Christmas is one of the most widely celebrated winter festivals around the world and every family does something slightly different. With that said, it’s never too late to start something new and building family traditions is important to children’s sense of self, community and belonging. Here are a few traditions from other families that you may want to incorporate into your own celebrations;
The first of December
Every year Christmas creeps further and further forwards with shops beginning their marketing, towns putting up their lights and radio stations playing Christmas music earlier each year. Some families though are choosing to hold off and let the excitement build up, and then on the first of December the festivities begin with a bang. For younger children, like those in the EYFS, beginning Christmas in November means that the countdown seems to take forever as they are still grappling with the concept of time and delayed gratification is extremely hard! 25 days is a much more manageable chunk of time. With this tradition December the first becomes a special day in its own right; with gift giving, tree decorating and the first Christmas movie of the year.
Christmas bucket list
This year many of us are facing tight restrictions on our lives, thanks to Covid 19, so much our Christmas fun will be being provided at home. Get everyone in the family involved in creating a special holiday bucket list, think specifically of simple, at-home activities like making paper chains, writing to Father Christmas, making biscuits, or watching a favourite movie. Allowing children to contribute to the list will give them a sense of ownership and agency over the choices being made. The list can then be displayed in the house and each activity can be ticked off as it is completed.
The cocoa train
This tradition is as simple as it comes, but one that children will remember throughout life. Grab some travel mugs, fill them up with hot chocolate and bundle up to go and look for Christmas lights. If there are good decorations within walking distance then take torches and light up toys and walk around looking at lights. This is a wonderful sensory activity for young children and will feel really special without costing much money at all!
The children’s tree
Children love to help with decorating the Christmas tree but their idea of “Beautiful” doesn’t always match the aesthetic that parents are going for! Instead, skip the frustration and the post-bedtime reshuffle of the decorations and give the children their very own tree to decorate. Giving them full control over what goes where on their tree encourages independence and creativity. They could even make their own decorations to use on the tree.
Book advent calendar
Reading books together is second to none when it comes to children’s development so make sure children get dedicated daily storytime. Instead of a simple chocolate advent calendar you could wrap 24 books and open one each day the share the story together, bonus points if you do it by Christmas lights under the tree!
Winter Bonfire
Winter is a great time for a cosy bonfire party in the garden. You could build a bonfire or use a fire pit and then bundle up, and spend time getting cosy round the fire, roasting marshmallows or making smores and telling stories. You might be worried about children around fire but most children are able to be much more sensible than we might think, given the opportunity to understand and weigh up risk.
Reverse advent calendar
It’s important to teach children kindness and the importance of giving. A practical way to do this is a ‘reverse advent calendar’ each day children can put something into a box, like shampoo or shower gel, warm clothing like hats or gloves and tinned foods. When the box is full it can be donated to a local homeless shelter or food bank.
Religious services
Focus in on the reason for the season and take your children along to a religious service. Lots of churches will put on special services and events for families with children, this gives your child the opportunity to discover more about the reason for all the celebrations and explore the spiritual aspect of life. If places of worship are closed this year, check out some of the fantastic kids Nativity stories available online.
Family Feast
Christmas eve is a big celebration for lots of Europeans, traditions vary slightly by country but it almost always involves a big family feast, with good food and lots of talking and laughing. Usually this would be an opportunity to get family and friends together, this is probably not going to be an option for many of us this year. There’s nothing stopping us however starting a lovely new tradition for our friends and wider families to join in with when its safe to do so. So, plan a cosy dinner on the 24th and let the children be part of it, eating together enhances their sense of belonging and emerging cultural awareness.
Night before Christmas Box
A ‘Night before Christmas’ or ‘Christmas eve box’ is a box filled with special treats to make Christmas Eve really special for the children. It might include a bath bomb so they can have a relaxing bath, some new pyjamas to put on, some special hot chocolate to make and drink, and maybe a Christmas story or movie. This is about the gift of time, spending time together getting ready for Father Christmas to come. This is all about making memories as often, the most magical memories we have of Christmas are of spending time with family.
Want, Need, Wear, Read
This year’s pandemic has hit many families and many of us have been worried about how to afford children’s long lists of gifts. This is an ideal opportunity to scale back; this year you can make it more manageable by giving each child just 4 gifts. Something they want (the how to train your dragon hatching egg they’ve had their eye on!) Something they need (A new hairbrush? A lunchbox? A hockey stick?) Something to wear (A hoodie with a cool design? a beautiful tutu skirt? New welly boots?) and something to read (A comic? An encyclopaedia? Some story books?) This not only helps to reduce the expense, but also removes the materialism and prevents the clutter. After Christmas so many of us are left with overflowing toyboxes, and most of the time our children don’t need it!
Whichever traditions you choose to create we hope that you enjoy a family Christmas!
