A few years ago, I saw the idea on social media of doing a scavenger hunt to find Christmas gifts on Christmas morning. I loved the idea and we adopted it! We already had a tradition of gifting the kids a combined gift that they opened last–we’ve given them things such as a guitar, a Get Out Pass for the year, a nugget couch. Now we hide their combined gift somewhere and they do the scavenger hunt to find it. I knew they enjoyed it, but I didn’t realize how much until one of my daughters picked this tradition as one of her top three favorite Christmas traditions!
I’ve been busy making our scavenger hunt clues and I wanted to share what I’m doing for it this year.
While it’s a scavenger hunt, I like to make the clues escape room-esque. They have different puzzles or hints to figure out at each stop. I do 10 clues, and the first one is always wrapped under the tree and marked for them to open it last.
Here are the clues I’m leaving this year:
Clue 1
Starts: Wrapped under the tree
Leads to: The top of the fridge
For the first clue, I wrote a little silly story that had the key words in it that would lead them to the next place they need to look (“on top of the fridge”). Then I took a piece of construction paper and cut out spaces to show only those words from the story (I held it up to a window and traced the words so I could get it right before cutting). When they open up the clue, they’ll need to align it correctly to see where to go next.
Clue 2
Starts: On top of the fridge
Leads to: A bathroom cupboard
For this clue, I used lemon juice as “invisible ink” and used a q-tip to write the next location on the paper. At the bottom, I give the hint of adding heat (they can use my blow dryer) to reveal the clue. I have never tried lemon juice as invisible ink, so I hope it works like it says it will online.
Clue 3
Starts: A bathroom cupboard
Leads to: Bottom of our exersaucer
This clue will be between the towels in our bathroom cupboard (I’ll make them search for the pieces a little bit). It is just the word “exersaucer” cut into strips, so once they find it, it should be fairly easy for them to put it together.
Clue 4
Starts: Bottom of our exersaucer
Leads to: Cupboard of cups
I am going to tape this clue underneath our baby’s exersaucer toy to make it just a little tricker to find (the kids will have to tip it up to find it). Once they find the clue, they need to connect the dots to spell out the word “cups”. This will lead to the cupboard where we keep our cups, something they’ll need to figure out from the word cups.
Clue 5
Starts: Cupboard of cups
Leads to: Bulletin board
These popsicle sticks have the letters to the words “bulletin board” written on them and then each letter is covered up by a different color. If the kids arrange the colors in the same order as the paper, then the letters will be in the correct order when they remove the colored paper. I will have the pattern paper and the popsicle sticks hidden among the cups in the cupboard.
Clue 6
Starts: Bulletin board
Leads to: Bread machine
I kept this clue simple–a riddle. It will be stuck onto the bulletin board backwards to make it a little harder for the kids to find, and then the kids simply have to figure out what the riddle refers to (I made the riddle pretty easy because I think that will be more fun for them while they are so young).
Clue 7
Starts: Bread machine
Leads to: Front door
This clue will be inside my bread machine and is a simple code for the kids to decipher. They love codes (we make codes for each other all the time) so this will be right up their alley. The code says, “front door”.
Clue 8
Starts: Front door
Leads to: Laundry room
This puzzle is very homemade. I really hope the kids are able to put it together and that they’ll know what it is once they do. I printed off a puzzle and then on a separate piece of paper, I drew a picture of our laundry room. Then I glued the puzzle piece paper and my drawing together and cut out the puzzle pieces. I am not the greatest artist and I think I should have added some color as well so it wasn’t just lines, but I will just have to learn for next time. I’m going to leave tape with the puzzle so they can tape the pieces together as they solve it and I’m hoping that helps them figure out what it is a picture of.
Clue 9
Starts: Laundry room
Leads to: Nativity
This clue is inspired by the scavenger hunts that our library often has in their kids’ area that my kids love to do — they hide little figures (like these elves) around the kids’ area and each figure has a letter and number on it, with the letters spelling out something. I am going to hide these elves around the laundry room and once the kids have found them all, it will spell out “nativity”.
Clue 10
Starts: Nativity
Leads to: Mom’s bed
This final clue will be taped on the back of the nativity pieces. The kids simply have to find each of the four words and then unscramble them. The words will lead them to my bed, where their present will be waiting (the last two years, the scavenger hunt has ended in Dad’s office, so I think the kids will be surprised). This year, their combined gift is a karoake machine, which I think all of them will love. I foresee many fun family evenings with it. I also got them some new magnet blocks to go with the karoake machine because a lot of our old blocks are starting to break or get lost.
So that is our scavenger hunt this year on Christmas morning! It has become one of my favorite traditions on Christmas day. What is one of your favorite traditions? What does your family’s Christmas morning look like? I’d love to hear from you in comments below!
We have a lot of Christmas traditions that I love to do with my kids and as they get older, I know things will get crazier and we’ll probably need to adapt and maybe start changing some of our traditions (which means stopping some old ones as we start new ones). This year, I thought it would be fun to sit down and ask each of my kids what their top three favorite traditions of the season are.
Here are their answers!
Ashtyn
Polar Express Party
Each year, we do a party where we buy a few treats (like chocolate oranges and candy canes), make white hot chocolate, and put on pajamas to watch The Polar Express. I also have some Polar Express tickets that I printed off and laminated a few years ago and we always invite their cousins to come watch with us. It’s very simple for me to set up, but the kids all love it.
Candy Hunt
This is another simple tradition that we’ve been doing for years–we read The Legend of the Candy Cane, which talks about the symbolism of the candy cane and how it relates to Christ, and then I hide a candy cane or two around the house for the kids to each find.
Making Ornaments Every Year
This tradition started the year Ben and I got married–we didn’t have a lot of money, so instead of buying a new ornament, we decided to make one. We’ve done it every year with our kids since and we have many homemade ornaments from grandparents and great grandparents as well for our tree. I love that this is one of Ashtyn’s favorites!
Parker
Polar Express Party
It made me happy that Parker also chose this as a favorite! It’s such a simple tradition, we will definitely be continuing it.
The Combined Gift
It surprised me that Parker picked this one. Every year, we give our kids each one big gift from Mom and Dad and then they also get one combined gift from us to share. We try to make the combined gift a fun one that they can use all year long–we’ve done things like a guitar, a Get Out Pass, and nugget couch. This year, we’re doing a karoake machine.
The Scavenger Hunt Christmas Morning
It was so fun to me that Parker picked this one too! I love this tradition, but I didn’t think my kids cared that much about it. I saw this idea online a couple years ago and loved it, this will now be our third year doing it. I set up an escape room-esque scavenger hunt for the kids to find the last present of the morning (their combined gift). I always have a ton of fun with it, so I’m glad the kids do too!
Rylee
Decorating the Tree
It’s always good to remember that sometimes the simple traditions are the things our kids will remember most.
Opening a Present on Christmas Eve
It’s funny to see how married couples handle bringing together different traditions–Ben was surprised when he found out that we always opened a present on Christmas Eve. To him, that was cheating (you had to wait until Christmas!). We always opened something on Christmas Eve–sometimes pajamas, but sometimes it was something like slippers. The first few years we had kids, I did Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve, but I didn’t love saving them so late. I like getting out the pajamas (and not always buying new pajamas either) at the beginning of the season. What our tradition has now turned into is each family member (Ben and I share) getting a new blanket to open on Christmas Eve. The kids always know it’s a blanket, but there’s still something so special about opening that first present.
Playing in the Snow
Again, the simple traditions are the best.
Oliver
Playing in the Snow
I was very curious what Oliver would remember and talk about, because he’s so young. I love that he remembers playing in the snow together.
Watching Christmas Movies
This one made sense to me, since we had already started watching some Christmas movies this year when I had asked him the question. I am with him—watching Christmas movies is one of my favorite parts of this time of year as well.
Wrapping Presents
Again, we’d already wrapped some when I asked him. Whenever I can, I let him come in with me to wrap and he’s watched Hallmark movies with me while wrapping. I love that he loves to come in and hang out with me.
Mom
I thought I’d add in my top three favorite traditions, since I asked my kids!
Acting out the Nativity
Growing up, we always acted out the nativity on Christmas Eve and helping my kids act it out has remained one of my favorite traditions. It brings such a sweet spirit and really helps me remember the reason for the season on Christmas Eve.
Ninja Elves
When I first married into my husband’s family, they drew names with the siblings and each person got someone else a present. As the siblings all reached adulthood, we decided to forgo getting presents for each other and instead pool that money to give to a local family in need. We often do other things with the money, like a fruit basket, a box of chocolates, or stuffed animals for the kids. Then we let the kids be “ninja elves” to doorbell ditch the money and goodies. One of my favorite parts of this tradition is seeing how my kids, on their own, every single year, get money from their own piggy banks to contribute. To me, that is the true Christmas spirit.
Christmas Tree in the Morning
Remember when I said the simplest traditions can be the best? The same holds true for adults. One of my favorite parts of this season is sitting in front of our Christmas tree in the mornings while everyone else is asleep (I am a morning person anyway and I wake up early everyday leading up to Christmas … it’s a blessing and a curse). It’s so peaceful for me to sit and work on my book or my blog with the lights of the tree in front of me.
Those are my kids’ favorite traditions, according to them! I love the holiday feeling in our home at this time of year and all the traditions we have. What are some of your favorite Christmas traditions? I’d love to hear in the comments below!
Advent calendars and countdowns to Christmas are one of my favorite parts of the holiday. I love the anticipation of Christmas and we always do at least two different countdowns each year.
This year, I have a friend who has been going through a hard time and is facing a more difficult Christmas, so I wanted to do something special for her. We both are big book nerds and had an idea of a gift–a book countdown to Christmas! I am going to gift her 24 individually wrapped books and a treat attached, to unwrap one each day leading up to Christmas.
To start, I got on Thriftbooks to help keep the cost of this more manageable. I went through my Goodreads list to find books I have read over the last few years that I think she’d really like and found some on Thriftbooks. Many weren’t available, weren’t in good enough condition, or were too expensive. I tried to keep the price to about $5 per book and I didn’t go with anything under “very good” condition as I’m gifting the books. This friend loves Thriftbooks and finding books at thrift stores (we often go shopping there together!), so I knew she would be fine with receiving used books.
I also know her favorite treat, so I got on Vitacost and bought the treats in bulk.
I made some tags to go in with the books. On the tags, I wrote down (in red and green, of course) the book title and then a little explanation of what the book was about along with why I personally liked the book so much.
Once all the books arrived, I decided what order I wanted to her to receive them in (the middle ones weren’t as important, but the first and last were more important, and some books were part of a series that I wanted her to unwrap in sequence). I wrapped them each in brown paper and twine, putting the countdown number on the top (24 down to 1). I used these free printable gift tags from Lovely Planner. With the twine, I attached the treat.
Then it was ready to deliver and let her countdown start!
This was honestly one of the most fun things I’ve done for Christmas in quite awhile (and that’s saying something, because we do a lot of fun things for Christmas!).
Do you do any fun countdowns for Christmas? What is a fun, service-oriented tradition you have? I would love to hear from you in the comments below!
It’s that time of year when we are finalizing all our presents for everyone (I like to have it done earlier, but it just wasn’t going to happen this year, on top of the fact that my family wasn’t as on board with deciding what they want for Christmas super early). I love the process of deciding on what we’re getting everyone and buying/wrapping it all almost as much as I love Christmas morning.
Our tradition is to get our kids one big thing (we have a $50 budget for it) from Mom and Dad and then we get them stocking stuffers from Santa (we budget about $100 per stocking). My two older kids know about Santa and my two younger kids don’t. We are doing less for the baby’s stocking this year.
