7 Traditions to Hold on to This Christmas

1. Christmas Lights on Winter Nights

Drive to look at Christmas lights around your area. This is a tradition we started when our oldest was about 5 years old. After the Christmas dinner (previous church) or Children’s Christmas Service (current church), which both fell on the Sunday evening before Christmas, we all change into jammies and slippers. The “old enough ones” have the privilege of filling a travel mug with warm cider, hot cocoa, tea or cappuccino. (And yes, we’ve dealt with minor spills throughout the years.) We have now reached the phase where everyone is an “old enough one” and gets to bring a travel mug filled with their favorite warm drink. (And wouldn’t you know, last year one of the adults had a spill!) Someone might grab a fleece blanket to wrap up in, just for the coziness of it, and we all climb into the Sulzle Bus ready to enjoy the next hour or more gazing at beautiful lights and lawn decorations marking the season of Christmas. The radio plays “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” or my most treasured Christmas hymn, “O Holy Night.”

I think the favorite part of this tradition began when one year the children noticed we were seeing more Santas than Nativities. And so began “The Counting Contest.” I’m pretty sure that first year the Nativities won by just a couple. Since then, we still count Nativities, but we also count snowmen, angels, wreaths and candy canes. Everyone picks their own Christmas decoration to count. One year it was Grinches. Two. That person lost.

Our family’s favorite memory is when we were 2 blocks from home and two family members were neck and neck with wreaths and candy canes, wreaths losing by just one. We turned the corner to our block. We had all forgotten about our neighbor’s home which is beautifully decorated every year with lighted wreaths on every window. Oh, the laughs that ensued.  Thank you, neighbors!  The winner of “The Counting Contest” thanked you! 

2. Christmas Calories Don’t Count

Bake Christmas Cookies. My Grandma’s cut-out cookie recipe takes us the most time of all our favorite Christmas cookies, but is filled with the most memories. Pull out your favorite Christmas recipes, turn up some Christmas music and start making a mess together in the kitchen! It might not be good for the waistline, but you can always share, right? 

3. “Holiday Who-be What-ee“

Pop quiz: What popular Christmas movie was that quote from?
Watch Christmas Movies. The Polar Express, The Christmas Shoes, and A Charlie Brown Christmas are among our favorites. The season is so busy that sometimes it’s just necessary to curl up on the couch together and relax with a heartwarming Christmas flick. The Polar Express is a movie that speaks to believing in Santa, which is not something we ever “played along with” in our home, but the beautiful digital effects, the music and the gift of a child’s imagination is what draws us all to this movie.

You will need Kleenex for The Christmas Shoes, where a mother learns of an illness and her young son makes it his mission to get her something special for Christmas.

The classic movie from the late Charles Schultz is one that deserves to still be aired on TV. For 50 years CBS aired it, and this year they dropped it. It moved to only Apple TV (or so we were told by mainstream media), so we were pleasantly surprised and beyond excited when we caught it on PBS 2 weeks ago. One of the only broadcast Christmas shows that proclaims the real meaning of Christmas with a reading of Luke 2 for the finale. I’m curious: What’s your family’s favorite Christmas movie? Anything Hallmark? An old classic?

4. Family Fun for Everyone

Have Family Game Nights. When the Sulzle family considers Christmas, we also think of the days following. We have all our children home and a little extra time in our schedules once Christmas services and gatherings are over. There are few games that allow for 8+ players. Among our favorites are Pit, Bunco, Court Whist, Forbidden Island, and Forbidden Desert. If the weather is seasonably warm for a Minnesota December, we might even head outside to play a riveting game of Handball. 

5. Fa-la-la-la-la

Caroling. This is one of my earliest memories with my husband’s family. So a little background first. A unique circumstance, only planned by God. While in college I worked at the nursing home where my husband’s grandpa resided for a few years. Each year my husband’s family would travel the 2 hours from their home to the small town where his grandparents lived, just 2 blocks from my childhood home. When we met each other first in college and realized the connection, we were a bit surprised we hadn’t known of each other sooner. Our grandmas were best friends (!!!!) yet our paths never crossed.

Since we became close friends, I was invited to the family Christmas gathering at his grandma’s house. We went to the nursing home to sing Christmas carols for all the residents, but especially his grandpa. And wow! Can this family sing! A family of 8 + Grandma + me – all in 4 part harmony, no rehearsal (unless you count the years of growing up together.) This wasn’t the only group I would witness singing Christmas carols at the nursing home during those years I worked there. Each time carolers came, the residents’ faces would light up. Some would gaze at the choir as a tear dropped to their cheek while others would sing along. It was especially emotional when a resident who had Alzheimers or dementia and might not verbalize much would know the words to these long-ago memorized hymns and sing along, some of whom voices I had never heard before. A tear would drop to my cheek also. This family caroling tradition didn’t last long as God took Grandpa to heaven just before Thanksgiving one year, but new caroling traditions started.

This year the location could be outside neighbors’ homes or outside a loved one’s nursing home window. It is especially important that we remember our friends who are not able to leave their homes often, whether it’s because of health or age. How special it would be for them to open their door to a family or small group of friends singing beautiful Christmas carols from their front sidewalk. Don’t dismiss this tradition this year! People need it now more than ever! 

6. Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire

Late night talks with hot cocoa or tea by the fire. Doesn’t this one sound amazing? You’ll have to do this one for me. Although we had a fireplace in our previous home, we currently don’t have one. And I’m not the kind of person to brave the MN winter temperatures for a firepit kind of evening in the backyard. I’m a wimp in the winter and would much prefer to be cozy in my fuzzy socks and fleece blankets, relaxing on my couch than shivering outside in the tundra with a frozen nose. So for those of you like me and with no fireplace, go to this fireplace with Christmas music and let’s all just pretend it’s real! 

7. It’s All About Jesus

Christmas Worship Services. Certainly the world has turned Christmas into a holly jolly holiday filled with glitz, glam and giving, but void of Jesus. At times, we too can get caught up in all the hustle to the point that it feels like a hassle. That’s when it’s time to refocus our hearts and spend time in God’s Word. Worship services are the highlight of Christmas, where we hear and proclaim the message of a baby’s humble birth in Bethlehem. This humble birth of our Savior reminds us that he came down from heaven to become a man, to know the trouble and temptation we face, yet live perfectly among us.

Don’t keep that message to yourself this Christmas. Soak it in, take it to heart, know this is your Savior and go share Jesus with those around you. Take every opportunity to share the hope you have! May you and your family have a very blessed Christmas and God give you good health and peace!