Fun Christmas Traditions

I just saw an easy way to make gingerbread houses with graham crackers and very few ingredients. Try googling it. It looks easy and yummy!

I am so sorry for your loss. If you do not belong to a church or parish it might be a good time to join one they are a wealth of comfort during times of stress and trauma.

We do several things thru the holiday season. here are a few. and you may have already done them but if not might be a time to start them.

Ginger bread houses. we buy the kits that are already glued together. Just decorate. We started out doing them with the candy that came in the kit but now we buy extra other stuff to go along with it.

Cut up last years christmas cards to make pretty bookmarks to give to others for holiday reading. And to use ourselves as we read our christmas stories.

Read a christmas story each day of the month from the 1st thru the 25th. Take turns reading outloud. Make sure some of the books are the appropriate reading level for your 6 year old.

Play christmas music on the radio in the car.

Start a tradition like a new ornament each year that they will take with them when they move out. My kids each got a new one each year. So when they graduated from college and moved into their own places they had enough to do a tree.

Bake cookies with the soul purpose of decorating them and taking platefuls to neighbors who are elderly or infirm.

Go to the local school / church christmas / holiday programs.

Suggest to them that they do some investigating and find a charity that daddy would have liked and do something nice for it. (donate some old blankets to a pet shelter, food to a homeless shelter, sing at a nursing home etc)

get the book the sparkle box and read it to them.

I am sorry to hear about your husband passing away. My thoughts will be with you and your children. How sweet of you to be doing all you can to bring some Christmas joy when you yourself are still grieving as well.

Around here in the DFW area, there are several places where you can have a carriage ride to see the lights and have hot cocoa as well. The price range varies depending on location and what all is involved. I do know that a couple of shopping centers that have beautiful lighting have free carriage rides and hay rides.

We also have a couple of places that have ice sculptures and events. At the Gaylord you have to have a ticket to go which can get pricey, they provide a coat, you bring gloves and hat and you can slide sown the ice slide.

Those are things we have in our area that are fun to do and can be small costs. I am not familiar with your area so I can't help there.

As far as other things, how about making dad's favorite meal for one of your holiday meals where you remember him.

Have a special ornament for the children.

If you don't already, start PJ night on Christmas Eve with movies.

I don't know what you may or may not already be doing, hopefully something hit an interest for you.

We will be thinking of you.

We're going through a similar situation. One of my BFF's (he's like the little brother I always wanted and never had) lost his 16-year-old daughter in January. The child was like another daughter to me, and like a little sister to my daughter. This is our first Christmas without her, and we're just not feeling the merry.
I have no ideas for you, but you have my sympathy.

So sorry for the loss of your husband. I know that the holidays will be hard for your family this year. Starting some new traditions will help, but also allow some of the special things that you all did together may provide comfort, especially in years to come. I don't know what your family traditions with Dad were, so I don't know if I am suggesting the same things you were doing. You could have a craft night and make crafts, you could visit a nursing home and let your kids pass out candy or something. You could do a Christmas themed scavenger hunt. You could change up your routine a little so missing dad is not so evident. If dad used to read a Christmas story before bedtime, pick a different story and read it at different time of the day. Hope you have plenty of friends and families to support you this year.

oh my dear, what a hard, hard thing. my heart goes out to you all.
the year of firsts is the worst, isn't it? my mom died around thanksgiving when i was 10. i'll never forget the bleakness of that first christmas without her.
please do keep a few of the traditions going, even though it IS hard. remembering him is painful, i know, but trying to shut him out will be more painful yet. so keep him with you all by doing a few things you've always done.
but it's also good to think of new things to do, to lift your spirits and help you all get through this tough holiday season. look for the nutcracker or other christmas plays. if TSO comes to town, go! the sound and pyrotechnics will blast the blues out of your brains! maybe do an evening in a soup kitchen or organizing toys for a local toys-for-tots event. or something really wacky like have a beach party on christmas eve, where you all wear bathing suits and have a summer-food-themed picnic in front of the tree.
good luck, hon. my thoughts are with you.
khairete
S.

S.,

Welcome to mamapedia!!

I'm sorry for your loss. I can't imagine losing my husband with young kids!! May his memory be eternal.

Woodbridge isn't far from me - if you'd like to start a great tradition? How about ice skating...Reston has rink - National Harbor has a rink - why not go ice skating?? Start something NEW!!!

