Our Favorite Family Christmas Traditions to Celebrate the Holiday Season
The corn is all harvested, the machinery is tucked safely away in the shed, and the snow (and frigid temps) has cancelled my daily lunchtime walks with the pups the last few days ☃️... winter is officially here! Even though it has been winter weather here in Minnesota for many weeks, the change in seasons is finally hitting me since harvest has slowed down and Christmas preparations have sped up. Believe it or not, Christmas is only 8 days away!
I am really looking forward to our Christmas celebrations this year. For the first time ever, instead of exchanging gifts, we are going on a family vacation together. I have been trying to talk my husband into this arrangement for years, but he is such a traditionalist that he never wanted to give up the gift exchange for a relaxing getaway ✈️🌴. This works out perfectly for us, too, since we are able to meet Lacey in NYC and fly to Barcelona (our holiday destination) together. It saves Lacey a flight back to Minnesota and gives us all a chance to take a break before we fly across the Atlantic.
Because we are not exchanging gifts this year, Christmas feels a little different than normal. My youngest daughter, Marissa, was definitely bummed that we wouldn't be upholding the tradition of opening gifts together, so I promised her that we would still honor our other traditions. This got me thinking about our annual holiday traditions during the Christmas season. Even though I sometimes get stressed out about preparing, hosting, and planning, I am always thankful for the time we get to spend together with family and friends. And most importantly, it is so fun to celebrate the birth of our King with special memories that only occur once a year!
Although we now have a treasured list of traditions that have accumulated over the years, I distinctly remember Christmas seasons when we were frantically researching to try and come up with different ideas to celebrate. This adds to the stress, rather than marking these holiday weeks with peace and joy. So, I hope that by making a list of some of our favorite traditions, you can find a few ideas to add to your own family's celebration! As I was writing this blog post, I realized that while we have many awesome traditions, taking pictures of our holiday traditions is definitely *NOT* one of them 😢. I have so few pictures of us enjoying all the fun we have; we must just be really good at being present with our time together! 😍 Regardless of the lack of pictures, I hope that you still get some good ideas from this post. Consider this a "tradition exchange" 🤩🎄... because despite my family's list of favorites, we always like to hear other ideas too! Leave a comment below about your favorite Christmas traditions - I can't wait to read them!
Benz Family Christmas Traditions:
1. Holiday Baking Extravaganza
I am listing this Christmas tradition first because it is one of our favorite things to do to celebrate the holidays! Our annual "Holiday Baking Extravaganza" started about seven years ago, when I scheduled one day in December to bake all of our Christmas cookies and treats, rather than randomly baking a batch of cookies during the evenings after work. This immediately made the event more fun for me because I wasn't trying to squeeze in a recipe after a long day at work. Instead, I set aside intentional time for us to decorate cookies, sprinkle shortbread, and melt caramels together.
I often schedule this day weeks in advance so that everyone is aware that this specific date is when we are baking for the holidays. This helps my daughters plan their commitments, like homework and activities, and it gives my husband plenty of time to rearrange his crop adjusting and chores accordingly. Planning in advance also encourages me to make a grocery list and feel more prepared for an entire day of kitchen takeover.
During our "Holiday Baking Extravaganza," we make an extensive spread of cookies, treats, and snack mixes. While we eat plenty of the goodies, we also arrange trays of treats to bring to all of the holiday gatherings we are invited to and to share with our neighbors and friends. It is the perfect way to enjoy the baking and decorating without feeling overwhelmed with the number of cookies we have at the end of the day!
Besides planning my grocery list, I also try to be smart about planning meals for the day we spend cooking up a storm. It seems like we are constantly using the oven and stove, so I usually cook soup in the slow cooker for lunch, then we end the day with pizza and a holiday movie. This is a tip that I learned a few years ago, and it has really helped eliminate any possible stress during the day.
Every year, we all sit down and look at our recipe list, only to add more recipes instead of cutting back like we originally intended. It is so difficult because we all have that one "favorite" recipe that we couldn't imagine Christmas without! In case you are looking for some new Christmas recipes to try, or a new twist on an old classic, here is our list of recipes that we rotate through each year:
Cookies: ❄ White Chocolate Dipped Gingerbread Cookies ❄ Grandma Crandall's Sugar Cookie Recipe (decorated with Sugar Cookie Icing) ❄ Peppermint Pinwheels
❄ Spritz
❄ Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies ❄ Peanut Butter Blossoms
❄ Krumkake
❄ Scotch Shortbread
❄ Peppermint Stripes
Treats: ❄ Fudge ❄ Homemade Caramels ❄ Peanut Brittle ❄ Peppermint Twist Meringues
❄ Toffee
❄ Peanut Clusters
❄ Peppermint Bark
❄ Almond Bark Dipped Ritz Crackers
❄ Christmas Funfetti Cake Batter Truffles
Snack Mixes: ❄ Blizzard Party Mix ❄ Traditional Chex Mix
❄ Candy Cane Snack Mix
2. The Spectacular Blue Earth Christmas Lights Tour
Sometime in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when we aren't busy baking cookies, decorating the house, or making plans, our family loves to hop in the car and take a drive around town to see the Christmas lights. I can't remember a year we skipped this tradition, and if we are really lucky, we will swing by the local Dairy Queen and grab a seasonal Candy Cane Blizzard to enjoy along the way! We listen to Christmas carols as we drive around, and it is always so much fun to see the lights and catch up with one another. This is a great opportunity for us to spend time with each other away from all of our other distractions. Plus, it's *free* (if we don't buy ice cream), and we can even bring the pups!