Our oldest girls are 11, 9, and 7. We also have a 4 year old boy and an 8 month old baby.
Here is what we are buying our kids for Christmas!
Ashtyn
Makeup
Ashtyn’s biggest Christmas wish this year is makeup (she just turned eleven), so I got some mascara, eye shadow, lip gloss, and lip stick for her. I also have some face powder that I never use that she wants, so I’m going to give her mine.
Makeup bag
I also thought it would be good for her to have a bag to keep her makeup in and found this cute one on Amazon.
Scissors and Faux Leather
Ashtyn got supplies for making bows for her birthday recently from an aunt and loves it. For her stocking, I picked out some cute new faux leather I think she’ll like and the same aunt had some extra scissors that are nicer that she gave us.
Rubics Cube
The one other thing she is asking for is a rubics cube, and especially a 2X2 rubics cube. I found this combo for not too expensive on Amazon.
Bluetooth headphones
Both Ashtyn and Parker have Kindles and love using bluetooth headphones to listen to audiobooks on their Kindles. Ashtyn’s headphones are starting to break (only one headphone currently works), so I’m getting her a new pair.
Joycons
My grandparents send $25 every year to pick out a gift from them and this year, we’re getting Ashtyn joycons for her Switch that she already has (she currently uses a controller because her joycons broke).
Parker
Switch
For her big gift, Parker wanted us to get her a Switch. We put $50 dollars toward it and she paid the remainder. We found one for $130 on eBay, that came with a charger and joycons.
Nintendo Store Gift Cards
In her stocking, we’re giving her a $20 gift card for the Nintendo eStore so that she can get some games on her Switch (we only own a few physical copies of games). We’ve also picked out a $25 giftcard for her from my grandparents, so she should have enough to get quite a few games that she wants.
Headphones
Something Parker (and Rylee) really want for Christmas this year are headphones they can plug into their school computers (they often use them to listen to music as well). We found these on Amazon for not too much.
Bluetooth headphones
Just like Ashtyn, Parker could use a new pair of bluetooth headphones (you can’t plug headhpones into a Kindle), so she’s going to get some as well in her stocking.
Colored pencils
I bought myself some new colored pencils this year when I did my bullet journal and then we gave them to Ashtyn for her birthday. Both sisters were very jealous, so I think they’ll be very excited to find these in their stockings.
Rylee
Telescope
Rylee has been asking for a telescope for a long time, but we didn’t think we’d be able to get one for her (nicer ones are so expensive and we didn’t want to get one that didn’t work very well). When we were helping clean out Ben’s grandmother’s house recently (she passed away earlier this year), there was a very nice telescope there and her children gave it to us for Rylee’s Christmas. We had already told her it wasn’t something we could do, so she’s going to be beyond excited when she opens it!
Animal Crossing for 2DS
All the girls have a 2DS and both Ashtyn and Parker have Animal Crossing for theirs. They are synced up and will play together, and Rylee wishes she could play with them too. I got the DS Animal Crossing game for her stocking so that she will be able to!
Colored pencils
Just like Parker, I got these colored pencils for Rylee. I know they’ll both be excited to find them in their stockings.
Headphones
Like Parker, Rylee really wants headphones for Christmas, so we’re getting her the same ones, just in a different color.
Oliver
Remote Control Car
Oliver’s big gift this year is a remote control car. I’m really excited for this gift, because I have wanted to give him something like this for a long time, but we were trying to wait for him to be old enough to really enjoy it. This is the year! We found one on Amazon that seems to have a good battery life, has two batteries (so one can be charging while they are still using the car with the other), and doesn’t have frustrating controls.
Spiderman DVDs
Oliver loves superheroes right now and often wants to get superhero DVD’s from the library, but most of them are Marvel movies we don’t want him watching yet. My husband has always loved The Spectacular Spiderman series, so we got the DVD’s for Oliver for his stocking.
Animals
We have just a couple animal figurines that Oliver really loves playing with, so I’m getting him more for his stocking.
Bath Toys
I’m also getting Oliver some new little bath toys, including little boats that I think he’ll really like.
Magnet Blocks
From his grandparents, we’re getting him some new magnet blocks. Magnet blocks get played with all the time at our house, especially by Oliver, but some of them have started breaking. These cost a little more than what my grandparents budget, but his main gift from us cost a little less than what we budget, so it works out in the end.
Leah
Teething Toys
Leah is just reaching the age where she loves to put things in her mouth to play, so her main gift is going to be teething toys. We’re not doing a lot for her, because she won’t know the difference, but we are getting her some things that I’ve been wanting to get her and her siblings would be disappointed if she didn’t get anything.
Snuggly
I am also getting her a little snuggly toy for her crib (she’s almost old enough that I’ll feel comfortable leaving it in there with her).
Wooden toy
From her grandparents, I’m giving her a little wooden activity toy that I think she’ll like. I also think the other kids will play with it some, which is always a win.
Baby treats
In her stocking, I’m planning on putting some baby crackers and yogurt drops. She’ll love it, because she loves food right now!
Combined Gift
Karoake Machine
In addition to one big gift for each child, we also get them one combined gfit (for all the kids to share). In the past, we’ve done things like a Get Out Pass, a guitar, a nugget couch. This year, we decided to get them a karoake machine. I think it’s going to be huge hit because all our kids love singing and we love to do karoake using YouTube as a family as well.
Blankets
We always get out Christmas pajamas early on in the season so the kids can wear them all month long (and we also reuse/pass down our Christmas pajamas). Our traditional Christmas Eve gift is to give each child a new blanket. We always get the Queen sized ones and the kids usually use them in the living room in the mornings or while watching shows.
Stockings
There are also a few things we are getting for each stocking in addition to the individual gifts they are getting.
Outfit
I love getting everyone a new outfit to wear on Christmas Day and for the rest of the winter. This year, I went for comfy and cute. I also got Oliver and Leah a similar outfit.
Coloring Book
Each child is getting a coloring book this year because they all love coloring and these coloring books were too cute to pass up! I got Oliver this ABC one instead because he’s very into letters right now.
Pencil bag
To go along with their colored pencils and coloring books, I got them these cute pencil bags. I got a different color for each girl (I didn’t get Oliver one).
Murdle book
I also got each girl a puzzle book–these are really cool mystery puzzle books that I think the kids are really going to like. I got Murdle ones and a Cluedle.
Thrifted Book
At a recent trip to the thrift store, I also found a book for each child that I think they are goign to like. For $2 or less, I got them each the book for their stocking!
Jerky
We love to put a beef jerky packet into our kids’ stockings. It’s a great way to do a snack that isn’t candy and our kids love these, but usually don’t all get one because of how expensive that would be.
Candy
This year for candy, I let the kids tell me a couple of nicer things that they like rather than getting a lot of smaller candy from the Christmas aisle. I also got some Neco wafers from the dollar store, because their great-grandma who passed away earlier this year always gave them Neco wafers. I think that is going to be a special addition to our Christmas.
Cheetohs
We love the Simply Cheetos and it’s another snack my kids love that isn’t candy!
That’s what we’re getting our kids for Christmas this year! What are you most excited to gift your children this year? Do you love the preparation for Christmas or just endure it? Let me know in the comments section below!
I love Christmas and am so excited that it is coming up! One of my favorite things to do this time of year is plan our family’s annual countdown to Christmas. Each day between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I have our kids open a holiday-themed children’s book. We read it together and do an activity (I like to have the activities and book correspond as often as possible).
I have spent years building up our library of Christmas books. Thriftbooks has been one of my favorite websites to do this with, and while we were working on our own stash of books, I often utilized our library’s selection for this tradition.
While I start as soon as Thanksgiving is over (that has always been when Christmas “starts” for me, even growing up), it would also be very fun to do this tradition starting on December 1st.
If you want to try a similar tradition with your kids, I’ve made a few free printables to help, including a book list of the Christmas books we are using this year, a list of Christmas activity ideas, and a page to fill out what book and activity you want to do each day, whether you want to start right after Thanksgiving or on December 1. *The page to fill out link will let you make a copy to edit right on your computer, the other links are for printing off.
Here are some other printables (a blank printable calendar and printable chart rather than Google docs) to help you get organized:
Here is my plan for the Christmas season 2025:
Friday, November 28
Book to Unwrap: C is for Christmas by Tonya Skousen Arenaz
Activity: Holly Days
C is for Christmas is a poetic Christmas book with the most beautiful illustrations. I always read it on the first day of our countdown because it covers so much of Christmas. It is the perfect read as we’re anticipating the Christmas season.
Each year, our community has a big event the day after Thanksgiving called Holly Days. They have activities going all day, including free bounce houses, popcorn, hot chocolate, hayrides, and train rides. I love to take the kids for a few hours in the afternoon (when it’s warmest) before going home for movie night. If there aren’t any local activities in your area the day after Thanksgiving, this is a good day to go window shopping and see all the store’s decorations that are up or have pie for breakfast (we often do both of these as well!).
Saturday, November 29
Book to Unwrap: The Mismatched Nativity by Merrilee Boyack
Activity: Make a Paper Christmas Countdown Chain
The Mismatched Nativity is a cute book about a boy who moves to a new place where he doesn’t have friends. A church teacher helps the class befriend the new boy by sharing different pieces of their nativities with him, until he has a full nativity. I love reading this book as we bring out our own nativity and other decorations.
I love having a visual countdown for the kids. I think it really helps them understand how long until the big day. I usually cut the paper strips in advance (we use red, green, and white paper). Then the kids get to pick what pattern they want with the colors and put their own chain together. We enjoy making the paper chain and then we hang them by our back door as a sort of decoration.
Sunday, November 30
Book to Unwrap: The Last Straw by Paula Palangi McDonald
Activity: Draw Service Names
The Last Straw is a book about a family who brings the Christmas spirit to their home by doing secret acts of service for each other, and when they do an act of service, they get to add a piece of hay to the manger for Christmas Eve. There’s a twist at the end that makes me tear up every time I read it.
A few years ago, my father-in-law helped me make a wooden manger for our own secret service tradition. Before that, we used a cardboard box. For “hay”, we actually use felt cut into strips while our kids are young. It was my husband’s idea and every year I’m grateful for it as it is so easy to clean up every time the toddler empties it out.
For our tradition, each family member picks a name out of the hat and does secret acts of service for that person during the week, putting a piece of “straw” in the manger for each act. At the end of the week, we draw new names. My oldest daughter loves this activity every year and is in charge of helping us pick new names each Sunday. The kids love trying to make the manger as full as possible for baby Jesus (who gets laid in the manger on Christmas Eve).
Monday, December 1
Book to Unwrap: Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by Alice Shertle
Activity: Decorate Kids’ Tree
We are big Little Blue Truck fans at our house and my kids love the Christmas one! In the book, Little Blue Truck is delivering Christmas trees to his friends, and it finishes with light up Christmas lights.
I love having a tree for kids in their room. It’s mini and cute and they are allowed to move the ornaments around all they want. We pull out a few “kid” ornaments we don’t want on our tree downstairs for and then spend the morning making paper ornaments to put on their tree.
Tuesday, December 2
Book to Unwrap: Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise by Lisa McMue
Activity: Write Letters to Santa
I have to admit that Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise is not my favorite picture book, but the kids enjoy it and we’ve read it every year since my oldest was a toddler.
I love to pair the book with writing to Santa because throughout the story, Corduroy writes many different letters to Santa. I like to try to get letters to Santa in nice and early, so there aren’t any surprises right before Christmas (which has happened to us before!). This year, I’m going to use one of these letters to Santa templates. Then I’ll put them in an envelope that has their name on it to keep in my folders to look at in the future. On this day, we can also do some Santa themed activities together.
