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Simple, Budget Friendly Family Traditions for Christmas That We Do
Start Some Family Traditions for Christmas
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.
One of My Favorite Family Christmas Traditions
We have many Christmas traditions in our family.
One of my favorite ones by far is our Christmas Eve tradition of going to the nursing home.
We started homeschooling way 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.
Corona Virus Pandemic
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, my oldest daughter, Jaimie, took charge and asked her aunt, who works at the nursing home, to get her a list of the resident’s names.
She then had our family personalize a Christmas card for each nursing home resident.
It is not exactly the same family traditions that we are used to and enjoy so much, but it lets the residents know they are not forgotten this Christmas, even if it is 2020!
Simple, Budget Friendly Family Traditions for Christmas That We Do
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.
12 Amazing Family Christmas Movies You Must Watch in 2020
Like yours, we have a family Christmas tradition of watching certain movies during the holiday season.
Check out this article, 12 Amazing Family Christmas Movies You Must Watch in 2020, to see which movies my family loves to watch every year.
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The tradition I love that I started 3 years ago is everyday we do something for Christmas , make little crafts, get the tree, bake goodies, nothing expensive but so much fun and great memories
I love this, Jaimie! I always tried to spread the Christmas season throughout December with my children too! Glad you”re one of those children!