Holiday Dilema!!! I need suggestions!?

Question

My childer will be one in Nov. and the holidays are coming up and this is the first time i will ever have to "make" christmas, and I have some traditions in mind.
like:
Santa will leave a present on your bed christmas eve, and its always PJ's to wear that night.

Milk and cookies, and carrots.....

and we put up the tree every year after thanksgiving as a family and decorate it.

also every year they get a new ornament that has the date and their name on it.....

But I am open for suggestions, please I want them to grow up feeling about christmas the way i did, and it is important to me that they beleive in Santa!!!

Answer 1

We stopped celebrating when I was 12-13 as a family decision (e-mail if you want details). But before that, I remember every year mom would roll out honey-lemon cookies and we would get to cut out santas, stars, circles, camels, all kinds of seasonal cookies. Mom would cook them and then the next day we got to decorate. Mom made her usual frosting (she used this frosting for everything) and we sprinkled, and cinnamon dotted the cookies to our heart's content. It was a wonderful tradition (again e-mail if you want recipes).

Since we stopped celebrating, we moved the cookie making tradition to Thanksgiving, which we feel okay about celebrating. We cut out turkeys, lots and lots of gingerbread men & women (using g-bread recipe, of course). Now, my husband makes the icing, and he makes 3 different colors. The children can ice their own, and decorate at will, except now we found these decorating tubes that you can draw with (Betty Crocker in the cake/frosting aisle). It makes the g-bread guys much, much cuter. My daughter makes them every year and pops them in a decorative tin for her roommates at T-g time.

Family gatherings are so important to children. Take lots of pictures.

On the fourth of July we eat dinner at Braum's (an ice cream place). We all eat whatever we want, as much as we want. Banana splits, fudge sundae overboard, etc.

When my son was 2 or 3, he was always asking for ice cream for breakfast. So I told him he could have it on his birthday. So it morphed into you can have ice cream for breakfast on anybody's birthday. Somehow, he never forgets.

That's a few of our family traditions. I hope it gives you bunches of ideas, though some may have to wait a year or two until your twins are old enough to decorate cookies.

Cherish those twins. They won't be young for long. Mine are 17 (Joel) and 21 (Kim). It seems like yesterday we celebrated Joel's 7th birthday. Somehow, time got away from us.

TX Mom
Debbie

Answer 2

Everyone has different traditions.
In my family, the presents just kept piling up under the tree. It built the anticipation.
In my friend's family, under the tree stays bare and all the presents are put there Christmas Eve after the kids are asleep.
Keep it simple this year, they are too young to understand. Keep telling them that Santa Clause is coming to put some goodies under the tree.
You can get by with very few presents this year, mostly stuffed animals and toddler toys.
They will be fascinated with the lights, the ribbons, etc., but may not understand the milk and cookies and the rest of it very well yet.
Christmas morning, they will pick up on your excitement which will make them excited.
Don't be surprised if the get over stimulated and cranky, also don't be surprised if they prefer to play with the boxes and wrappers.
Have a very wonderful time with your little ones! Go with a simple but traditional meal, find time for yourself as well. Maybe take a much needed nap with the twins in the afternoon!

Answer 3

I'm going to be paying attention to the answers you get because I too want to make sure Christmas is just right but I'm quickly running out of ideas mostly because I have very little money!

I do have a feel ideas though. They are things we do.

1. We always go to the Christmas parade. We have an awesome lights parade. It's really cool!

2. Each year we go to Wal-Mart and get those wooden cars, trains and airplanes. We each choose one and paint them together. They become part of our decorations and we get to see them each year. When my son grows up he'll have all those little things he painted.

3. Last year I went out and bought 25 of those tiny stockings. Actually I crocheted them too. I filled them with really small gifts [cheap ones-like stickers, match box cars, crayons.] and put them in each stocking. Every day from the first of December to the 25th my son got a small gift. Sometimes it was candy or gum. Orientaltrading.com has a great deal for small Christmas toys. You get 50 for about 18 dollars plus S&H.