Wednesday, December 3
Book to Unwrap: The Christmas Wish by Lori Evert
Activity: Visit Santa
The Christmas Wish is such a fun book! The story follows a little girl who wants to be Santa’s helper, so she is trying to find him. As she looks, she has a lot of animal friends help her along the way. The illustrations are photographs and really bring the book alive.
Our kids always love to visit Santa. This is one of the activities where we have to be flexible for when Santa visits are available (I think this is the day our church will have them, but if not, we’ll find somewhere else). We also have some Santa-themed activities that we can do, and my kids often like to make a little present or note to take to Santa. My two oldest understand about Santa (it happened a lot earlier than I had wanted) and they still love visiting Santa.
Thursday, December 4
Book to Unwrap: Maple and Willow’s Christmas Tree by Lori Nichols
Activity: Decorate the Christmas Tree
Maple and Willow’s Christmas Tree is a new book we got last year that I love (I also love the original Maple and Willow books)! Maple and Willow are sisters who are so excited to get a real Christmas tree, but one of them might allergic! I love the way the book portrays sibling relationships and the way they work things out together. It’s also the perfect book to read when decorating our tree.
With so many kids, decorating the tree is never a calm activity, but we do try to keep it simple. We turn on Christmas music and let the kids cover the tree with our ornaments while I try to turn off my perfectionism. (Of course, I do change things after the kids are in bed to even out the decorations).
Friday, December 5
Book to Unwrap: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Activity: Polar Express Party
The Polar Express is a classic that we love reading every year! We purposely do this activity on a Friday so that we can watch the movie for movie night. We invite cousins, wear pajamas, and I prepare our own “train tickets” (I actually have them laminated, so we don’t punch them, but I’ve seen many people who do punch their tickets at parties like this). Then we have a spread of treats and hot chocolate while we watch the movie. The kids look forward to this party all year and it’s a pretty simple event to put together.
Saturday, December 6
Book to Unwrap: The Broken Ornament by Tony Diterlizzi
Activity: Make Ornaments as a Family
The Broken Ornament is a story about a boy who wants Christmas to be as big as possible, but in the process, he accidentally breaks his mother’s special ornament. To make things right, he has to learn the true meaning of Christmas (there is “magic” in the book with a Christmas Elf appearing to the boy after he breaks the ornament). I love to pair this one with our tradition of making a new ornament every year.
When I was growing up, my mom bought us all an ornament each year. When Ben and I were newlyweds, we hardly had money for a gift for each other, much less buying things like ornaments. We decided to make an ornament together. My mom gave us the ornaments her grandmothers had made years ago and our tree became covered in beautiful, homemade ornaments. We’ve continued making new ornaments each year with our own children instead of buying ornaments and we’ve made such fun memories together doing so (though I also love other people’s tradition of buying ornaments that have special meaning!).
Sunday December 7
Book to Unwrap: Mortimer’s Christmas Manger by Jane Chapman
Activity: Decorate Gingerbread Houses
Mortimer’s Christmas Manger is a cute book about a mouse looking for a place to belong. With a focus on the nativity scene, a gingerbread house plays a big part, making it the perfect book for our gingerbread house activity!
We have tried many ways of making gingerbread houses from making our own gingerbread to using premade kits to cutting up graham crackers. For us, graham crackers are by far the easiest method. Ben cuts the same pattern out of the graham cracker each year for me. Then I cut a base from a cardboard box, wrap it in tinfoil, and use my great grandma’s frosting recipe (which makes the houses practically indestructible when it dries) to put the houses together before the kids come. Then we dump candy into bowls, get out store frosting for them to decorate with, and let them at it.
We also like to include an upside-down ice cream cone in the “yard” of each house and green (food-colored) frosting to make Christmas trees as well.
Book to Unwrap: Mouse’s Christmas Gift by Mindy Baker
Activity: Make Cookies for Neighbor Gifts
Mouse’s Christmas Gift is a sweet story about a mouse who brings a community together for Christmas. He’s just a small mouse and does just a small act, but his actions have big ripples. I love the community aspect of this story and love to pair it with our neighbor gifts activity.
I love making Christmas cookies and I love doing neighbor gifts, so I make Christmas cookies to gift to neighbors every year. I take the whole day (and usually mix up some cookie dough the day before to chill overnight) and make several batches of several kinds of cookies and then distribute them to gift bags. I like to get out coloring pages for the kids and watch some Christmas movies while I bake. The next day, the kids help me deliver cookies up and down the street.
I usually make green cookies with Christmas M&M’s (I use my chocolate chip cookie recipe and just replace the chips with M&M’s), red chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, peanut butter kiss cookies (rolled in sprinkles), and homemade Oreos with red and green frosting. I make big batches of all of them so I can do about 50 bags to deliver.
Tuesday, December 9
Book to Unwrap: A Christmas Dress for Ellen by Thomas S. Monson
Activity: Ninja Elves
If I had to pick one favorite Christmas book, A Christmas Dress for Ellen would be it. I can’t make it through the book without crying several times. The story is about a destitute family and service that is given to bring them a Christmas miracle. I love reading this book as an introduction to talking to my kids about the way we give to a family in need.
One year, my husband’s family decided that we didn’t want to exchange gifts and wanted to instead use the money to help a local family in need. After I read the book with the kids, we talk about the specifics of the situation of the family we chose to help and the way they were helping them (in giving up extra gifts they didn’t need to give that money to someone who really needed it). Every year, the kids have wanted to add money from their own piggy banks as well, and my heart loves to see the generosity of children. Once we’ve gathered the money from everyone who wants to participate, we let the kids be “ninja elves” and doorbell ditch it to the family. It’s one of my very favorite traditions.
Wednesday, December 10
Book to Unwrap: The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
Activity: Candy Cane Hunt
The Legend of the Candy Cane is a cute little story that ends with teaching how the candy cane symbolizes Christ. I love the story and the message of the book.
We always do a “candy cane” activity when we read this book. We start with a candy cane hunt–I hide candy canes around the house and then the kids search for them. Then they can eat one of the candy canes while I read the book to them. Sometimes we add in other activities. We’ve done some science experiments, measured candy canes, made paper candy canes, or made butter cookies into the shape of candy canes. This year, I want to be “candy cane bombers”, where we leave a nice note with a candy cane on people’s windshields.
Thursday, December 11
Book to Unwrap: The Gingerbread Doll by Susan Tews
Activity: Make Gingerbread Cookies
The Gingerbread Doll is a darling book we ran across at the library one year. It is set in the great depression, when a little girl’s mom can’t afford the doll she wants, so instead she makes one from gingerbread. It’s a cute little story and perfect for when we make cookies.
We are big gingerbread fans at our house (I actually make it year round in the shape of dog bones as “Scooby snacks”) and nothing says Christmas like the smell of gingerbread cookies. We make and decorate them every year. I use my great-grandmother’s recipe and buy special decorating things like icing bags, Christmas M&M’s for buttons, and sprinkles that look like eyes. We are not professional cookie decorators by any means, but we have fun with it.
Friday, December 12
Book to Unwrap: Christmas from Heaven by Tom Brokaw
Activity: Deliver Cards to Mailman, Policemen, etc.
Christmas from Heaven is a book about a pilot in the US Army Air Corps who notices German children in Berlin and decides to “candy bomb” them. The act grows into something bigger. The book is a beautiful story about service to others and includes real photos from the events described.
Each year, the kids love to make cards for local police officers and fire fighters as well as the mailman. We then deliver the cards and a bag of gingerbread cookies (that we made the day before) to them. I thought this book, talking about public service and workers who give so much to their community, would be appropriate for starting a conversation with the kids about why we do this act of service.
Saturday, December 13
Book to Unwrap: All the Colors of Christmas by Matthew Paul Turner
Activity: The Kids’ Christmas Concert
All the Colors of Christmas explores Christmas through colors and poetry. I love the scope and feel of the book, from the illustrations to the rhythm while reading it to the Christmas themes shared. The feel of the book felt appropriate for this activity.
My kids are involved with a local theater class that has a Christmas concert each year. It’s a big deal in our schedule because there are two dress rehearsals that weekend as well as the performance. Every year, I have planned another activity to do after the performance and every year, it’s a struggle to get to it (or we just give up and don’t get to it). Often, I end up doubling up on an activity later to get it in or simply count the concert as our activity, so this year, I am starting off by counting the concert as the activity. To make it special, we can go get ice cream or some sort of treat as a family afterwards.
Sunday, December 14
Book to Unwrap: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Activity: Make Sibling Gifts
The Gift of the Magi is such a traditional story and I love it. The one we own has beautiful illustrations and uses the original text, so the old-fashioned language can be a little hard for my kids to follow. I help though, and they always light up when the twist at the end comes. Because of the focus on giving, it feels like the perfect book to pair with making gifts.
Having my kids make gifts, rather than buy them, for each other is a tradition I got from my aunt, and I love it. With four kids (we won’t have the baby involved quite yet), we now have them draw names and make a gift for just one sibling. They love making the gift and get really excited about it, and usually the gifts are the kinds of things that we don’t need to keep forever.
Monday, December 15
Book to Unwrap: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Activity: Grinch Day
We read How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year and doing a “Grinch Day” with it has become a tradition over the last few years. We have some themed activities and food, read the book, and watch both the cartoon and the animated Grinch movie (I am not a fan of the live action, so we never watch that one, but we love both the others).
One activity we do is Grow the Grinch’s Heart science. You put a red heart on a green balloon, put baking soda in the balloon, and then put the balloon over a water bottle with vinegar in it; when it reacts, the balloon fills up and the heart “grows”. We also make grinch pancakes for breakfast and write letters to family members telling them something we love about them (and connect it to the heart growing three sizes). We learn how to draw the Grinch and later in the day, we have Grinch Rice Krispie Treats.
Tuesday, December 16
Book to Unwrap: A Birthday Party for Jesus by Susan Jones
Activity: Birthday Party for Jesus
A Birthday Party for Jesus follows a little rabbit who doesn’t know what to give Jesus as a gift while all the animals prepare to celebrate his birthday. Along the way, he learns what is truly important to give.
A birthday party for Jesus is a tradition I’ve brought from my own childhood, and I love the chance to focus on Christ. We always have a treat, like cupcakes or pie, to put a candle in while we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we each decide on a gift (something we want to change or a way we want to be better) and write them down. I found a present craft, with Jesus in the middle, that I really like and a poem. We end the night with watching The Christ Child on YouTube.
Wednesday, December 17
Book to Unwrap: Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck
Activity: Make Gifts for Extended Family
I remember hearing this story when I was a child and loving it. It’s a sweet story of a boy who learns how to serve and truly show love to his father at Christmas time. I like reading a story about giving and serving on the day that the kids are making gifts for family.
When my oldest was four or five, she wanted to make a gift for a lot of her extended family members. The next year, she and her younger sister wanted to, and it’s become a tradition for all the kids since then. They always have an extensive list of people they want to give to, so I try to make it easy. I help the kids each write a short story, illustrate it, and then photocopy it for everyone on their list. Then I help them wrap and address each present. It’s still a big job, but having one gift they can give everyone really helps make it manageable.
Thursday, December 18
Book to Unwrap: Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
Activity: Snow Day
I love Snowmen at Christmas (and the original, Snowmen at Night). They are such cute stories imagining what snowmen might be doing while their makers are sleeping. The Christmas one has such a fun festive feel to it. I also like to read Harold at the North Pole on our snow day, because of the focus on snow.
