Old Fashioned Christmas in 22 Step Fun Filled Steps
Christmas is such a magical time of the year. However, all of that magic can really be overshadowed by so much of the hurry, hustle, and bustle. Consumerism is something that invades so much of our lives on a daily basis. We should strive to push that away, if only during this one season of the year.
Here is a list of 22 great ideas for how you can create an Old Fashioned Christmas.
1. Take the Family to a Christmas Tree Farm and cut down a Tree
There is something warm and wonderful about the simple pleasure of cutting down your own Christmas Tree, surrounded by your family. Allow your children to have that memory as well. That is definitely a part of Christmas that has fallen by the wayside in recent years.
- With pre-lit trees, pull-out and fluff trees, and everything that makes decorating ‘fast and easy’, families are losing so much of that very special ‘together time’ that you can’t get anywhere else. Don’t cheat yourselves.
- They may be few and far between these days, but Christmas Tree farms still exist. Put that computer in your pocket to good use and search them out. Make a night of it and enjoy this special time with your family!
A few years ago, my family decided to go out and cut down our own tree. Not a lot of tree farms very close, so we chose the only evergreen in our neck of the woods--the red cedar. Oh boy. I've always loved the smell of cedar, but I DID NOT realize how overwhelming the full tree would be inside the house. It took about a week to air the place out! ...but we had a ball and the memories are priceless!
2. Host a Tree Decorating Party for Your Family
Make it an event! It doesn’t even need to be anything more than just your immediate family, but make it special as though it were a VIP invitation-only affair. Turn off the phones and television, crank up the Christmas music, and make it special.
- You can serve Christmas cookies and punch, play games, make popcorn garlands together and so much more. The key here is to be in the moment and enjoy this time with your family. Time passes so quickly, don’t miss these moments.
Make it an Old Fashioned Christmas For Your Family
3. Spend Time Together Making DIY Christmas Ornaments
Over the years, our family has done many things together at Christmas, but very few of those things are as memorable as the time we spend together making DIY Christmas ornaments. Every year, when we pull out the ornaments, we get to spend time talking and laughing about those memories. There are so many options out there, even for those who are, shall we say, creatively challenged.
4. Send out DIY Christmas Cards
Even if it is as minute as hand-writing all of your store-bought Christmas cards, do it together. I still hear, from my children, about the first year that they ‘made Christmas cards’ (they scribbled in their ‘signature’). Even that little personal touch can mean so much, not just to your family, but also to the recipients.
- If you are a little more crafty, you could grab some scrapbooking supplies and literally make your own Christmas cards. It can be a lot of fun for the whole family. You can play Christmas music, have some hot cocoa, and enjoy your time together.
5. Use an Advent Calendar to enjoy Every Single Day
Over the years, my family has used a variety of physical advent calendars but the idea is always the same. For every single day, we have, not only some treats but also some kind of crazy ‘task’ for the kids to do.
- For example, “walk backward through all doorways”. It becomes such a fun thing throughout the entire month. My kids talk about it and look forward to it every year.
- A few other ideas could be “make Christmas cookies together”, “Christmas movie night” or “family cocoa night”.
6. Host a Fancy Christmas Party
This was such a big thing years ago. People would invite a bunch of friends and family, get all dressed up in their fancy Christmas duds, and dance and sing the night away together! You can make it a full dinner, a finger foods night, or even a potluck.
- The key here, again, is the time together making these memories. Christmas candy, Christmas cookies, Christmas Music, and Christmas fellowship…that’s what it’s all about!
7. Make those Nostalgic Christmas Recipes
There are always a certain few recipes that make people think ‘Christmas’. Make sure that, even if you change up your menu from year to year, still prepare those specific recipes that feel like home.
- As the years go by and your children grow up and move away, they will still long for those special Christmas recipes. Don’t rob them or yourself of that–even if it takes extra time, it’s worth it.
My Famous Pumpkin Roll
If it is the holiday season, I am required to always make my pumpkin roll. Everyone loves it and it’s just part of the package. Much like the Chocolate Sundae Pie and Cherry Cream Cheese Pie that I grew up with, it is the taste of the season for my family and that makes me incredibly happy.
Make Your Old Fashioned Christmas Homemade
8. Have Regular ‘Family Cocoa Nights’
This is something that our family does, especially at Christmas. Homemade Cocoa is sooooooo much better than the packets, so definitely get that going. Make it a thing in your family. Play games, watch a Christmas movie, or just visit. It’s a short moment in time, but it’s the memory that hangs on. Check out these Homemade Hot Chocolate Recipes!
9. Christmas Movie Night
If you have a special Christmas movie that your family loves, make it a yearly event to join together and watch that movie. Personally, I watch Christmas movies from October on, but I’m special that way. Our family always watches a few of our faves; White Christmas, The Santa Clause Trilogy, Die Hard (Don’t hate, I LOVE it!)
- We have friends who always watch ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ together on Christmas Eve. We were invited to join them a couple of years ago and felt very special to be added to their family tradition. It’s something to consider. Something that we all do anyway, can become such a treasured time and memory.
10. Choose to DIY your Christmas Gifts
You may not want to DIY all of your gifts, but maybe choosing to hand-make some or even just one of your gifts can be such a blessing. It’s a blessing to the recipient that you took the time to personally create something for them, but it is also a blessing to the creator.