I do a lot of needlecrafts so a lot of our decorations are homemade. I always spend about 25 dollars or so on stuff from Orientaltrading.com for decorations that my son can make too.

Familyfun.com has TONS of great ideas! You just have to search Christmas. Ideabox.com [I think that's what it's called] has tons of fun and cheap stuff too.

I hope I helped!

Answer 4

If you don't have a fireplace you can buy these "special" keys that you can leave under the doormat before you go to bed so Santa can let himself in. The key only works for Santa, though.

Love the idea about the ornaments. When the child is grown and on his/her own, he/she can have ornaments for his/her own tree.

How about reading a special book while sitting around the tree on Christmas Eve? Read the same book every year. The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado is one of my favorites.

Have a friend or family member write a note from Santa on special paper and leave it next to the empty glass of milk and plate of cookies. Be sure to have them say the reindeer love carrots...or something like that.

Your ideas all sound wonderful. Just thought I'd share some of my ideas.

Answer 5

You sound really sweet...

But, your baby is one. Little people at around 3 are much more aware of this type of activity.

Use this year as a trial run to get ready for those days when you have 5 kids and you're holiday season is exactly as you picture it in your description

Answer 6

Here is our holiday meal tradition...we make Angel food cupcakes and in one of them drop a gummy bear (it bakes to the bottom of the cake). Once baked and cooled, they are celephane wrapped until meal time, so no one looks at the bottom to know which one is which. Before hand, we made/have a crazy Christmas crown/hat and a ring (we used to put the actual ring in the cake but my son almost ate it, so we went to gummies). Anyway, that person becomes the Christmas King or Queen. They get the ring/hat and they get to pass out the presents on Christmas morning/eve (whichever you celebrate). The goofier the hat the better, by the way. The hat can be used year to year, but the ring is theirs to keep. If it's a young child, have an alternative 'something'.

Before dinner, each person from youngest to oldest chooses a cupcakes and the hostess puts it on the plate in front of them (hard to contain with a young child so parents have to help). When each person has their cake, 1 2 3 split it open and surprise who has the gummy! They get to wear the crown/hat and gets the ring/prize and gets to hand out presents. The kicker is they HAVE to wear the hat/crown the entire day/night!! (except for babies)

If you have a person who knits or crochets, then they can whip something up in no time ;) ENJOY

Answer 7

I just had a lovely holiday in Greece. I stayed in a town called Kalamaki, which is on the island of Zante. If you want clubs you can go into Laganas. It's a beautiful island and have booked up to go back the last week of September.

Answer 8

We always do the ornament one. On Christmas eve the kids can open two presents after dinner. One is a toy/book they can enjoy that night the other is an ornament. But we do our ornaments differently. They signify an important event for that year. For example, the year my son got his game boy for his birthday, his ornament looked like a video came controller (he did not know that Christmas morning he'd be opening a game cube). And for my daughter, the year she got honor roll for the first time, Her ornament was and ivy wrapped frame with a border. We put in her school pic for that year and the Honor Roll 2004 on the border. So, be really creative.

And when they started to believe less in Santa, I went to the malls and asked which Santa's were always the same. Then I let that Santa know what they did that year (just one or two things), their names, and what time I'd bring them the next day. IT ALWAYS surprises them that Santa (even the ones who were his helpers by filling in at the mall) knew them and what they did!

Answer 9

maybe read or tell them the Twas the Night before Christmas story. At the age of 1, I wouldn't worry too much about it - but I think it is great that you are concerned about traditions - I think it's a lost art! Maybe you could ask people to share their favorite (and first) holiday memories! Happy early holidays!

Answer 10

Sounds like you have a grip on the holiday stuff...all your traditions sound ...traditional.

Maybe do something for others around the holidays...that will make them generous caring big hearted kids. I plan on doing that with my son.

Pack a christmas dinner or do meals on wheels for a week with them..so they know others in need of help get it from good people.