Because I can’t control the snow and I like to plan ahead (and some years, it doesn’t snow where I live until Christmas Eve/Day), our snow day involves indoor activities like making paper snowflakes and playing with fake snow. My favorite thing is to make each person’s name into a snowflake. When we’re done with the snowflakes, we hang them on the ceiling of the kids’ rooms. Some years, it lines up and we have real snow to play in as well!
Friday, December 19
Book to Unwrap: A Christmas Carol by Jennifer Adams
Activity: Christmas Movie Party
These Babylit books are some of my favorites! A Christmas Carol is a short and sweet way to introduce the story to young kids. We also have a picture book of the Christmas Carol that tells the story for older kids that we’ll read this day as well.
Having a Christmas Movie Party is a new tradition I’m trying out this year, though we have family movie night on Fridays throughout the whole year. I thought we could make this movie night a special one with special food (we always do breakfast for dinner, so I can make snowman pancakes or some sort of Christmas themed food) and wearing our Christmas pajamas for it. I can pop popcorn after dinner. I picked A Christmas Carol because I want to watch a version of the story for movie night this year.
Saturday, December 20
Book to Unwrap: Chicka Chicka Ho Ho Ho by William Bonoface
Activity: Look at Christmas Lights
We love the Chicka Chicka books at our house (the Halloween one is my favorite!) so when they came out with a Christmas one last year, I got it right away! It’s a cute story about the letters getting to be decorations on the tree.
Driving around looking at Christmas lights is a tradition my kids all look forward to. I try to look up beforehand some neighborhoods that go all out or houses that have dancing lights. We often will pair it with stopping for a treat somewhere. The book and the activity today are only vaguely related because I wasn’t sure what book matched up with this activity really well.
Sunday, December 21
Book to Unwrap: A World of Cookies for Santa by M. E. Furman
Activity: Make Cookies from Somewhere in the World
A World of Cookies is one of my favorite Christmas books. I love the idea of the book, with Santa visiting many different places around the world and tasting their Christmas treats. It’s such a fun way to learn about traditions in different cultures.
In past years, I tried to take a day to set up different traditions from around the world for the kids to experience, but it’s always proved too much for me. What we do instead is choose a recipe from the back of this book and try out some new cookies from around the world. Baking is something I love to do with the kids and it feels much simpler and more manageable. Plus, we all love trying the new cookies!
Monday, December 22
Book to Unwrap: Merry Christmas, Little Pookie by Sandra Boynton
Activity: Caroling
Sandra Boynton is one of my top children’s books authors and we love all the Pookie books (again, the Halloween one is my favorite!). Merry Christmas, Little Pookie follows Pookie as he and his mother invite friends over for Christmas, ending with all of them caroling together.
My kids love to go caroling, so my husband and I rally ourselves to help them experience that. We invite cousins and whatever family the kids can talk into joining us and visit our nearest neighbors (we limit the number of houses to just a few). We pick a couple songs the kids all know, like Jingle Bells and We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and try to just have fun with it.
Tuesday, December 23
Book to Unwrap: Christmas Cookie Day by Tara Knudson
Activity: Make Sugar Cookies for Santa
Christmas Cookie Day is a cute but simple book about a Mama Bear and her son who make sugar cookies together. We always save this book for when we make sugar cookies.
Every year, we leave sugar cookies for Santa, and I like to make them the day before Christmas Eve so we can spend Christmas Eve morning relaxing. The kids take turns rolling out and using the cookie cutters and then I finish up after every child has had a turn (taking turns helps me keep my sanity while also allowing them to help). Then I let them decorate their own plate of cookies with store frosting and sprinkles and decorate the rest myself.
Wednesday, December 24
Book to Unwrap: The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
Activity: Christmas Eve Traditions
This book is my favorite version of this traditional story. I love the illustrations in it, and it follows the traditional poem. For the rest of our countdown, we open each book in the morning, but we always save this book for right before bed on Christmas Eve.
Our Christmas Eve traditions start in the morning. We play games, especially video games like Mario Kart or Mario Party, after breakfast. We love to have the morning relaxing since our evening is busier.
In the afternoon, we go to our in-laws house for an early dinner. Some years we have done a fancy dinner and other years, we’ll do the fancy dinner the Sunday before Christmas and do something like soup for dinner on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we act out the Nativity scene, one of my very favorite Christmas traditions.
Then it’s usually time to go home. At home, we open one present. Right now, our tradition is to each get a new blanket (we get our Christmas pajamas after Thanksgiving so that we can wear them all season long). After getting on pajamas and snuggling in our blankies, we read The Night Before Christmas. Then we set out cookies for Santa and get the kids in bed.
Our Christmas traditions are something that I love and look forward to every year. This sort of countdown is something that my personality as a mom thrives on. I would love to hear some of the traditions you as a mom thrive on and love! Let me know in the comments below!
One of my favorite traditions (that encompasses most of our other traditions) is our Book Advent. This is a tradition we have where the girls unwrap one Christmas picture book a day from after Thanksgiving to Christmas. We read the book and do an activity together (I do my best to match the book with the activity). It’s a countdown we have in addition to their countdown chains, and we all have so much fun with it.
I start our countdown the day after Thanksgiving, though I know many people who wait until December 1st to start. This year, there’s only two days before December. I also am very flexible with our countdown, changing days around when needed or even changing the activity for the day.
A note about the books we unwrap: I have spent years collecting the books we use in our countdown. Until I had collected more, I used the books we had already (even when they didn’t match the activity) and used a lot of library books.
Here is my plan for the 2024 Christmas season!
Friday, November 29th Holly Days
Book to unwrap: C is for Christmas by Tonya Skousen Arenaz
Activity: Holly Days
C is for Christmas is a beautiful and poetic Christmas book. It has the most beautiful illustrations. I always pair with our countdown chain activity because it covers so much of Christmas that it feels like the perfect read as we’re anticipating the Christmas season.
Our community has a big event the day after Thanksgiving each year called Holly Days. They have activities going all day, including free bounce houses, popcorn, hot chocolate, hayrides, and train rides. I love to take the kids for a few hours in the afternoon before going home for movie night.
Saturday, November 30th
Book to unwrap: The Mismatched Nativity by Merrilee Boyack
Activity: Make a Countdown Chain
The Mismatched Nativity is a cute book about a boy who moves to a new place and doesn’t have friends. A church teacher helps the class befriend the new boy by sharing different pieces of their nativities with him, until he has a full nativity. I love reading this book as we bring out our own nativity and other decorations.
I love having a visual countdown for the kids. I think it really helps them understand how long until the big day. I usually cut the paper strips in advance (we use red, green, and white paper). Then the kids get to pick what pattern they want with the colors and put their own chain together. We enjoy making the paper chain and then we hang them by our back door as a sort of decoration.
This is a cute little story of the nativity and it comes with a puzzle that pops out and in. My kids love it!I love this story of Christ’s birth. It touches on all the different parts of the nativity and includes a section of what happened in the Americas at Christ’s birth, as told in the Book of Mormon.This cute book spins the 12 Days of Christmas song to go through the nativity. I like reading it to the kids about once a year and then I’m done.
Sunday, December 1
Book to unwrap: The Last Straw by Paula Palangi McDonald
Activity: Draw Names for Secret Service
The Last Straw is a book about a family who brings the Christmas spirit to their home by doing secret acts of service for each other, and when they do an act of service, they get to add a piece of hay to the manger for Christmas Eve. There’s a twist at the end that makes me tear up every time I read it.
A few years ago, my father-in-law helped me make a wooden manger for our own secret service tradition. Before that, we used a cardboard box. For “hay”, we actually use felt cut into strips while our kids are young, and it is so easy to clean up every time the toddler empties it out.
Each family member picks a name out of the hat and does secret acts of service for that person during the week, putting a piece of straw in the manger for each act. At the end of the week, we draw new names. My oldest daughter loves this activity each year and is in charge of helping us pick new names each week. The kids love trying to make the manger as full as possible for baby Jesus (who gets laid in the manger on Christmas Eve).
Monday, December 2nd
Book to unwrap: Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by Alice Shertle
Activity: Decorate Kids’ Tree
We are big Little Blue Truck fans at our house and my kids love the Christmas one! In the book, Little Blue Truck is delivering Christmas trees to his friends, and it finishes with light up Christmas lights.
I love having a tree for kids in their room. It’s mini and cute and they are allowed to move the ornaments around all they want. We pull out a few “kid” ornaments we don’t want on our tree downstairs and then spend the morning making paper ornaments to put on their tree.
Tuesday, December 3rd
Book to unwrap: A World of Cookies for Santa
Activity: Make Christmas Cookies Around the World by M.E. Furman
This is a book we got last year and it is so cute! I love the idea of the book, with Santa visiting many different places around the world and tasting their Christmas treats. It’s a fun way to learn about traditions in different cultures.
In past years, I’ve tried to take a day to set up different traditions from around the world for the kids to experience, but it’s always proved too much for me. What we did instead last year was choose a recipe from the back of this book and try out some new cookies from around the world. The kids loved it and asked if we could do a new recipe each year, so that’s what our “around the world” activity has turned into. It’s much simpler and we all love it!
Wednesday, December 4th
Book to unwrap: Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise by Don Freeman
Activity: Write Letters to Santa
I have to admit that Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise is not my favorite Christmas book, but the kids enjoy it and we’ve read it every year since my oldest was a toddler.
I love to pair the book with writing to Santa because throughout the story, Corduroy writes many different letters to Santa.
I like to try to get letters to Santa in nice and early, so there aren’t any surprises right before Christmas (which has happened to us before!). This year, I’m going to use one of these letters to Santa templates. Then I’ll put them in an envelope that has their name on it to keep in my folders to look at in the future. Then we can do some Santa themed activities together.
Thursday, December 5th
Book to unwrap: Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect by Richard H. Schneider
Activity: Decorate the tree
Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect is a cute little book about a Christmas tree that gives up its perfect shape to serve the creatures in the forest. It’s a heartwarming story that reminds us that Christmas is about more than how perfect our decorations or house might look.
With so many kids, decorating the tree is never a calm activity, but we do try to keep it simple. We turn on Christmas music and let the kids cover the tree with our ornaments while I try to turn off my perfectionism. (Of course, I do come in afterward to even out the decorations)
Friday, December 6th
Book to unwrap: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Activity: Host a Polar Express Party
The Polar Express is a classic that we love reading every year! We purposely do this activity on a Friday so that we can watch the movie for movie night. We invite cousins, wear pajamas, and I prepare our own “train tickets” to punch. Then we have a spread of treats and hot chocolate while we watch the movie. The kids look forward to this party all year and it’s a pretty simple event to put together.
Saturday, December 7th
Book to unwrap: The Broken Ornament by Toni DiTerlizzi
Activity: Make Ornaments as a family
The Broken Ornament is a story about a boy who wants Christmas to be as big as possible, but in the process, he accidentally breaks his mother’s special ornament. To make things right, he has to learn the true meaning of Christmas. I love to pair this one with our tradition of making a new ornament every year.
When I was growing up, my mom bought us all an ornament each year. When Ben and I were newlyweds, we hardly had money for a gift for each other, much less buying things like ornaments. We decided to make an ornament together. My mom gave us the ornaments her grandmothers had made years ago and our tree became covered in beautiful, homemade ornaments. We’ve continued making new ornaments each year with our own children instead of buying ornaments and we’ve made such fun memories together doing so (though I also love other people’s tradition of buying ornaments that have special meaning!).
Sunday, December 8th
Book to unwrap: Mortimer’s Christmas Manger
Activity: Gingerbread Houses
Mortimer’s Christmas Manger is a cute book about a mouse looking for a place to belong. With a focus on the nativity scene, a gingerbread house plays a big part, making it the perfect book for our gingerbread house activity!
