I know it’s been said many times that the holidays are not just about gifts and money. There are so many other things to enjoy and family traditions is one of them. It’s great to manage your money properly, find deals and save this holiday season, but if you focus only on the financial side of things, you probably won’t get much out enjoyment out of this time of year.
Here are a few holiday traditions you can enjoy with your family to make this time of year special and memorable.
Drive Around and Look at Christmas Lights
Some families like to take a trip around the neighborhood to look at everyone’s lights displays to help get into the Christmas spirit. Kids will love this activity since your neighborhood is bound to have someone who goes all out with beautiful light fixtures and decorations.
You area may even have a holiday lights train that lets families ride around a park or popular area past several different Christmas lights displays. In my area there’s a free holiday lights train just a few towns away that drives around a park and at the ‘train station’ hot chocolate and homemade fudge are sold ever year. Check with your city to see if they offer this type of tour.
Set Up Your Christmas Tree
This is a very popular holiday tradition seeing as most people who celebrate Christmas will put up a tree to place gifts under. In my family, we set up the tree on a certain day each year and drink hot chocolate as we add ornaments and lights.
You can even buy or make one new ornament each year to add to your tree since some will most likely break or show signs of wear after several years of use.
Cook Something Special
Not all people celebrate Christmas each year. Some celebrate other holidays like Kwanzaa and Hanukkah and enjoy cultural traditions related to those holidays. One thing that most cultural traditions involve is good food.
Cook a special cultural dish or dessert for the holiday and invite family or friends over to enjoy it together.
Go Sledding
If there’s a good amount of snowfall in your area, grab your sleds and a few friends and find a hill to go sledding on. Most natural hills are free and people can just walk up during the day time and enjoy some sledding.
Kids enjoy going sledding during their holiday break from school and it’s just an all-around fun activity to enjoy each year if there’s plenty of snow on the ground.
Watch Your Favorite Holiday Movies
If you feel like you could use a much needed break, block out one afternoon to enjoy some of your favorite holiday movies at home with your family. Everyone has those movies that still excite them and bring back memories even though they’ve probably seen them a thousand times.
You can introduce classic films to your children so they can enjoy them as well. Pop some popcorn or bake some cookies and pull out some of your old DVDs or head to the library to pick up some seasonal movies to watch.
Volunteer
A lot of people volunteer their time and resources during the holidays as a way to give back to others who are in need. If you don’t have many holiday traditions established yet for your family, you can start one by volunteering each year.
You can visit a nursing home and give cards out to the residents or lead a fun activity, you can work at a soup kitchen and help prepare meals, or you could sponsor a child and help them obtain a gift that is on their wish list.
During the holiday season, there are so many people you can help who are truly in need. Start by asking local churches or organizations if they have any programs or events that you can help with.
What are your favorite holiday traditions? Do you do any of these things?
Chonce is a freelance writer who’s obsessed with frugality and passionate about helping others increase their savings rate, eliminate debt, and work toward financial stability. She chronicles her journey to becoming debt-free on her blog, mydebtepiphany.com.
