I'm in journalism class and i'm writing a paper on holiday traditions and need some help!
2006-12-04 05:27:51 · 3 answers · asked by Sumer 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Other - Holidays
My family has so many traditions I'm not sure where to begin. I guess I'll just name a few favorites.
First, we always go driving to look at Christmas lights. We put up the Christmas tree at midnight after Thanksgiving. After the kids got big enough, they decorated the tree all by themselves. Of course, shopping the day after Thanksgiving. Watching a Christmas movie every night during December is a must. "It's a Wonderful Life" is always the very first movie. New stockings are bought every year and opened on Christmas eve.
Some ideas especially for young ones: You can't go wrong with "'Twas the Night Before Christmas". I still love this story myself and have it memorized from reading it to my kids every year for a lot of years. Of course, putting out treats for Santa and even for the reindeer. And did you know that Santa leaves notes in return? We have gotten under the tree and looked up at the lights from underneath. Really a pretty sight and makes for interesting conversations. When the kids are old enough, let them make a homemade ornament for the tree each year. When they go out on their own, give them the ornaments for special memories on their own trees.
An article about this exact topic with lots of ideas can be found at: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/79091/start_your_own_family_holiday_traditions.html
2006-12-06 10:53:47 · answer #1 · answered by a g 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Since my son has grown up and moved up, we no longer do this. But when he was little, we used to sit down a few weeks before Christmas and talk about people in our lives who have helped us through the year. Or wo had a bad year - one friend's house had burnt to the ground that summer - her family lost everything, or it may have been a coach or a friend who gave us rides or provided baby sitting in an emergency. Then we would make them a gift.
Then we would be up at 5 AM on Christmas and deliver these gifts anonymously. Usually leaving them on the porch, the key was to deliver the gifts and be undetected.
My son thought this was great fun. And the smile on his face was wonderful when the following year we got invited in the summer to the new house of the people that had the fire and there on their mantle was the box we had painted and the ornaments we had given them that Christmas morning.
He asked why she had Christmas ornaments out, and she told him about the gift and she had no idea from who, and she started crying because they had lost their heirloom ornaments in the fire and this was the start of the new collection. She said it was the nicest thing that she got that Christmas.
That very day, he wanted to start planning the next set of gifts.
He learned to give!
By the time we would get home, it was 9, we would have breakfast, friends would come over and then we would open our presents. He learned that giving and friends were first over presents.
He never got much (I was a single Mom, socks and underwear were presents) but he appreciated them.
2006-12-04 05:43:58 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
We go to my in-laws house a couple weeks before Christmas and all the grand kids (ages 12-7 months) help Grandma and Grandpa bake cookies. We also decorate a gingerbread house together. It's a lot of fun to watch the all the kids get dirty making cookies. And the best part is when the cookies are done! Yum!
2006-12-04 05:41:09 · answer #3 · answered by hot mama 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