio.
Watch a tv christmas movie w/popcorn, cookies & more hot cocoa.
Have a nice ham dinner.
Open most of our presents late that night saving a few, santa gifts & stockings for the morning.
Sometimes we drive around to look at lights.
With my ILs, we pick a day between shortly before Christmas to NYE for a get together and many years Christmas Eve is the day we do it. So we're hosting lunch for them and it may also be "our" Christmas with my stepkids. Then we also typically go to the Candlelight Service that night and roll DD into bed when we return.
for years now, our Christmas season fluctuates & varies in its scheduling. Trying to work around employment issues + visitation issues (for my Sis) + Great Gma's health (she'll be 92 in Feb) is our focus.
To hold this semi-chaos together, we make sure we follow our beloved traditions: I always have fresh-baked goods. There's always a vegie/meat tray in the frig. We have in-the-shell nuts, candy, & other goodies available at all times. We usually end out the night with a Smorgasbord on the coffee table....it's a blast!
Even tho' my sons are not children, I still put out the Christmas books. I put a Christmas puzzle out the week before, & we work on it at will. We have beautiful music handy. & we make sure we watch our fav classic movies, too. We try to fit Mass into our time together, but since Gr Gma is no longer able to travel....we place her as our priority.
& while it's all about Family, we encourage friends to join us. We also deliver cookie trays to neighbors. All of this is part of Christmas Eve for us.
Since you're interested in filling time before the Family Party, what about spreading Good Will amongst your neighbors? Deliver cookie trays as we do.....we used to haul the kids in a wagon! The neighbors loved seeing the deliveries pull up! Make little bookmarks & deliver them to a local nursing home. Find a local petting zoo & deliver carrots/etc to the animals. Lots of fun ways to spread the Joy!
spagetti dinner with homemade sauce.
When I was younger we did not have much money and often did not have a tree...but we always went for a ride to look at Christmas lights. I really loved that. We also spent Christmas Eve with an elderly couple that lived near us. They did not have family near and my father died when I was two, so our two families sort of adopted each other. It was wonderful, very much in the spirit of Christmas. They ended up being more like our grandparents than our neighbors. After the wife died, my sister ended up being able to buy their very small home, which is really special. Now I have moved about 1.5 hours away, but we still go back and ride the Christmas train and visit.