We have tried many ways of making gingerbread houses from making our own gingerbread to using premade kits to cutting up graham crackers. For us, graham crackers are by far the easiest method. Ben cuts the same pattern out of the graham cracker each year for me. Then I cut a base from a cardboard box, wrap it in tinfoil, and use my great grandma’s frosting recipe (which makes the houses practically indestructible when it dries) to put the houses together before the kids come. Then we dump candy into bowls, get out store frosting for them to decorate with, and let them at it.
We also like to include an upside-down ice cream cone in the “yard” of each house and green (food-colored) frosting to make Christmas trees as well.
Book to unwrap: A Christmas Dress for Ellen by Thomas S. Monson
Activity: Ninja Elves
If I had to pick one favorite Christmas book, this would be it. I can’t make it through the book without crying several times. The story is about a destitute family and service that is given to them to bring them a Christmas miracle. I love reading this book as an introduction to talking to my kids about the way we give to a family in need.
One year, my husband’s family decided that we didn’t want to exchange gifts and wanted to instead use the money to help a local family in need. After we read the book, we talk about the specifics of the situation of the family we chose to help and the way they were helping them (in giving up extra gifts they didn’t need to give that money to someone who really needed it). Every year, the kids have wanted to add money from their own piggy banks as well, and my heart loves to see the generosity of children. Once we’ve gathered the money from all the families, we let the kids be “ninja elves” and doorbell ditch it to the family. It’s one of my very favorite traditions.
Tuesday, December 10th
Book to unwrap: The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campell Ernst
Activity: Gingerbread Cookies
The Gingerbread Girl is a simple twist on the original story–with a girl instead of a gingerbread man. With three girls, it’s popular at our house!
I am not actually the biggest fan of gingerbread, but my girls love it and we make and decorate them every year. I use my great-grandmother’s recipe and buy special decorating things like icing bags, Christmas M&M’s for buttons, and sprinkles that look like eyes. We are not professional cookie decorators by any means, but we have fun with it.
Wednesday, December 11th
Book to unwrap: Mouse’s Christmas Gift by Mindy Baker
Activity: Deliver Treats and Cards to Firemen and Policemen
Mouse’s Christmas Gift is a beautiful book about how Mouse’s small act of caring brings a community together for Christmas. I love the story, message, and artwork of the book. I like to pair it with making cards for others, because that’s a small act that my kids can do to serve our community.
Thursday, December 12th
Book to unwrap: The Gingerbread Doll by Susan Tews
Activity: Make Cookies for Neighbor Gifts
The Gingerbread Doll is a darling book we ran across at the library last year. It is set in the great depression, when a little girl’s mom can’t afford the doll she wants, so instead she makes one from gingerbread. It’s a cute little story and perfect for when we make cookies.
I love making Christmas cookies and I love doing neighbor gifts, so I love taking a day to make Christmas cookies to gift to neighbors. I take the whole day (and usually mix up some cookie dough to chill overnight) and make several batches of several kinds of cookies and then distribute them to gift bags. I like to get out coloring pages for the kids and watch some Christmas movies while I bake. The next day, the girls help me deliver cookies.
I usually make green cookies with Christmas M&M’s (I use my chocolate chip cookie recipe and just replace the chips with M&M’s), red chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, peanut butter kiss cookies (rolled in sprinkles), and homemade Oreos with red and green frosting. I make big batches of all of them so I can do about 50 bags to deliver.
Friday, December 13th
Book to unwrap: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Activity: Grinch Day
We read How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year and this is my second year doing a “Grinch Day”. We have some themed activities and food, read the book, and watch both the cartoon and the animated Grinch movie (I am not a fan of the live action, so we never watch that one, but we love both the others).
One activity we do is Grow the Grinch’s Heart science. You put a red heart on a green balloon, put baking soda in the balloon, and then put the balloon over a water bottle with vinegar in it; when it reacts, the balloon fills up and the heart “grows”. We also make grinch pancakes for breakfast and write letters to family members telling them something we love about them (and connect it to the heart growing three sizes). We learn how to draw the Grinch and later in the day, we have Grinch Rice Krispie Treats.
Saturday, December 14th
Book to unwrap: A Birthday Party for Jesus by Susan Jones
Activity: A Birthday Party for Jesus
The book follows a little rabbit who doesn’t know what to give Jesus a gift as all the animals prepare to celebrate his birthday. Along the way, he learns what is truly important to give.
A birthday party for Jesus is a tradition I’ve brought from my own childhood, and I love the chance to focus on Christ. We always have a treat, like cupcakes or pie, to put a candle in while we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we each decide on a gift (something we want to change or a way we want to be better) and write them down. I found a present craft, with Jesus in the middle, that I really like and a poem. We end the night with watching The Christ Child on YouTube.
Sunday, December 15th
Book to unwrap: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Activity: Make Gifts for Extended Family
The Gift of the Magi is such a traditional story and I love it. The one we own has beautiful illustrations and uses the original text, so the old-fashioned language can be a little hard for my kids to follow. I help though, and they always light up when the twist at the end comes. Because of the focus on giving, it feels like the perfect book to pair with making gifts.
When my oldest was four or five, she wanted to make a gift for a lot of her extended family members. The next year, she and her younger sister wanted to, and it’s become a tradition since then. They always have an extensive list of people they want to give to, so in the past, it’s been a job getting all the gifts ready. This year, my plan is to let the kids write a story, illustrate it, and then photocopy it for everyone on their list to make it easier.
Monday, December 16th
Book to unwrap: The Little Drummer Boy by Bernadette Watts
Activity: Cards for the Beehive Home
I really like the story and illustrations of this version of the book, based on the song. I really like pairing the story of the drummer boy, someone who gifted his musical talents to Christ, with caroling. Our girls love to go caroling and we like to do it at the Beehive Home because it is warm and the residents love it.
Tuesday, December 17th
Book to unwrap: The Christmas Wish by Lori Evert
Activity: Visit Santa
The Christmas Wish is such a fun book! The story follows a little girl who is trying to find Santa to be his helper, and she has a lot of animal friends help her along the way. The illustrations are photographs and really bring the book alive.
Our kids always love to visit Santa. This is one of the activities where we have to be flexible. Because I like to plan our Christmas countdown so early, the library and city haven’t announced their dates for free Santa visits yet, but we usually just switch with another activity. We always have a lot of different options, so we can always find a date that works well.
We also have some Santa-themed activities that we can do, and my kids often like to make a little present or note to take to Santa. My two oldest understand about Santa (it happened a lot earlier than I had wanted) and they still love visiting Santa.
Wednesday, December 18th
Book to unwrap: Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck
Activity: Make Sibling Gifts
I remember hearing this story when I was a child and loving it. It’s a sweet story of a boy who learns how to serve and truly show love to his father at Christmas time. I like reading a story about giving and serving on the day that I make neighbor gifts.
Having my kids make gifts, rather than buy them, for each other is a tradition I got from my aunt, and I love it. With four kids, we now have them draw names and make a gift for just on sibling. They love making the gift and get really excited about it, and usually the gifts are the kinds of things that we don’t need to keep forever.
Thursday, December 19th
Book to unwrap: Harold at the North Pole by Crockett Johnson and Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
Activity: Snow Day
This is the only day we’ll open more than one book and it’s because I love both of them so much. I love doing a Christmas-themed snow book for our snow day!
Because I can’t control the snow and I like to plan ahead (and some years, it doesn’t snow where I live until Christmas Eve/Day), our snow day involves indoor activities like making paper snowflakes and playing with fake snow. My favorite thing is to make each person’s name into a snowflake. When we’re done with the snowflakes, we hang them on the ceiling of the kids’ rooms. Some years, like last year, it lines up and we have real snow to play in as well!
Friday, December 20th
Book to unwrap: You Are My Miracle by Maryann Cusimano Love
Activity: Read Poems in Christmas Pajamas
I love the poetic feel of You Are My Miracle, and the way it reminds me to treasure each of these moments with my own kids.
I chose to do this activity on a Friday because we always do breakfast for dinner then. We can all don our pajamas and share some Christmas poems while we eat breakfast foods before movie night.
Saturday, December 21st
Book to unwrap: Llama Llama Jingle Bells by Anna Dewdney
Activity: Look at Christmas Lights
We like the Llama Llama books and this one is pretty cute. We also really like the show on Netflix and they have some cute Christmas episodes. I paired it with this activity because of the title.
Driving around looking at Christmas lights is a tradition my kids all look forward to. I try to look up beforehand some neighborhoods that go all out or houses that have dancing lights. We also often will pair it with dropping off some Christmas gifts farther from our house or stop for a treat somewhere.
Sunday, December 22nd
Book to unwrap: The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
Activity: Candy Cane Hunt
The Legend of the Candy Cane is a cute little story that ends with teaching how the candy cane symbolizes Christ. I love the story and the message of the book.
We always do a “candy cane” activity when we read this book. We start with a candy cane hunt–I hide candy canes around the house and then the kids search for them. Then they can eat one of the candy canes while I read the book to them. Then we do other activities. We’ve done some science experiments, measured candy canes, made paper candy canes, or made butter cookies into the shape of candy canes. This year, I want to be “candy cane bombers”, where we leave a nice note with a candy cane on people’s windshields.
Saturday, December 23rd
Book to unwrap: Christmas Cookie Day by Tara Knudson
Activity: Make Sugar Cookies for Santa!
Christmas Cookie Day is a cute but simple book about a Mama Bear and her son who make sugar cookies together. We always save this for when we make sugar cookies.
We always leave sugar cookies for Santa, and I like to make them the day before Christmas Eve, so we can spend Christmas Eve morning relaxing. I make it manageable to have the kids help me by doing one kid at a time. They take turns rolling out and using cookie cutters with the dough and then I finish up after every child has had a turn. Then I let them decorate their own plate of cookies with store frosting and sprinkles and decorate the rest myself.
Sunday, December 24th
Book to unwrap: The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
Activity: Christmas Eve Traditions
This is my favorite version of this traditional story. I love the illustrations in it, and it follows the traditional poem. Most of the other books we open in the morning or afternoon as we’re doing the activity, but we always save this book for right before bed on Christmas Eve.
Our Christmas Eve traditions start in the morning. We play games in the morning, especially video games like Mario Kart or Mario Party. We love to have the morning relaxing since our evening is busier.
In the afternoon, we go to our in-laws house for an early dinner. Some years we have done a fancy dinner and other years, we’ll do the fancy dinner the Sunday before Christmas and do something like soup for dinner on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we act out the Nativity scene, one of my very favorite Christmas traditions.
Then it’s usually time to go home. At home, we open one present. Right now, our tradition is to each get a new blanket (we get our Christmas pajamas after Thanksgiving so that we can wear them all season long). After getting on pajamas and snuggling in our blankies, we read The Night Before Christmas. Then we set out cookies for Santa and get the kids in bed.
Our Christmas traditions are something that I love and look forward to every year. This sort of countdown is something that my personality as a mom thrives on. I would love to hear some of the traditions you as a mom thrive on and love! Let me know in the comments below!
We are so blessed and Christmas is a time that I really feel it! Not only are we blessed to be able to do the things we want at Christmas, but we are also surrounded by friends and family who bless us with presents and their presence.
To make sure I don’t go overboard at Christmas (which is really easy for me to do!), we have some traditions around presents. We get our kids one big present each from Mom and Dad as well as a combined present for all of them. We also have stockings, which we have a budget for that I try to not go over, as well as a Christmas Eve present for each family member.
Today I wanted to share the presents I’m giving to each family member.
