4 Easy Holiday Traditions My Kids Love

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Friends, I know your Halloween decorations are still up, and likely will be for a few more days (ok, until next weekend). But there’s no denying that we are all starting to turn our attention toward the Christmas season. November feels like a brisk walk toward the most wonderful time of year, and December is a full-on sprint. Personally, I’m dousing myself in all things peppermint and primed to get this party started!

If you have little ones at home, you have likely wondered what holiday traditions will become important to your family, and in particular, if you’d like to start any new traditions. But it can be overwhelming to try to figure all of that out! I’d like to share with you 4 traditions my family has adapted over the past few years. Two of them are brand new to us this year! These are all traditions that are friendly to the family with a lack of crafting skills. Just gonna put that out there, because there are lots of other great ideas that just aren’t ever going to happen in my home (Gingerbread house, anyone? The mere thought of it makes me sweat!). I hope you find some fun ideas for your crew!

Tradition #1: Christmas Countdown Chain

Yes, this is is a craft, but it simply involves cutting strips of paper and applying a dot of glue. That’s within the boundaries of what I can

reasonably handle. 🙂 We create this chain, little by little, throughout the month of November, with the goal of having it ready to go by the day after Thanksgiving, as that’s when the countdown begin. Each loop on the chain has a special message on the inside with some sort of holiday fun item that we will accomplish that day. There’s no need to over-think this, friends, and no need to do something spectacular or time consuming every day. You’ll want to sprinkle some of those fun events like making cookies in there, but you can also simply have a carol singing session one day, or color a picture for Santa Claus. This takes a bit of thought on the front end, but I have found that it helps us stay in the holiday spirit throughout the season, and it really helps my kids have a better understanding of just how close Christmas is getting!

Tradition #2: Northpole Communicator

This is a new one for us, and we are PUMPED about it! Released just today, you can now find Northpole, brought to you by Hallmark. This Northpole Communicator is such a clever and fun line of products designed to help your family start fun new holiday traditions. The Hallmark Northpole Communicator, which is found exclusively at Walmart, is a very cool device that gives your children the opportunity to talk with the elves at the North Pole throughout the month of December. The device is set to start working on Decmeber 1st, so we haven’t been able to dial in just yet, but the impression I get is that there’s a fun new message every single day, and the chance to leave one of your own! I’ve told Darah that she can start leaving messages on it now, and she’s picked up the communicator at least 3 times today to share some thoughts about her own behavior throughout the year, and to tell on her little sister. I really hope I can catch one of these sessions on camera in the near future, because they are a RIOT!

Tradition #3: Elf on the Shelf

You guys, I know that Pinterest can make the Elf on the Shelf seem really intimidating, as some folks go ALL OUT with the mischief their little elves get into. But let me just tell you: getting our elf (his name is Owen) was one of the smartest moves we’ve made. Last year our oldest was 4, and she was in the full throes of believing in all things magical. She still does believe in magical things this year, but I can already see the sparkle in her eye beginning to fade a touch. She’s starting to ask more questions about how magical things are possible, and you can see the logical part of her mind raising red flags. Owen is going to have another great year with us, though, and if you haven’t taken the leap, just DO IT! This season of life is such a short one, and you will always cherish the memories of your ziplining elf. 🙂

Tradition #4: The Beacon

Here’s another new tradition for us this year. Walmart is the place where you can find the Hallmark Book and Beacon. The book, titled Once Upon a Northpole Christmas, shares a tale about how the Northpole and all of its magic is actually powered by people on Earth spreading laughter, love and holiday cheer. It’s a great reminder to spend time with your family and to do happy and fun things throughout the season. The book comes with a keepsake snowflake ornament that lights up, with the idea being that Santa can easily spot those lighted snowflakes as he makes his rounds. We put both girls’ names on the snowflake since the book only came with one. You could also just put your family name on the snowflake, too, if there are too many kids in your family to fit on the name space area!

My girls were particularly drawn to the idea of having a special snowflake that served as a signaling device for Santa. They both have played with it a great deal and have been giving me ideas about where it should reside during the holiday season. Darah votes for “taping it to the roof.” Ha!

I hope I have given you some simple and fun ideas about holiday traditions. Will you take a moment to share some of your holiday traditions with me? I’d love for the comments section to be a place where we can all get cool ideas from each other!