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Budget Friendly Family Christmas Traditions
Are you interested in starting some family traditions for Christmas?
Christmastime doesn’t have to be all about expensive gifts and extravagant celebrations that end up blowing your budget, putting you behind on your everyday bills, or worse yet, racking up so much debt on your credit cards that you are still paying for Christmas in May!
I decided years ago that Christmas at the Foote house would be simple and focused.
By simple, I don’t mean a lack of gifts.
Oh, no! My children find A LOT of presents under the tree on Christmas morning.
It is the type of gifts that I keep basic.
I trained my children over the years that the true enjoyment found in Christmas isn’t in the gifts.
Yes, opening presents is fun, and we do tons of that, but it’s the memories that we are making as we spend time together as a family that really counts.
Visiting Our Local Nursing Home
One of my favorite traditions by far is our Christmas Eve tradition of going to our local nursing home.
We started homeschooling back in 1993.
That first Christmastime as a homeschooling family, we decided to start going to our local nursing home on Christmas Eve.
Each of our then four children made homemade Christmas cards and walked around the nursing home telling the residents Merry Christmas.
The reactions from the residents have been from one end of the spectrum to the other over these many years.
Many of them have shown amazement that these children took time out of their holiday to think of them.
A few have yelled for us to get out of there.
We actually enjoyed all of it!
As the years progressed, we tried different things, like handing out little candy canes along with the homemade cards, but we quickly stopped when we realized that some of the residents were eating the candy while the wrappers were still on them.
Some residents were actually eating the homemade cards too!
Since our concerns quickly turned into choke hazards, we switched to handing out stuffed animals.
The stuffed animals have been quite a hit for many years now.
Our family and friends spend all year collecting stuffed animals.
We collect and hand out 200+ stuffed animals at our local nursing home every Christmas Eve.
I used to think that this small gesture was short lived with the residents.
Although I thought it touched many of their hearts at the moment, I never thought the majority of them would ever remember it.
Then some of my children grew up and started working at the nursing home.
Many of the residents would talk about a large family that would come around on Christmas Eve and give them a little gift.
Some residents still had their stuffed animals from years past!
This is exactly why every year as we are leaving the nursing home I stop my family, quiet them down, and say, It only takes a few moments out of your life to make someone else’s day.
It has been such a blessing to me to see my adult children gather together at our local nursing home with all of their own families now. The tradition continues.
Spoiled by Covid
Well, the tradition continued up until 2020.
Covid-19 has certainly affected everything throughout our world, including our family traditions for Christmas.
Not to be deterred too much by the pandemic of 2020, my oldest daughter, Jaimie, took charge and asked her aunt, who works at the nursing home, to get her a list of the residents’ names.
She then had our family personalize a Christmas card for each nursing home resident.
It was not exactly the same family traditions that we were used to and enjoyed so much over the years, but it let the residents know they were not forgotten.
Cutting Down Our Own Christmas Tree
Our family has had the tradition of tramping through the woods to find and cut down our Christmas tree every year.
We used to have 100 acres to wander around, but now we visit a local tree farm.
It is always an adventure to take a mega family around the woods in search of the perfect tree.
Finding and cutting down our own Christmas tree is one of our family’s favorite traditions and has given us precious memories to treasure for years.
Popcorn Balls
When we come home with our tree, we head straight to the kitchen to pop popcorn and melt marshmallows.
We turn on Christmas music, set up the tree, and make popcorn balls to hang on it.
Of course, the popcorn balls don’t stay on the tree for long.
Yum!
We don’t use any fancy recipes. I just make popcorn balls the same way I make Rice Krispie treats.
Just melt some butter and marshmallows, then add in the popcorn.
We wrap them in Sarah Wrap or little baggies, tie a ribbon around them, and hang them on the tree.
Homemade Hot Cocoa
I always make a huge batch of homemade hot cocoa on tree day too.
You can read my article, How to Make Homemade Hot Cocoa for a Crowd, over here.
Budget Friendly Family Christmas Traditions
These are some simple, budget-friendly family traditions for Christmas that we do?
Leave a comment, or post over on Facebook, telling me all about your family traditions for Christmas.
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