Ashtyn, age 9
This year, Ashtyn saved up and bought her own Nintendo Switch. She bought a used one without joy cons off of eBay and then bought a Nitrodeck to play it in. For Christmas, we are getting her anSD card for her Switch so it can hold more games and a Nintendo eShop gift card so she can buy some games.
Parker, age 7
Parker is really into tumbling and gymnastics right now and really wants a gymnastics mat to practice on at home. We are getting her a 4′ by 8′ by 2″ mat off of Amazon.
Rylee, age 5
This year, Rylee has consistently wanted a play kitchen. She loves to play with pretend food and has loved using play kitchens at friends’ houses. I got this one from Amazon during a sale.
Oliver, age 2
Because Oliver is the fourth child, I wasn’t sure what to get him. We decided to go for an open-endedclimbing toy, that I got from Amazon during a sale.
Combined Gift for Kids
We like to give the kids a combined gift that they all share. We’ve done things like Switch games, magnet blocks, and experiences. This year, we are thinking of giving them a pet leapord gecko lizard. Growing up, my brothers and I had one and loved it. My mom still has all the stuff for one and is willing to give it to us. Our kids really want a pet, but we aren’t quite ready for something like a cat or dog. I think they will love this if we decide to do it.
Benjamin
Ben can be particularly difficult to buy presents for. This year, I had the brilliant idea of getting him a nice stainless steelwater bottle that he has been wanting. It’s the perfect price for our Christmas budget and he is excited (he likes to pick out his present rather than being surprised). As an extra little gift, I have another surprise for him that’s more of a sentimental gift. During the latter half of this year, I’ve been working on writing out the birth stories of each our children in story form. I want to finish those up (I’m almost done writing our third child’s, so I think I can finish in time) and put them in a binder for Ben. He doesn’t know I’ve been writing them and I think he’ll love reading through them.
Charly
For my present this year, I picked out a small bookshelf for Oliver’s room upstairs. We haven’t had enough bookshelf for our kids’ books for a long time and have used various solutions. Right now, we stack the board books against the wall in Oliver’s room and I’m really excited to be able to arrange them on a bookshelf in there.
Christmas Eve
Ben didn’t grow up with the tradition of opening a present on Christmas Eve, but I did and I love continuing it with our kids. We like to give our kids their Christmas pajamas after Thanksgiving so they can wear them all season long, so instead of pajamas, we’ll open a new blanket. I love these blankets from Amazon! They are soft and thick and the right price for me.
Stockings
I like to both fill up our stockings and also get quality items for our stockings. To fill them up, I like to get things like underwear or socks and candy, which usually does the trick. This year, I also got some pickleballs for my husband since he’s really into pickleball.
This year, Ashtyn is asking for video games for her switch, so her main present from Santa is going to be a $25 Nintendo eShop gift card. I also am getting her some crochet things because she’s been learning to crochet this year. I plan on getting her some nice scissors, a pouch to hold her crochet hooks, and some new yarn. I also have candy, new underwear, a newwater bottle, adrawing pad, and anew dress for her stocking.
Parker is asking for acamerafrom Santa. I also found her a tintea set that I think she will love. Like Ashtyn, I have candy, new underwear, a newwater bottle, adrawing pad, and anew dress for her stocking.
Rylee is asking for acamera and a crown from Santa. I found this adorable crown that sounds like it is great quality. And like her sisters, I have candy, new underwear, a newwater bottle, adrawing pad, and anew dress for her stocking.
Oliver is asking for a toydrill from Santa and it’s probably the gift I’m most excited for (he loves when Ben gets out his drill). The other toy Oliver is getting is this cool buildingbath toy. He also has candy, new socks, adrawing pad, awater bottle, and a new outfit.
For my stocking, I wanted to get some new kitchen things. I’d had thesebowls with lids on my list for a long time and got them when they were on a big sale. I also need new measuring cups because my children have somehow lost my 1/3 cup measuring cup, so I found these teal ones (I love teal!). I’m also getting a calendar, a book, awater bottle,socks, someNorwegian chocolate caramels, and a box of cereal.
For Ben’s stocking, I’m getting him a neck and shouldermassager. I got this one when it was also one sale and it will be more of a surprise for Ben. I also got him awater bottle for his hot chocolate in the morning,socks, softpickleballs, the chocolates, cereal, and beef jerky from our local meat plant.
A tradition I love is having my kids make a gift for each other. I’m going to wait one more year before adding Oliver in, so this year I’ll have Ashtyn make a gift for Rylee, Parker make a gift for Ashtyn, and Rylee make a gift for Parker. I haven’t decided yet what they’ll do for each other, but I usually help them pick something from my Pinterest board.
The kids also love to make a gift for Dad. My idea this year was for them to draw a picture of the family or of themselves with their Dad and I’ll laminate it for them.
I love Christmas and am enjoying the anticipation of gifting these things to our children! I know they will love the presents and I feel we’ve picked gifts that they will get a lot of use out of during the upcoming new year.
I would love to hear what you are planning for your family’s Christmas! Let me know in the comments below!
I love all things Christmas and especially all the Christmas movies. Today I wanted to do a post sharing what Christmas movies we watch and where we watch them (as of 2023).
Disney+
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Narnia is one of my favorite movies to watch after Halloween but before we officially start Christmas. It has the Santa section and feels wintery but isn’t truly a Christmas movie.
Miracle on 34th Street
Miracle on 34th Street is such a classic and for good reason. I love both the older version and the newer version (on Google Play) for different reasons, but I think this older version is my favorite because of the post office part of the plot.
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure
Olaf’s Frozen Adventure is a cute and short video about Christmas traditions, prominently featuring Olaf. I love that we get to see more of Anna and Elsa coming together as a family and the sweet ending.
Once Upon a Snowman
Once Upon a Snowman is Olaf’s origin story. It’s a very short and perfect for cuddling up to watch on a winter night.
Home Alone
Home Alone is one of my kids’ absolute favorite movies. It is about a boy who accidentally gets left home alone as his family goes on vacation at Christmas time. As his family is frantically trying to get home to him, he defends their home against two robbers. The kids find the end, when the boy sets traps for the robbers, hilarious. I like the movie, though there are a few things I don’t like (there’s a little humor I don’t appreciate, a couple of swear words, and the family does not act kindly toward each other at the beginning. We also usually watch Home Alone 2, though we’ve never watched any of the other Home Alone movies.
The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause is a fun movie and I remember watching it each year growing up, but I am actually torn about it now as a parent. Because it has Tim Allen in it, the humor isn’t always my kind of thing, but we watch it occasionally.
A Muppets Christmas Carol
A Muppets Christmas Carol is such a classic. We love watching Muppets and this story is perfect for the Muppet format.
Nutcracker of the Four Realms
Nutcracker of the Four Realms is a newer favorite in our family. We watched it for the first time last year and my two oldest wanted to watch it again before the Christmas season was over. It is a more serious movie with some scarier elements, so it is a good one for older children.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Mickey’s Christmas Carol might be my favorite version of a Christmas Carol. I love Mickey Mouse and I think it’s the perfect introduction of the story for kids.
Belle’s Enchanted Christmas was a movie I loved as a child! As an adult, I’m less impressed, but my kids love it now so I let them watch it each year.
Winnie the Pooh, A Very Merry Pooh Year
A Very Merry Pooh Year is a cute Winnie the Pooh collection of movies about Christmas and the New Year. We love Winnie the Pooh at our house, so this is always a big hit.
Prep and Landing
Prep and Landing is a short little movie about high-tech elf team who prepares the houses for Santa on Christmas. There is more than one movie, and my kids think they are fun.
While You Were Sleeping is not a movie I watch with the kids. I usually watch it on my own each year as I’m wrapping presents. It has some jokes that aren’t the cleanest, but I have a nostalgia of watching it with my mom and I love the characters and the story.
Netflix
Klaus
I love the story and message of Klaus. We get Netflix at Christmas time basically for this movie. The song at the end is my favorite.
Spirit Riding Free: Spirit of Christmas
Spirit Riding Free is a really well done, cute movie about the characters of the Spirit Riding Free at Christmastime. My kids and I both love the show and this movie.
Angela’s Christmas and the sequel, Angela’s Christmas Wish
Angela’s Christmas is a little bit of a sadder Christmas movie (or more serious is maybe a better word), but it has a sweet message.
Llama Llama Christmas episodes
Llama Llama is a super cute show and I love the Christmas episodes!
White Christmas
White Christmas is such a cute movie, but it is pretty long. Usually, my kids start watching it with me, but get bored before the end and I end up finishing it by myself.
Dash and Lilly
Dash and Lilly is a fun and adorable series that my husband and I love to watch. It’s very Christmasy and good to watch together when the kids are in bed.
Annie is not a Christmas movie, but so much of it takes place at Christmas, it gives a Christmasy feel. It’s perfect to watch before Christmas officially starts when I’m wanting to start watching some Christmas movies.
Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer $
Rudolph is such a favorite with the kids that we always end up watching it multiple times each Christmas season. I’ve also found this one on YouTube before we owned it/when it was unavailable digitally.
The Little Drummer Boy $
The Little Drummer Boy is such a strange movie, but it’s a classic with a sweet message and we watch it each year. We’ve watched this one on YouTube as well, when we didn’t own it.
Santa Claus is Coming to Town $
Santa Claus is Coming to Town is another classic, centered on Santa Claus. Our kids love it, they think it’s so funny. This DVD seems to be a little harder to find than the other classics, but you can still find it at most stores. We’ve also watched this one on YouTube before.
Frosty the Snowman$
Frosty the Snowman is another movie that my kids love to watch over and over again throughout the Christmas season. It’s a cute one and it’s nice and short. My kids always want to watch the sequels (especially Winter Wonderland, where Frosty gets a wife) and we watch them occasionally, but they aren’t my favorite.
Franklin’s Magical Christmas Special $
Franklin’s Magical Christmas Special is a movie that we stumbled upon on YouTube once because of autoplay and we’ve watched it every year since. It is a cute story about family and the magic of Christmas, and my kids love it.
The Ultimate Gift is not technically a Christmas movie, but the fact that some of it takes pace over Thanksgiving/Christmas and the theme of the movie give it a Christmasy feel. This is one that I watch without the kids. It is included with Prime.
It’s a Wonderful Life
Growing up, my family watched It’s a Wonderful Life every year on Thanksgiving. We don’t have that tradition with my own kids, but I still love this classic.
Google Play
Over the years, we’ve collected quite a few videos on Google Play for Christmas. Some of them might not be available to buy digitally anymore, but most of those are still available to buy on DVD.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the first movies I bought for our family, because I love it. I managed to buy it and the Thanksgiving one before they were unavailable digitally, but had to buy the DVD of the Great Pumpkin movie. It looks like you can get the DVD at most stores and it’s available on Appe TV.
Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale
A Nutcracker Tale is a fun movie with extras in it. Tom and Jerry is just fun for kids and I like this Christmas version.
The Swan Princess Christmas
The Swan Princess Christmas is not the most well-done movie, I have to admit. I usually wait to turn this one on for my kids until I am busy in my room or something because it can be a little cringy to watch. My kids love the Swan Princess though, and really love having a Christmas version to watch.
The Polar Express
The Polar Express is a little bit of a creepier movie, because of the way they did the animation, but it’s a fun one with a cute message and great music. We always do a movie night party to watch it in pajamas with hot chocolate.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas cartoon is one of my favorite Christmas movies. Everything from the animations to the music is so cute!
The Grinch
I’ve never been a fan of the live action Grinch movie, but I loved the animated Grinch when we saw it and we’ve watched it every year since!
