Holiday Magic
This is the first year we’ve had kids in the house who are old enough to really appreciate the magic of the holidays, and it’s been so much fun bringing back some of my favorite holiday traditions, and adding some new ones too! Here is a list of my favorites!
Note: Most of these are Christmas ideas, as that’s what we celebrate, but many could be tweaked to fit the holiday that you celebrate:
Holiday Cookies – This is probably the family favorite, and can be done over and over (and for every holiday if you buy themed cookie cutters). The kids love to help me bake and it’s so much fun to decorate them when they’re done too! Healthier (but still very yummy) recipe below*!
Decorating – As much as I like to have orderly decorations, it’s too much fun for the kids not to let them help. Opening the boxes of ornaments and decorations to “Oohs!” and “Awes!” made decorating that much more magical this year. If they’re too little to help, or if you have OCD and want everything perfect like me (hahaha!), just have them hand you things, or have special “kid friendly” decorations that they are in charge of in one area of the house (or one section of the Christmas tree).
Surprise decorations – This year while the bigs were in school and the littles were napping, I put a few decorations outside. When they saw them (I pretended like I was seeing them for the first time too), they thought Santa came and decorated for them and were over the moon excited yelling, “Santaaaa!!!!!” This is one of my favorite memories from this year so far, and it only took me about 5 minutes!
Christmas Light Viewing – We love to walk around the neighborhood and look at the lights – it is one of our favorite things to do after dinner. If you don’t live in an area where you can walk to see lights, an evening drive would be fun as well. As a kid, I remember judging the lights and giving them a score from 1-10.
Music – We have Christmas tunes on 24/7 as soon as Thanksgiving is over (and I’ll admit that this year we actually started before Thanksgiving!). Singing and dancing along is so much fun for everyone! It’s especially fun if you have a special ornament or decoration that plays music. We have a little Charlie Brown Christmas tree that plays the Charlie Brown song and we play it and dance several times a day – even the baby loves this one!
Elf on the Shelf – I know lots of parents dread this one, but it is so much fun and the kids love it so much! And really, all you have to do is move him from one spot to the next each night after the kids go to bed, so it’s a minimal time commitment for the return of joy you get each morning. Granted, some people have him bring a small gift every morning and others do really awesome treasure hunts where he brings clues, but it’s still fun even without all of that.
Holiday Movies & Books – All through December we watch Christmas movies during "Pizza Movie Saturday" and get special holiday books from the library for our nightly reading.
Caroling/Concerts – There are lots of great free concerts around the city and caroling at places like Pioneer Square in Portland and local malls.
Reverse Advent Box – This is a great tradition to focus on the real meaning of the holidays – love, gratitude and sharing with others. Take an empty box, and beginning on December 1st put a food item or toy in the box. Right before Christmas, donate to a local food bank or toy drive.
Fun Food – It’s super easy and really fun for the kids to put a holiday spin on their favorite foods. Last weekend when we made pancakes, we made them into snowmen (when pouring the batter, just pour into different shapes). Use your imagination!
Making Ornaments/Gifts – Kids love projects, especially when they get displayed! There are tons of different (and simple) ideas on how to make ornaments online. Spend a morning making ornaments and then let them hang them on the tree. They also love making our holiday cards – they are so proud when someone opens it up!
Letters to Santa – We did this last weekend and I was amazed at how much fun it was for the kids (and how busy it kept them!). The littles can draw pictures of what they want or you can help them write the words.
Holiday Coloring – The kids love to color and holiday themes are their favorites! We did turkeys for Thanksgiving, now they are coloring snowmen and Santa. You can find pages to color at supermarkets or online.
Gingerbread House – This will need some dedicated time and help from you, but is such a great family project! Buy a kit if you don’t want to do it from scratch – it’s still tons of fun!
Snow – We LOVE snow! When it doesn’t snow here, we go up to the mountain to play – it’s one of our favorite things to do that is fun for everyone (especially our snow dog!). I will never forget the hours we spent sledding as a kid and the year that Dad brought in a truck load of snow from the mountain that lasted for several days on our deck. What a memory!
Santa Evidence – Half eaten cookies and carrots, footprints from Santa’s boots and even sleigh and reindeer tracks when there was snow, my Dad always left the best evidence that Santa had been there!
Presents from Santa – Even when we were older, we always got presents from Santa. These presents would show up “magically” on Christmas morning. It was always so much fun to run out and see all of the presents under the tree!
Magic Tree Topper – We had a snowman tree topper growing up and every night before bed, we would put him on the counter, and every morning we would run down to find him once again on top of the tree. It’s obvious now that my Dad just moved it back every night, but such a simple thing gave us so much joy and we thought it was so magical!!!
Garland Countdown – Cut out strips of colored paper (we did red, green and white) and have the kids paste them together to make a paper chain. Make one chain link for each day until Christmas, and then pull one off each morning. The kids had fun making this, and they have even more fun each day pulling one ring off showing we are one day closer to Christmas.
Ice Skating – One of my favorite memories is ice skating on frozen ponds when we were younger. We would also go to the outdoor ice rink in Sun River, another family favorite. Now there is one in Hillsboro at Orenco for those Portland locals.
Gathering – My absolute favorite thing to do during the holidays is spend time with friends and family. We get together and eat good food, do holiday things, or just hang out. Do whatever you need to do to take the pressure off: don’t exchange gifts - spend time together instead, order take out or do a simple pot luck, meet outside the house to avoid the clean-up hassle, etc. Make whatever adjustments you need to keep the joy.
These are some of my favorite traditions, but most importantly, they bring joy. It’s not your job as a parent to exhaust yourself in order to make the holidays magical for your kids. Find the traditions that you love, that bring you joy, and the joy will follow for your kids.
*Holiday Cookie Recipe (Thank you to the Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook!)
Makes 24 cookies
2 ½ cups blanched almond flour
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup grapeseed oil
¼ cup agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine the almond flour and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the grapeseed oil, agave and vanilla. Stir the wet ingredients into the almond flour mixture until thoroughly combined.
Place the dough in the freezer for 1 hour. Roll out the dough to ½ inch thickness between 2 sheets of parchment paper. If the dough is sticky, dust with almond flour. Remove the top piece of parchment and cut out the cookies with a holiday cookie cutter (dip in cold water after each to prevent sticking). Transfer the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each cookie.
Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until lightly golden. Let cool on baking sheet.
We like to stick chocolate chips in as a decoration before baking, but you can also decorate when cool. Either way, they are a tasty treat and one of our favorites. Enjoy!