3. Christmas Game Competition
Another favorite family tradition that we have is hosting a "Christmas Game" competition on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. This tradition started a few years ago when I was trying to plan something unique to do together to celebrate Christmas. Unfortunately, I discovered that if I didn't specifically plan something for us to all do together on the holiday, everyone went their separate ways, to work on farm, house, or school work. So, to solve this problem, I decided to plan a few fun family games for us to play. We are all competitive, and I even offered prizes by keeping track of the scores. Fast forward a few years, and the family Christmas game competition is a highlight of our season!
Once again, this requires some planning. The games we typically play need a few supplies, but you could certainly play anything you want! The main goal, regardless of the game or date, is to spend intentional family time together away from screens and distractions.
Family Game Ideas:
❄ Snowball Toss (using marshmallows) (1 minute)
❄ Roll-A-Snowman (dice and drawing)
❄ Darts / Air Hockey / Ping Pong (if you have access to any of these)
❄ Board Games (we like to play "Sorry" or "Aggravation")
❄ Marshmallow Transfer with a straw/chopsticks (1 minute)
❄ Peppermint Candies Stacked on a Large Popsicle Stick held in your mouth (1 minute)
❄ One-Handed Cup Stacking (1 minute)
❄ Wii Game or two (old school I know 🤷🏼♀️)
4. Christmas Eve Candlelight Church
Even in the holiday frenzy and stress, I try hard to never lose sight of the "reason for the season." Although there are certainly times when I get lost in the details, overall, I am proud of the time that we set aside as a family to welcome the arrival of our King! The Christmas Eve church service we always go to is one of my favorite ways to reflect on the holiday and gather in community with fellow believers.
Our church, Trinity Lutheran Church in Blue Earth, hosts two candlelight Christmas Eve services. The services include Christmas carols and Scripture accompanied by lots of fun music. Last year, my daughter Marissa accompanied the service, and Lacey joined her for a piano duet! We typically go to the earlier service before returning home to have a family dinner and open presents together.
5. Gift Exchange
.... This leads me into our next cherished tradition: presents! As a family, we acknowledge that presents are not the main focus of the holidays, and we work really hard to make sure that they do not dominate our Christmas. Nevertheless, it is fun to exchange gifts together, and until this year (since we are traveling to Barcelona), we always opened presents on both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
For Christmas Eve, we go to church, eat a nice dinner (chicken kiev and wild rice is our favorite!), and then we open gifts. We exchange presents with one another. For example, Lacey and Marissa open the gifts that they give each other, and Clinton and I exchange gifts with each other as well. Then on Christmas Day, Santa comes! 🎅🏻🤫🎄
Santa brings one stocking and a few gifts for each family member. He even drops off a couple of treats for the pups! 🐶 Our stockings are always filled with everyone's favorites: Christmas candy, hand sanitizer, toothbrushes, underwear, and fruit. My daughters can always count on Santa replenishing their toiletry supply for the next year! Santa also picks out an ornament for both of my daughters that represents their year. For instance, when Lacey studied abroad in Italy, she got a hand-painted ornament of Florence. It is fun to look back over the years and see all the ornaments that Santa has brought when we are decorating our tree.
*Another celebrated family tradition is leaving Christmas cookies, milk, and carrots for Santa and his reindeer. Sometimes, Lacey and Marissa even write him a letter. I think it's their last-ditch effort to make sure that he doesn't leave coal in their stockings. 😆🎅🏻
Reminiscing on our Christmas traditions has me so excited for the holiday in a few weeks! The Holiday Baking Extravaganza is on the calendar, the chicken kiev is meal-prepped in the freezer, and the DQ blizzard coupon is saved in my purse. It will be different this year, however, because our trip to Barcelona changes some of our traditions. We won't be exchanging gifts, and we wrote a note to Santa telling him to skip our house. It's also sad celebrating the holidays without Lacey around, but we are looking forward to spending time with her in Spain! I think this is a good reminder of the flexibility that traditions (and the Christmas season) require too. Traditions are no longer fun if it becomes a stressful "must-do" instead of a joy-filled "get to do."
I pray that your holidays are full of peace, joy, and Christmas spirit, whether you celebrate with meticulously planned Christmas traditions or choose to cozy up with a steaming mug of hot chocolate and a Christmas movie... and do nothing else! I'd love to hear about your Christmas traditions, and if you have any Christmas recipes to add to our list, let me know!
P.S. Stay tuned for an upcoming post about our family trip to Barcelona. I promise to return with lots of travel tips and tricks!