It's okay to incorporate his memory into Christmas - it's a way to keep him close. Try ONE thing that he loved and then find something you all enjoy and start doing that...but don't leave him out...just because he's dead, doesn't mean he didn't matter...set a place for him at the table and share a happy/funny memory!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! I know it will be hard. Having lost my mom?? I know she wanted us to go on and thrive...so honor him and his life too!!

Sorry for your loss.
I lost my dad a few years ago (I know it doesn't compare) who was a huge Christmas lover, and this time of the year has been tough since.
We have an elf. In the past when I heard elf on the shelf I thought it was a decoration. Then our neighbor got one. So we have a Christopher pop in Kim's this year and he sometimes brings small gifts -elf pencils, Hershey's kisses, etc. the kids LOVE it!
If I could afford it I'd also like to take the kids to a Broadway show. Wicked is playing near us. I went to see the nutcracker as a kid and was transfixed!

How about one evening, after everyone is in their p.j's, piling into the car and looking at Christmas lights? Take hot chocolate along? Make it a last minute surprise. So sorry to hear about your husband's death. Wishing you the best!

I am very sorry for your loss, I just can't imagine. And how wonderful for you to be pulling it all together and trying to make this happy for your kids instead of sad.

Like others have mentioned, Christmas Eve PJ's (if you don't already), looking at the lights with hot cocoa in tow, finding local Christmas attractions and doing them annually (ICE!, carriage rides, your closest town/city tree lighting, etc). Maybe make a night of a Christmas movie and popcorn? Have a traditional family dinner for you all on Christmas Eve (I grew up with taco's and that's what we still do), buy a gift for Toys for Tots (I think it's late for that now, but you could start next year).

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your children.

Added: Okay, you are kind of local to me :). Check out ICE at the Gaylord in National Harbor. It's probably an hour from you. It's pricey, but so much fun. Go to DC and see the National Christmas Tree, the one in National Harbor is sure to impress as well. LOTS to do in DC.

Added again: I saw the suggestion of the Nutcracker. We are going to see that at the Warner Theater this weekend. I believe it is still playing another week or two. Reviews on it are fabulous so far!

I'm sorry about your loss...
Just a couple free fun things: Gander Mountain in Woodbridge has a Santa activities area & free photo with Santa they e-mail you.
Also a free fun evening is making some hot cocoa to go, go around neighborhoods looking at lights! There's the famous Holly's Tacking Christmas Lights list! She provides routes, addresses, her top ten, and homes that made honorable mentions for light displays. www.fairfaxchristmaslights.com & she's on FB. Volunteering on Christmas morning might be a good giving back tradition to start. We've been going with the kids on Dec 25th for a fee years now to The 25th Project. Feeding homeless in Woodbridge, DC, kids help wrap up the homeless' gifts on the morning of & plating food etc. Or families choose to bring desserts and/or sides & not stay the whole time. They are also on FB or www.the25thproject.org
P

So sorry for your loss. Admiring your strength you have to make this a wonderful Christmas for your kids this year.

Just two things to add to the great suggestions already:

1) we have a big sleep over/movie night in our bedroom. The kids pile blankets, pillows, animals, etc on our bedroom floor and we stay up late together and watch a movie. Kids get the biggest kick out of it!

2) Christmas Day night, the kids lug all those blankets, pillows, animals etc, and they sleep 'under the Christmas tree' counting the lights and ornaments.

Wishing you peace this holiday season.

To Sue T. : hugs

To Osohapi: I am sentimental too. I have some of the UGLIEST holiday decorations from my mom& grandma! But they make me smile. To me, it's always the little things :-)

I'm sorry for your loss.
O. thing that came to mind was that maybe you could find a photo of each child with dad at a past christmas time and frame the photos for them for their room? Maybe even a little collage or a 2 or 3-in-1 photo frame.
Not exactly a "tradition" but they might get a lot of comfort from it.

I'm thinking the ultimate thing to pull off would be kind of a combination of old and new traditions.

Good luck to you!

We don't have a lot of traditions for Christmas day, but we have a lot in the month of December in general. Here are the ones they enjoy.

