Cozy Christmas traditions with little kids

Christmas traditions are the little things children remember. They don’t need to be big or expensive. What matters most is that they’re repeated year after year.

12 ideas

1. The Advent candle: Light the calendar candle at breakfast, and blow it out together.
2. Christmas crafts: Cut, weave and decorate paper Christmas hearts, and let the kids pick the colors themselves.
3. The elf in the attic: Set out a bowl of rice porridge for the elf, as Danish families do, and see if it’s been eaten by morning.
4. A Christmas story every night: A chapter book, or a new picture book every Sunday.
5. Cut and paste: Make Christmas hearts and stars for the tree.
6. A lights walk: Go for a walk in the dark and look at the Christmas lights in the windows.
7. A letter to Santa: Write or draw wishes, and put the letter in the mailbox.
8. A good deed a day: Do something nice for others.
9. Christmas movie under the blankets: One special Christmas movie you watch every year.
10. Decorate the tree together: Let the kids hang up their own ornaments.
11. The hidden almond: A Danish tradition: hide one whole almond in the Christmas rice porridge. Who finds it?
12. Dance around the tree: Hold hands and sing the old carols.

Keep it simple

Choose a few traditions that fit your family. December quickly gets busy, and children do best with calm and predictability, at Christmas too.

From My Mini Mindset

Want to bring the words into everyday life? Here are materials with your child’s name and a figure that looks like your child:

• The elf who was scared
• Advent calendar with good deeds