The holidays give us all time to spend quality moments with family and friends. Make this time of the year for bonding even more special by starting some new traditions the kids can take part in too.
To make the holidays even more special and memorable, why not come up with some new traditions you’ll all come to love and look forward to as the years go by? Here are some ideas to get you started.
The make-an-ornament tradition
Rather than wine, dessert or a hostess gift, ask family members and guests to bring a handmade ornament. Have your kids make one too, and soon your tree will be decorated with ornaments made by the people you love. Plus, when decorating the tree each year, you’ll have fond memories to exchange as you hang each ornament.
Annual cookie exchange
Baking all sorts of cookies is a lot of work, and time is precious during the busy holiday season. So why not start a cookie exchange with your extended family? This way you’ll have to bake only your few favourites, but you’ll end up with a wide variety to serve guests. Have your kids help with the baking. Little ones might only get to pour in the chocolate chips or stir the batter, but they’ll feel involved and will surely love the sweet results!
Christmas movie night
Choose a night during the holidays when you and your extended family can get together to watch a traditional Christmas movie. (If you’ve done a cookie exchange, you’ll have a selection of delicious baked goods to serve). Pop some plain popcorn either to eat or to string along the tree as decoration. There are tons of family-friendly movies to choose from, such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, to name just a few.
A progressive family dinner
Do you and several members of your extended family live in the same neighbourhood? Start a progressive dinner party night, where you each prepare one course of the dinner, and you move from one home to another to enjoy all the courses (make it even more festive by carolling as you make your way from one home to another!). Switch it up every year so that you take turns preparing different courses of the meal. It’s fun, and it saves each of you the work of preparing an entire holiday meal.
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