I love hearing about different families’ traditions on Christmas morning. The beautiful thing about Christmas morning traditions is that most of them don’t cost a thing. If your family is looking to adopt some new traditions for Christmas morning, then stay tuned because that’s what we’re sharing today!
Let’s talk about simple, frugal Christmas morning traditions. I would love for you to share your family’s favorite Christmas morning traditions in the comments so we can all get ideas for fun, free traditions that our families will love.
Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
Whip up a batch or two of your favorite cinnamon rolls to bake on Christmas morning. If you have a freezer version, you can make them ahead of time so you don’t have to stress about them at all on Christmas Eve. There’s nothing better than waking up to the smell of fresh, hot cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning!
Reading Luke 2
Before we start opening presents, we read together the story of the first Christmas as recorded in Luke chapter 2 of the Bible. We’ll usually sing a couple of Christmas carols together and have a family prayer. We remind the kids that we give gifts to one another in memory of the greatest gift that God gave to the world, his Son. This sets the tone of gratitude for our family and helps everyone remember the most important reason for the season.
Opening presents one by one in age order
We always open gifts one by one. Not only does this make the magic of gift opening last longer, but it gives everyone a chance to see what everyone got and gives them a chance to thank the giver (if they’re there). We go around from youngest to oldest and everyone opens one gift on their turn. Sometimes mom and dad will skip rounds since we usually don’t have as many gifts as the kiddos. If there is an uneven number of gifts (which there often is), the children who are out of gifts will open one of the family gifts (usually a game, movie, or something to be shared by the whole family).
Calling Family
When I was growing up we lived far from family (like two thousand miles away), so we rarely got to see them. Christmas was a time when we talked to grandparents on the phone. With all the advances in technology, our kids have many more options for communication with far away family, but it’s still special spend time together virtually on Christmas day even when we’re physically distant from our loved ones.
How about you?
- What Christmas morning traditions does your family have? Please share a favorite in the comments below!
Next in the series:
Day 25: Teaching Kids to Receive with Gratitude
Christmas morning traditions can be meaningful without breaking the bank. Enjoy homemade cinnamon rolls and read Luke 2 to set a tone of gratitude. Opening gifts one by one enhances the experience, allowing appreciation for each present. Don’t forget to connect with family, even virtually. After the festivities, gather for a fun game of Retro Bowl to keep the holiday spirit alive! What are your family’s cherished traditions?
When I was growing up we lived far from family (like two thousand miles away), so we rarely got to see them.
We’re a reading family, and we spend lots of time at libraries so one of our free traditions has been to gather quotes from different books we have read over the year, favorite lines of poetry we wanted to share, and book lists of reccomended reads for family members based on age, and interest. The younger kids get help from adults and librarians (both on the actual lists, but on remembering to collect the quotes). Quotes must be hand written or stitched (it’s cheating to make a photocopy or print from the internet we’re a little more forgiving for book recommendations, but usually there’s more thought in the list if it’s hand written).