The Christmas season is truly one of the the most magical times of the year. As many of us celebrate this year in the midst of a winter storm that usually makes it way across the country once in a generation, there are many new traditions that you can start from the comfort of your own home. Take note because here are a few family traditions to start as you celebrate Christmas!
Listen to a few Christmas Audiobooks.
Listening to audiobooks can be something new on the go or at home. There are plenty of holiday stories to choose from on Audible.com such as “Pete The Cat Saves Christmas,” the Dickens classic, “A Christmas Carol,” “How The Grinch Stole Christmas,” among others. Get some snacks, curl up with the family and take a listen. You can encourage and stretch your kids imaginations by listening to the books just as parents did before there was TV.
Play “I Spy” with the Christmas ornaments on the tree.
This can be a fun game for the little one’s and possibly the big one’s too. Turn off all the lights in the house, except for the Christmas tree ones and play “I Spy” with the ornaments. You can even hide a few to make it a challenge.
Take a tour of your area to look at Christmas lights.
If you can get out and about, take a tour of your area and look at Christmas lights! (You don’t even have to really have the kids dress for this one! A coat and their thermal pj’s will do just fine.) Grab some hot chocolate, turn on your Christmas playlist in the car and drive through the neighborhood looking at the lights. You can even make it in to a game by judging the best yard displays.
Break out the arts and crafts!
Christmas time is the best time to break out the construction paper and get artsy. There are so many art projects that parents and kids can do together. Here are a few recommendations from the little Elves at Parents.com.
- Felt Scarves: Cut a strip of felt that’s sized for your toy, and snip a fringe at each end. Cut rectangles of felt the same width of your scarf and glue them to the scarf to create stripes.
- Elf Hats: Cut a 2 1/2- to 5-in. triangle with rounded corners out of felt. Roll the triangle into a cone shape; secure with hot glue along the edge. Optional: Glue the point of the hat to the side of the hat. Decorate with strips of felt for cuffs and pom-poms.
- Reindeer Antlers: Download the template and print, scaling the size to fit your stuffed animal. Cut out the template and trace onto scrapbook paper; cut antlers out. Hot-glue them onto a strip of felt, then glue strip ends together to form a band.
Create holiday cards for children who have to spend the holiday in the hospital.
There are many children that cannot spend the holiday at home in front of the tree. You and your children can bring a bit of your holiday cheer to them by creating homemade greeting cards for the nonprofit organization, Cards for Hospitalized Kids. This will not only be fun, but it will fall in line with the spirit of the holiday, by giving giving back. To find the full guidelines for your creations, click here.
Didn’t find an activity here on our list? Well, don’t worry, we gotch’a covered. Check out the full list of magical ideas here.
