Adding something new to your holiday celebration or collection every year can be a fun tradition. Some neighbors of ours add something new to their yard display every year. Since they’ve been doing this for over fifty years they have a very impressive light display! Their decorated yard is fun to look at, but I wouldn’t want to copy it. It takes them days to put up the display, and they need a whole storage shed to store everything in.
There are smaller ways to add something every year. You can get a new cookie cutter for sugar cookies. Some nativity sets have a lot of additions to buy, sheep, extra village people, and angels. Other people collect things like snowmen, angels, or Santas and add to their collection each year.
A mother at my children’s school comes in every year and teaches the class how to make a Christmas ornament. She writes the children’s names and the year on the ornament. If there is room she sometimes attaches a small picture of the child. It’s fun for them to have their own ornament collection that they’ve made themselves.
It’s fun to buy new ornaments to the tree, too. I like to get ornaments that reflect something special we did in the past year. This year we are adding an Eiffel tower and a red London bus keychain from our trip to Europe. We’ve got a wooden cabin ornament as a memory of our many trips to the Rockies.
I saw a fun idea in a magazine. Every year the family traces the children’s hands on felt. They sew them together to make an ever growing banner.
I know one family who gets a new Christmas puzzle each year.
For many years we’ve collected a new Christmas CD each year. We’ve also got a great collection of Christmas books now. Lately we’ve been adding a movie or two to our collection each year.
Also See:
A Christmas Party for Dolls and Stuffed Animals