- It allows you to slow down for a moment and really think about that person, really consider what they mean to you and what you could do for them. Truly giving is a gift in itself.
11. Get out and Enjoy the Lights!
When I was a child, one of my favorite things to do at Christmas was riding around to see the lights. They are still, to this day, some of my favorite memories! This is something that can be done just about anywhere and mostly for free if you don’t count the high cost of fuel these days!
- You could even make a game of it, or record your favorites and do a video online giving your reviews….as a family! Make it fun!!!
Courtesy of daytrippingroc.com
12. Family Game Night with a Christmas Twist
You know that family game night is such a big thing. It is so much fun for everyone involved. Even people who ‘aren’t big on games’ enjoy themselves when games are the focus event of the night.
- Christmas charades are tons of fun and there are holiday themes for other games, even electronic ones. If you’ve ever played “Heads Up”, you know how hilarious it is…if not, download the app and try it!
13. Make or Decorate your own Christmas Stockings
This is fun and simple. You could go all out and get the supplies to fully make your own stockings or you could simply get the supplies to decorate them and do it all together. Make an event of it, with music and cookies or whatever your preference. You could even vote, at the end, who’s stocking is the best!
14. Bake Cookies Together
This can be so fun and so meaningful. Choose a recipe or two, throw on your aprons, and get to baking. This has really fallen off in more recent years and that is so sad. Cooking together is such a powerful memory. Parents are robbing their children of that piece of home and family that can literally last forever.
- Even if everyone in your family sucks at baking, go by a roll of cookie dough and follow the instructions. Buy some tubes of icing and let them go crazy! It is a memory that you will want!
15. Check for Local Christmas Events
Just about every town has an Old Fashioned Christmas parade and a Christmas Tree Lighting. Those are just a couple of the events that your family could attend together at Christmas time and create memories that last a lifetime.
- You can do a local search or maybe check with your local Chamber of Commerce because they will have all of that information.
16. Read Special Christmas Books
My family has a tradition of reading ‘The Night Before Christmas’ on Christmas Eve and the true Christmas story out of Luke on Christmas Day. Reading in front of the fire is always fun as well.
17. Go Christmas Caroling
When I was a kid, I went caroling with church groups every year and I just thought that was what everyone did. I will always remember those moments. I haven’t seen carolers in quite some time.
- If that is not something that people do in your community, then why not host a Christmas caroling party? The point here is to take advantage of every moment to make your Christmas special and meaningful.
18. Make Gingerbread Houses
Seriously, we joke in my family that my kids will be 30 and I’ll still be calling them to come back and make their gingerbread houses! This is an awesome tradition and can really be so much fun. And they do not have to be gingerbread.
- We have made Rice Krispie treat houses in the past. (I’m pretty sure they were everyone’s favorite) We have purchased many of the readymade kits that you just put together and decorate.
- There are so many ways to do this, or you could come up with your own. How about building a house out of wafer cookies and frosting and then decorating? Come to think of it, I think we will do that one this year, as we have never done that before. It’s great fun. Get lots of pics and videos!
**Update– We ended up hosting a Gingerbread House party for the kids and their friends in our homeschool and jiu-jitsu groups. It was such a great time!
19. Be Sure to Get the Pictures with Santa
Even when your kids get older…it’s still fun to get the pics with the big guy! If nothing else, it is something to laugh and joke about together! Then you will always have the photos to look back on and laugh again!
20. Pull up the Past
I will never forget the year when my daddy decided to pull out our old Christmas photos from years past and put them on poster boards that he displayed all the way down our hallway. At first, I thought “what on earth is he doing?”, but it meant so much.
It was nice to see those old photographs because we never pulled them out, but it touched me. It has stayed with me all these years that my father, who was honestly a fairly stiff, business-like man, did such a sentimental thing for our family. It said he loves us and he loves our memories. I will never forget that.
21. Attend a Candlelight Service
This used to be such a big thing and I know that many churches still offer Old Fashioned Christmas Candlelight Services. They are such poignant and uplifting services. Find one near you and take the whole family!
22. Don’t Forget the Real Reason for the Season!
What could make more of an Old Fashioned Christmas than remembering the reason that we celebrate it? The birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ should be the central focus of an Old Fashioned Christmas.
Make it your own
You choose the way that you want to celebrate an Old Fashioned Christmas holiday and the way that you want to celebrate your family. Then, once you choose, stick with it. Make it last and make it count. Because I promise you; your children will remember their Christmases from the past.
What kind of memory will they have? I can maybe remember one special gift from my childhood. Those aren’t nearly as important as you think. What I do remember is the time spent with my family and the special memories that we made.
I hope and pray that you all have a tremendously special Old Fashioned Christmas this year and that you create memories that will last a lifetime.
LET YOUR IMAGINATION SOAR AND FIND WONDERFUL WAYS TO MAKE CHRISTMAS PERSONAL AND OLD-FASHIONED THIS YEAR!
You may also enjoy some of our otherHoliday posts, such as;Beautiful Blue Christmas,16 Budget-Friendly Christmas Decorating Hacks,Stunning Mantle Decor,71 Eye-Catching Outdoor Christmas Decor Ideas,Red and White Christmas Decor, or19 Christmas Tree Ideas.
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