Ten Festive Traditions for Christmas
It’s very easy to run away in the chaos of Christmas, but instead of letting December fly past in a shot, grab the time to stop and consider simple ways that you can make this season special. It surely has to be a more normal Christmas due to Covid and I think that now is the time to take inspiration from our ten ideas for traditions to start at home. They'll go a long way towards creating memories with your family and children to share in years to come.
Set the scene
While you'll want to get your family involved in unpacking the Christmas decorations and putting them on the tree, you could also set the scene with some surprises with wintry ideas. The children will remember more if the scene is set early enough. Natural foliage such as eucalyptus and pine cones look stylish throughout the cold months, as well as mistletoe!
Fashion your own advent calendar
If you have little ones and you haven’t yet persuaded yourself to buy them a chocolate-filled advent calendar, you could always make your own with rewards for good behaviour. Numbering envelopes on a board filled with goodies and treats or drawings they can do until Christmas Day will give them lots of pleasure!
Wrap together
You can get creative with wrapping the presents with the help of the little ones helping to tie the bows and stickers. Children do love craft activities with gluing and painting polka dots on the brown paper presents and your family members will certainly appreciate the kids' sustainable homemade efforts!
Bring the outside in
Teaching the children about nature and asking them to collect branches and twigs to decorate your home with twinkly lights can be so exciting for them. This simple activity of going to your local park or forest could become an annual tradition, as this time of year tends to bring windy weather, so you'll find lots of twigs and branches scattered in these areas. These can then be returned to where they were found in the New Year.
Baking Christmas treats
My children especially love to join in with the baking, especially at Christmas time. Our favourites are homemade sausage rolls, which are made in batches of 20-30 at a time. They swiftly disappear to be replenished within a day! You could also make gingerbread men for the younger ones to share with their classmates, or show them how to stick cloves into oranges, ready to put into the mulled wine for the adults. While you're making gingerbread men you could also make homemade mince pies! They could add to a grandma or grandpa’s present list by wrapping them in brown paper sealed with a Christmas ribbon.
Wearing matching PJs
This is becoming more and more popular where whole families are purchasing matching pyjamas to wear on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning! It doesn’t get much more adorable than dressing your little ones in matching PJs! Tired parents may not want to introduce any extra excitement to the evening’s proceedings, but a warm bath followed by Christmas stories read in bed will help children to wind down ready for Santa to visit that night! Plus there's always the classic line: ‘If you don’t go to sleep, Father Christmas won’t visit and there won’t be any presents’.
Taking a Christmas walk
Christmas morning walks with the dog are always a good way of burning off the extra calories from too much sugary consumption, which will probably have started two days before and in the early hours of Christmas Day morning. Make sure you have waterproofs, wellies and cosy fleeces to keep you warm and dry! The English weather isn’t always reliable so you're not guaranteed to stay dry, and it would certainly make my day if we were to have a White Christmas which would make it especially exciting!
Laying the table
Involving the children in the festive celebrations by asking them to help set the table isn’t always a good idea, but helping to tie cinnamon sticks with ribbon is less hazardous than holding knives and forks and putting the wine glasses in situ for the big day!
Start a grown up tradition
Once the children are tucked up in bed it’s always lovely to grab a window of ‘you’ time over the hectic holidays. So prior to this I always prep all my veg and make the cauliflower cheese ready for the next day’s busy schedule. Once those jobs are done, ask your partner to make sure the kids are asleep before setting down to a glass of bubbles in the bath, ready for the manic day ahead. Happy parents (with nerves intact!) are better able to appreciate the special moments they can create for their children in December if they're relaxed and all the major jobs are out of the way!
The big day!
Once the children have opened their presents, this will give you time to get things organised for the big lunch. Turkey on, veggies prepped from the night before, logs on the fire ready to light, breakfast things cleared away and you're on your way! The next seven hours will fly by, so make the most of the time you have while the children are playing with their toys. Christmas Day evening is all about board games and playing with their toys. Have a happy Christmas 2022!
We'd like to wish all our clients, friends and suppliers a very merry Christmas. We've had another great year and our new showroom is being launched officially in 2023! If you have any projects, no matter how small, then why not call us on 01223 622 688 or send us an email to book an appointment to come in and check out the latest trends for the home?
Leigh Hall from Strive for Design is an interior designer in Cambridge, so if you're looking to redesign your home, please contact us.