!st Sat in December we have a family friend over who helps us decorate and we all watch Christmas movies together.
The next Saturday spent with their cousins making gingerbreak houses and sled riding.
The weekend right before Christmas, Saturday dinner spent with 2 families who are basically our best friends and who have kids the same age as them. The kids most run crazy through the house during the playtime.
Participating in the Christmas pageant at church.
Christmas eve at church then we drive around and look at Christmas lights.
I work with a pretty international group and many can't go home for Christmas, so we invite everyone I work with over for dinner, and usually get 4-5 people (different people every year). The kids like to hear about their home countries and how they celebrate holidays.
Weekend after Christmas is spent with grandparents.

I'm so sorry for your loss. I know you must be trying to stay strong for the kids.

One thing that helps is giving to others. If you know a nursing home or assisted living facility in your area, call the activities director and explain the situation. Maybe you can take your kids in to make snowflakes, paper chains or "stained glass" decorations (use colored plastic wrap and create a "frame" between 2 identical pieces of construction paper - house with windows, ornament with open sections, etc.). The staff can sit you down with the higher functioning residents and limit the amount of medical equipment or oxygen tanks the kids see. The kids can help the residents hang the creations in the common room or their own rooms. Seeing people who are very lonely can help them feel better about at least having their own home with you.

Make cookies or cranberry bread and take them to the fire station or police station for the guys working night shifts or holidays. Call ahead if you need to and explain there are 2 little boys who are missing their dad.

Find a giving tree and put a few pairs of $1 mittens on there for underprivileged kids.

Talk about putting up lights and bringing more light into the world. Talk about other holidays for other religions, just that they share the focus on light in the darkness. Just as spring will come, better days and more warmth will come into your boys' lives (and yours) someday.

Give a special ornament to each kid. You can also make some - ask the craft store for simple ones to start out with. Or get them personalized or dated at any craft vendor or many boutiques. You can get them in some theme that meant something to their dad if you want - at least to start out. Make this your new tradition. When they graduate and move out on their own, they will have a nice collection to take to the their adult homes. Each year, you will unpack the ornaments from prior years, and remember/smile.

Someone I know does a tradition that I never heard of but they hang a pickle on the tree - I'm pretty sure it's a fake one from the craft store but I guess you could use a real one and just wash the juice off it! Anyway, the kid who finds the pickle first on Christmas morning gets to pick out the first gift to open. You could also have them take turns being the helper and distributing gifts one at a time. It's kind of a silly tradition but maybe that's what you need to create laughter.

I've seen little packs of "reindeer" food - mostly they are little marshmallows with some glitter - the glitter catches the starlight or moonlight and helps the reindeer find your house. You could make them yourself very easily.

Advent fun - I know we're kind of halfway into December, but my stepdaughter has the kids open a tiny box every day. Sometimes there's $1 in there, sometimes a coupon for a family movie night or a trip to the library or a board game with Mom. It doesn't have to be something purchased - just a special thing to look forward to. You could just do 7, for the 7 days before, or you could do the 12 days of Christmas from the 25th to January 6th.

Go out and look at lights. Decide on which house is each person's favorite, either because it's cute or it's over the top or it has the most goofy music playing.

Good luck. I hope you find some fun things to do that create new memories.

I am so sorry for your loss and for what you are going through.
I wish you nothing but the best this holiday season.
Maybe if you could make some new traditions to try & divert all of your
attentions. Some possibilities:
-drive around to look at lights
-take a thermos of hot cocoa to a local outdoor rink to watch ice skaters
-build a gingerbread house out of graham crackers & frosting (can get
these at The Dollar store if you are on a tight budget).
-go to an outdoor mall to walk around just for a change of scenery
-rent movies for free at the local library
-google free things to do in your area
-make new traditions (make felt mini stockings out of felt from the Dollar
Store)
-bake cookies
-listen to Christmas songs on the radio at home w/some cookies
-open a little present on Christmas Eve
-make crafts at home, draw Christmas pictures
-watch holiday movies on the Hallmark Channel
-pop some popcorn

I wish you & the kids the best the season. Sending hugs!

My heart goes out to you and your family.

This year we made all the ornaments that went on the tree. I did this because I love it when my kids make something (3 &6) but also, so we do not lose some of the more sentimental ornaments with them falling off the tree.
Maybe then can make an ornament with a picture of them with daddy or family. to put on the tree each year.