Elf
Elf is a movie that I didn’t grow up watching, but I watched it with my kids one year and they’ve loved it ever since. There are a couple of jokes in it that I don’t appreciate it, but I don’t mind the movie overall.
Christmas in Connecticut
Christmas in Connecticut is an old Christmas romcom that I absolutely love. I usually watch it with some girlfriends or my husband rather than my kids, until they’re older and can appreciate it more. It is so funny and Christmasy!
Barbie in the Nutcracker
Barbie in the Nutcracker is another movie that holds a lot of nostalgia for me and since my girls love Barbie movies, this is a must watch each year.
Barbie: A Perfect Christmas
Because my girls love the Barbie movies so much, we bought the other two Barbie Christmas movies. This one is about Barbie and her family trying to have a good Christmas despite a change in their plans for a perfect Christmas.
Barbie in a Christmas Carol
Barbie in a Christmas Carol is my least favorite of the Barbie Christmas movies, but it’s not a bad one and my girls like it. There are simply a lot of Christmas Carol movies and this one is not as good as some of the others in my opinion.
YouTube
The Christ Child
The Christ Child is my favorite thing to watch with the kids for Christmas. It is an enactment of the Christmas story and brings the Spirit every time I watch it.
The Nutcracker Prince
The Nutcracker Prince was one of my favorite Christmas movies growing up and I love being able to share it with my kids. It’s really hard to find, it’s not available to buy digitally. I ended up buying a DVD of it off of eBay, but until then we watched it on YouTube.
The Nutcracker Ballet
The Nutcracker Ballet is so fun, but since we live in a small town where it isn’t easy to attend in person, we watch it on YouTube.
I love filling our home with Christmas movies and music this time of year! What are your favorite Christmas movies to watch? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below!
One of my favorite traditions (that encompasses most of our other traditions) is our Book Advent. This is a tradition we have where the girls unwrap one Christmas picture book a day from after Thanksgiving to Christmas. We read the book and do an activity together (I do my best to match the book with the activity). It’s a countdown we have in addition to their countdown chains, and we all have so much fun with it.
I start our countdown the day after Thanksgiving, though I know many people who wait until December 1st to start. I also am very flexible with our countdown, changing days around when needed or even changing the activity for the day.
A note about the books we unwrap: I have spent years collecting the books we use in our countdown. Until I had collected more, I used the books we had already (even when they didn’t match the activity) and used a lot of library books.
Here is my plan for the 2024 Christmas season!
Friday, November 24th
Book to unwrap: Bear Stays Up by Karma Wilson
Activity: Holly Days
We love Karma Wilson’s bear books and this one is all about Bear finally experiencing Christmas after years of sleeping through it. It’s a great one to start off the Christmas season with.
Our community has a big event the day after Thanksgiving each year called Holly Days. They have activities going all day, including free bounce houses, popcorn, hot chocolate, hayrides, and train rides. When we stay in town for Thanksgiving, I love to take the kids for a few hours in the afternoon before going home for movie night.
We’ll clean up the house in the morning to get ready for decorating and then getting out of the house will keep it clean for the next day!
Saturday, November 25th
Book to unwrap: The Mismatched Nativity by Merrilee Boyack
Activity: Decorate for Christmas
The Mismatched Nativity is a cute book about a boy who moves to a new place and doesn’t have friends. A church teacher helps the class befriend the new boy by sharing different pieces of their nativities with him, until he has a full nativity. I love reading this book as we bring out our own nativity and other decorations.
I love decorating for Christmas, though we usually keep our decorations fairly simple. My favorite part is the atmosphere the white lights create. I love decorating as early as possible, while not overwhelming my husband too early, so waiting until after Thanksgiving is the perfect balance for our family.
This is a cute little story of the nativity and it comes with a puzzle that pops out and in. My kids love it!I love this story of Christ’s birth. It touches on all the different parts of the nativity and includes a section of what happened in the Americas at Christ’s birth, as told in the Book of Mormon.This cute book spins the 12 Days of Christmas song to go through the nativity. I like reading it to the kids about once a year and then I’m done.
Sunday, November 26th
Book to unwrap: Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect by Richard H. Schneider
Activity: Decorate the Christmas Tree
Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect is a cute little book about a Christmas tree that gives up its perfect shape to serve the creatures in the forest. The tree theme makes it a perfect read for when we decorate our tree.
We always try to wait for a weekend to decorate the tree to make it easy for Ben to join in. We keep it simple, just turning on Christmas music and let the kids cover the tree with our ornaments while I try to turn off my perfectionism.
Monday, November 27th
Book to unwrap: Little Blue Truck’s Christmas by Alice Shertle
Activity: Decorate Kids’ Tree
We are big Little Blue Truck fans at our house and my kids love the Christmas one! In the book, Little Blue Truck is delivering Christmas trees to his friends, and it finishes with light up Christmas lights.
Once we decorate our tree downstairs, we don’t want the kids touching the ornaments, so we set up a tree upstairs in their room for them. They are allowed to move the ornaments around all they want with it. The day after decorating our tree, we pull out a few “kid” ornaments we don’t want on our tree downstairs and then spend the morning making paper ornaments to put on their tree.
Tuesday, November 28th
Book to unwrap: The Last Straw by Paula Palangi McDonald
Activity: Draw Names for Secret Service
The Last Straw is a book about a family who brings the Christmas spirit to their home by doing secret acts of service for each other, and when they do an act of service, they get to add a piece of hay to the manger for Christmas Eve. There’s a twist at the end that makes me tear up every time I read it.
A few years ago, my father-in-law helped me make a wooden manger for our own secret service tradition. Before that, we used a cardboard box. For “hay”, we actually use felt cut into strips while our kids are young, and it is so easy to clean up every time the toddler empties it out.
Each family member picks a name out of the hat and does secret acts of service for that person during the week, putting a piece of straw in the manger for each act. At the end of the week, we draw new names. My oldest daughter loves this activity each year and is in charge of helping us pick new names each week. The kids love trying to make the manger as full as possible for baby Jesus (who gets laid in the manger on Christmas Eve).
Wednesday, November 29th
Book to unwrap: The Not Very Merry Pout Pout Fish by Deborah Diesen
Activity: Christmas Shopping
We have a daughter who loves the Pout Pout Fish, so I had to get the Christmas version when I saw it. The story follows the Pout Pout Fish as he goes Christmas shopping, trying to find the perfect present for each of his friends. That fits really well with doing our own Christmas shopping.
We don’t actually do a lot of in-person shopping, so a lot of this is window shopping. The girls and I like to go to Walmart (the only big store in our area) and look at their Christmas set up. It’s also a good time for me to replace any Christmas lights that have gone out and buy more wrapping paper.
Thursday, November 30th
Book to unwrap: C is for Christmas by Tonya Skousen Arenaz
Activity: Make Countdown Chain
C is for Christmas is a beautiful and poetic Christmas book. It has the most beautiful illustrations. I always pair with our countdown chain activity because it covers so much of Christmas that it feels like the perfect read as we’re anticipating the Christmas season.
I love having a visual countdown for the kids, I think it really helps them understand how long until the big day. I usually cut the paper strips in advance (we use green, red, and white paper). Then the kids get to pick what pattern they want with the colors and put their own chain together. We enjoy making the paper chain and then we hang them by our back door as a sort of decoration.
Friday, December 1st
Book to unwrap: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
Activity: Host a Polar Express Party
The Polar Express is a classic that we love reading every year! We purposely do this activity on a Friday so that we can watch the movie for movie night. We invite cousins, wear pajamas, and I prepare our own “train tickets” to punch. Then we have a spread of treats and hot chocolate while we watch the movie. The kids look forward to this party all year and it’s a pretty simple event to put together.
Saturday, December 2nd
Book to unwrap: The Broken Ornament by Toni DiTerlizzi
Activity: Make Ornaments as a family
The Broken Ornament is a story about a boy who wants Christmas to be as big as possible, but in the process, he accidentally breaks his mother’s special ornament. To make things right, he has to learn the true meaning of Christmas. I love to pair this one with our tradition of making a new ornament every year.
When I was growing up, my mom bought us all an ornament each year. When Ben and I were newlyweds, we hardly had money for a gift for each other, much less buying things like ornaments. We decided to make an ornament together. My mom gave us the ornaments her grandmothers had made years ago and our tree became covered in beautiful, homemade ornaments. We’ve continued making new ornaments each year with our own children instead of buying ornaments and we’ve made such fun memories together doing so (though I also love other people’s tradition of buying ornaments that have special meaning!).
Sunday, December 3rd
Book to unwrap: The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campell Ernst
Activity: Gingerbread Houses
Other Christmas books that we love:
The Gingerbread Girl is a simple twist on the original story–with a girl instead of a gingerbread man. With three girls, it’s popular at our house!
We have tried many ways of making gingerbread houses from making our own gingerbread to using premade kits to cutting up graham crackers. For us, graham crackers are by far the easiest method. Ben cuts the same pattern out of the graham cracker each year for me. Then I cut a base from a cardboard box, wrap it in tinfoil, and use my great grandma’s frosting recipe (which makes the houses practically indestructible when it dries) to put the houses together before the kids come. Then we dump candy into bowls, get out store frosting for them to decorate with, and let them at it.
We also like to include an upside-down ice cream cone in the “yard” of each house and green (food-colored) frosting to make Christmas trees as well.
Book to unwrap: Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise by Don Freeman
Activity: Writer Letters to Santa
I have to admit that Corduroy’s Christmas Surprise is not my favorite Christmas book, but the kids enjoy it and we’ve read it every year since my oldest was a toddler. I love to pair the book with writing to Santa because throughout the story, Corduroy writes many different letters to Santa.
I like to try to get letters to Santa in nice and early, so there aren’t any surprises right before Christmas (which has happened to us before!). This year, I’m going to use one of these letters to Santa templates. Then I’ll put them in an envelope that has their name on it to keep in my folders to look at in the future. Then we can do some Santa themed activities together.
Tuesday, December 5th
Book to unwrap: A World of Cookies for Santa by M.E. Furman
Activity: Christmas Around the World
This is actually a new book for us this year, so I’ve never read it. I love the idea of the book, though, with Santa visiting many different places around the world and tasting their Christmas treats.
Last year, we tried having a day where we learned about Christmas traditions in different places around the world. I printed off some different papers and worksheets, and the kids liked it at first, but then they quickly lost interest. This year, we want to make it more hands on. I’ve chosen one different tradition from a few places to experience, though I’m still learning! I’ll set up different areas of the house as different places and then visit those places with the kids to experience the tradition.
The traditions I want to try this year include:
Germany – Star Singers (stern singer) and candles in the window
Mexico – A Christmas pinata
Netherlands – Treasure hunt to find a gift left in their shoes
Italy – Befana bringing gifts in a stocking
Philippines – Parol, or a lit-up star on a stick
Ireland – Christmas cake and pudding
These are traditions that I can learn more about as I prepare them and then the kids and I can learn more about them together as well. We can choose different traditions or even countries to focus on in future years.
Wednesday, December 6th
Book to unwrap: The Gingerbread Doll by Susan Tews
Activity: Make Gingerbread Cookies
The Gingerbread Doll is a darling book we ran across at the library last year. It is set in the great depression, when a little girl’s mom can’t afford the doll she wants, so instead she makes one from gingerbread. It’s a cute little story and perfect for when we make gingerbread cookies.
I am not actually the biggest fan of gingerbread, but my girls love it and we make and decorate them every year. I use my great-grandmother’s recipe and buy special decorating things like icing bags, Christmas M&M’s for buttons, and sprinkles that look like eyes. We are not professional cookie decorators by any means, but we have fun with it.
Thursday, December 7th
Book to unwrap: The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston
Activity: A Service Activity
The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree is touching story about love and sacrifice at Christmas and the illustrations are beautiful. It’s a great story to read to get us in a serving mood.
I’m not sure what service project I want to do yet. Some ideas I have are to take some gingerbread cookies and cards to our fire station, make blessing bags for the homeless, donate food and goodie bags at our local food bank, or make goodie bags for children’s hospital.
Friday, December 8th
Book to unwrap: How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
Activity: Grinch Day
We read How the Grinch Stole Christmas every year, but this is my first year trying a “Grinch Day”. My idea is to have some themed activities and food, read the book, and watch both the cartoon and the animated Grinch movie (I am not a fan of the live action, so we never watch that one, but we love both the others).
One activity I want to do is Grow the Grinch’s Heart science. You put a red heart on a green balloon, put baking soda in the balloon, and then put the balloon over a water bottle with vinegar in it; when it reacts, the balloon fills up and the heart “grows”. I also want to make grinch pancakes for breakfast and write letters to family members telling them something we love about them (and connect it to the heart growing three sizes). We can learn how to draw the Grinch and later in the day, we could have Grinch Rice Krispie Treats.
Saturday, December 9th
Book to unwrap: A Birthday Party for Jesus by Susan Jones
Activity: A Birthday Party for Jesus
The book follows a little rabbit who doesn’t know what to give Jesus a gift as all the animals prepare to celebrate his birthday. Along the way, he learns what is truly important to give.
A birthday party for Jesus is a tradition I’ve brought from my own childhood, and I love the chance to focus on Christ. We always have a treat, like cupcakes or pie, to put a candle in while we sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. Then we each decide on a gift (something we want to change or a way we want to be better) and write them down. I found a present craft, with Jesus in the middle, that I really like and a poem. We end the night with watching The Christ Child on YouTube.
Sunday, December 10th
Book to unwrap: An Orange for Frankie by Patricia Polacco
Activity: Make Gifts for Extended Family
An Orange for Frankie is a touching story about giving and a family coming together for Christmas.
When my oldest was four or five, she wanted to make a gift for a lot of her extended family members. The next year, she and her younger sister wanted to, and it’s become a tradition since then. They always have an extensive list of people they want to give to, so in the past, it’s been a job getting all the gifts ready. This year, my plan is to let the kids write a story, illustrate it, and then photocopy it for everyone on their list to make it easier.
Monday, December 11th
Book to unwrap: A Christmas Dress for Ellen by Thomas S. Monson
Activity: Ninja Elves
If I had to pick one favorite Christmas book, this would be it. I can’t make it through the book without crying several times. The story is about a destitute family and service that is given to them to bring them a Christmas miracle. I love reading this book as an introduction to talking to my kids about the way we give to a family in need.
One year, my husband’s family decided that we didn’t want to exchange gifts and wanted to instead use the money to help a local family in need. After we read the book, we talk about the specifics of the situation of the family we chose to help and the way they were helping them (in giving up extra gifts they didn’t need to give that money to someone who really needed it). Every year, the kids have wanted to add money from their own piggy banks as well, and my heart loves to see the generosity of children. Once we’ve gathered the money from all the families, we let the kids be “ninja elves” and doorbell ditch it to the family. It’s one of my very favorite traditions.
Tuesday, December 12th
Book to unwrap: The Nutcracker by Valeria Docampo
Activity: Christmas Science
One of my daughters went through a phase of being obsessed with the Nutcracker. This book follows story of the ballet and has beautiful illustrations. It’s a bit of a stretch to connect this book and the activity, but Grandfather is an inventor and I think it works.
I’ve never done a Christmas science day, though we’ve done some small science experiments. I’m excited to do a few Christmas-y science activities with my kids this year, because I know they’ll love it.
The Christmas Wish is such a fun book! The story follows a little girl who is trying to find Santa to be his helper, and she has a lot of animal friends help her along the way. The illustrations are photographs and really bring the book alive.
Our kids always love to visit Santa. This is one of the activities where we have to be flexible. Because I like to plan our Christmas countdown so early, the library and city haven’t announced their dates for free Santa visits yet, but we usually just switch with another activity. We always have a lot of different options, so we can always find a date that works well.
We also have some Santa-themed activities that we can do, and my kids often like to make a little present or note to take to Santa. My two oldest understand about Santa (it happened a lot earlier than I had wanted) and they still love visiting Santa.
Thursday, December 14th
Book to unwrap: Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck
Activity: Make Cookies for Neighbors
I remember hearing this story when I was a child and loving it. It’s a sweet story of a boy who learns how to serve and truly show love to his father at Christmas time. I like reading a story about giving and serving on the day that I make neighbor gifts.
I love making Christmas cookies and I love doing neighbor gifts, so I love taking a day to make Christmas cookies to gift to neighbors. I take the whole day (and usually mix up some cookie dough to chill overnight) and make several batches of several kinds of cookies and then distribute them to gift bags. I like to get out coloring pages for the kids and watch some Christmas movies while I bake. The next day, the girls help me deliver cookies.
I usually make green cookies with Christmas M&M’s (I use my chocolate chip cookie recipe and just replace the chips with M&M’s), red chocolate chip cookies with white chocolate chips, snickerdoodles, peanut butter kiss cookies (rolled in sprinkles), and homemade Oreos with red and green frosting. I make big batches of all of them so I can do about 50 bags to deliver.
Friday, December 15th
Book to unwrap: Mouse’s Christmas Gift by Mindy Baker
Activity: Make Christmas Cards for the Beehive Home
Mouse’s Christmas Gift is a beautiful book about how Mouse’s small act of caring brings a community together for Christmas. I love the story, message, and artwork of the book. I like to pair it with making cards for our local Beehive Home, because that’s a small act that my kids can do to serve our community.
Saturday, December 16th
Book to unwrap: Merry Christmas, Little Pookie! by Sandra Boynton
Activity: Pajamas and Christmas Poems at Breakfast
We love the Pookie books (and all Sandra Boynton books) and this one is no exception!
I saved this activity for a Saturday so we could do it as a family and not be rushed. It’s a new activity that we’ve never done before, but I’m excited for it! The idea is to have a slow, unrushed breakfast in our pajamas while we read Christmas poems. There are lots of poems online, though I recently bought a book from a thrift store that has Christmas poems in it, so we’ll probably read out of that this year.
Sunday, December 17th
Book to unwrap: The Little Drummer Boy by Bernadette Watts
Activity: Caroling at the Beehive Home
I really like the story and illustrations of this version of the book, based on the song. I really like pairing the story of the drummer boy, someone who gifted his musical talents to Christ, with caroling. Our girls love to go caroling and we like to do it at the Beehive Home because it is warm and the residents love it.
Monday, December 18th
Book to unwrap: The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
Activity: Make Sibling Gifts
The Gift of the Magi is such a traditional story and I love it. The one we own has beautiful illustrations and uses the original text, so the old-fashioned language can be a little hard for my kids to follow. I help though, and they always light up when the twist at the end comes. Because of the focus on giving, it feels like the perfect book to pair with making gifts.
Having my kids make gifts, rather than buy them, for each other is a tradition I got from my aunt, and I love it. With four kids, we now have them draw names and make a gift for just on sibling. They love making the gift and get really excited about it, and usually the gifts are the kinds of things that we don’t need to keep forever.
Tuesday, December 19th
Book to unwrap: The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
Activity: Candy Cane Hunt
The Legend of the Candy Cane is a cute little story that ends with teaching how the candy cane symbolizes Christ. I love the story and the message of the book.
We always do a “candy cane” activity when we read this book. We start with a candy cane hunt–I hide candy canes around the house and then the kids search for them. Then they can eat one of the candy canes while I read the book to them. Then we do other activities. We’ve done some science experiments, measured candy canes, made paper candy canes, or made butter cookies into the shape of candy canes. This year, I want to be “candy cane bombers”, where we leave a nice note with a candy cane on people’s windshields.
Wednesday, December 20th
Book to unwrap: Llama Llama Jingle Bells by Anna Dewdney
Activity: Jingle Bells Day (magnets, tower, dancing)
We like the Llama Llama books and this one is pretty cute. We also really like the show on Netflix and they have some cute Christmas episodes. I paired it with this activity because of the title.
Book to unwrap: Harold at the North Pole by Crockett Johnson and Snowmen at Christmas by Caralyn Buehner
Activity: Snow Day
This is the only day we’ll open more than one book and it’s because I love both of them so much. I love doing a Christmas-themed snow book for our snow day!
Because I can’t control the snow and I like to plan ahead (and some years, it doesn’t snow where I live until Christmas Eve/Day), our snow day involves indoor activities like making paper snowflakes and playing with fake snow. My favorite thing is to make each person’s name into a snowflake. When we’re done with the snowflakes, we hang them on the ceiling of the kids’ rooms. Some years, like last year, it lines up and we have real snow to play in as well!
Friday, December 22nd
Book to unwrap: You Are My Miracle by Maryann Cusimano Love
Activity: Look at Christmas Lights
I love the poetic feel of You Are My Miracle, and the way it reminds me to treasure each of these moments with my own kids.
Driving around looking at Christmas lights is a tradition my kids all look forward to. I try to look up beforehand some neighborhoods that go all out or houses that have dancing lights. We also often will pair it with dropping off some Christmas gifts farther from our house or stop for a treat somewhere.
Saturday, December 23rd
Book to unwrap: Christmas Cookie Day by Tara Knudson
Activity: Make Sugar Cookies for Santa!
Christmas Cookie Day is a cute but simple book about a Mama Bear and her son who make sugar cookies together. We always save this for when we make sugar cookies.
We always leave sugar cookies for Santa, and I like to make them the day before Christmas Eve, so we can spend Christmas Eve morning relaxing. I make it manageable to have the kids help me by doing one kid at a time. They take turns rolling out and using cookie cutters with the dough and then I finish up after every child has had a turn. Then I let them decorate their own plate of cookies with store frosting and sprinkles and decorate the rest myself.
Sunday, December 24th
Book to unwrap: The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore
Activity: Christmas Eve Traditions
This is my favorite version of this traditional story. I love the illustrations in it, and it follows the traditional poem. Most of the other books we open in the morning or afternoon as we’re doing the activity, but we always save this book for right before bed on Christmas Eve.
Our Christmas Eve traditions start in the morning. We play games in the morning, especially video games like Mario Kart or Mario Party. We love to have the morning relaxing since our evening is busier.
In the afternoon, we go to our in-laws house for an early dinner. Some years we have done a fancy dinner and other years, we’ll do the fancy dinner the Sunday before Christmas and do something like soup for dinner on Christmas Eve. After dinner, we act out the Nativity scene, one of my very favorite Christmas traditions.
Then it’s usually time to go home. At home, we open one present. Right now, our tradition is to each get a new blanket (we get our Christmas pajamas after Thanksgiving so that we can wear them all season long). After getting on pajamas and snuggling in our blankies, we read The Night Before Christmas. Then we set out cookies for Santa and get the kids in bed.
*Another Christmas activity we love to do is Operation Christmas Child through Samaritan’s Purse. You pick a shoebox and fill it with things like a toy, school supplies, and hygiene products. Then you can pick an age group and gender for your box and Samaritan’s Purse delivers the boxes to children in need around the world. It’s a neat experience for the kids to pick out the gifts for the box. We do it before the countdown begins because you turn in the shoeboxes earlier in November.
Our Christmas traditions are something that I love and look forward to every year. This sort of countdown is something that my personality as a mom thrives on. I would love to hear some of the traditions you as a mom thrive on and love! Let me know in the comments below!
