Last Updated on October 7, 2026
I’ve always loved the Christmas time of year! There are so many fun events happening, so much cheer and so much music. We have our own Christmas traditions that I look forward to each year. I’m sharing them today in case you’re looking for fun and festive family Christmas traditions to start!
Fun family Christmas traditions to start with your family
Travel-themed Christmas ornaments
Every time we travel, we add a location-themed Christmas ornament to the tree. In 2020 we added a lobster ornament to signify our second baby’s first trip to Maine, and I just finally bought a Cape Cod themed ornament because our second and third children’s first-ever vacation was to the Cape when they were just a month old! I normally try to buy an ornament wherever we are, but sometimes I forget – or can’t find one. In 2018 we added a Nantucket ornament (it was both T and our daughter’s first time on the island!), as well as an ornament from San Francisco.
(As sometimes happens, the Nantucket ornament actually broke when we put everything back in storage so that has been superglued (I bought it in a boutique on the island). And our SF ornament broke, too, but I was able to find it online and ordered a new one. I now have a much better system for storing ornaments!)
The other thing we started doing was putting the photo from our Christmas card into an ornament with that year on it. Slowly we have replaced “filler” ornaments with ornaments that mean something to us, and that makes looking at the Christmas tree that much more special.
a photo from our daughter’s first Christmas season and a photo of Sprout at our wedding in 2014, an Eiffel Tower ornament from a trip to Paris, a San Francisco ornament that our daughter picked out from her first trip there, and a cotton candy machine ornament that reminds me of the baby shower my sisters threw for me 3 summers ago!
Mailing Christmas cards
I love putting together Christmas cards each year! 2018 was the first year I did pre-addressed envelopes, and my goodness it made life a lot easier. I did that again this year and probably will continue to order those as long as I have my address list together ahead of time. I just know that with three kids and life, those Christmas cards weren’t going to make it out unless I was able to make things a little easier!
Christmas dinner with friends
I still get together with my high school friends every year for our annual Christmas dinner. Whether we bring our husbands or not, it’s such a fun time to get together and just catch up. This group of girls are my OGs… and seriously no matter how much time has passed, it’s so so nice to be together! It isn’t super easy to schedule since 3 of us are in MA but one is in FL and one is in CA (talk about being spread out!), but somehow we always make it work. This is one tradition I really miss when it can’t happen!
Cozy Christmas morning at home
I definitely still love spending time in our home before heading anywhere for Christmas morning. It’s just nice to get up and have homemade pancakes, exchange gifts, and relax next to the fireplace with all of the festive lights on (plus music!). The past few years we have had a very relaxed Christmas morning. The older the kids get, the more I realize how special it is to have that time at home. Sometimes we’ll host a dinner in the afternoon, but Christmas morning is so special!
Photo from our first-ever vacation with Baby
Interest-based ornaments for the kids
I started adding an ornament to the tree to represent something my kids are really interested in at the time. I add the year on the bottom so that each year as we take these out, we can look back! It was fun to take out the 2019 tractor ornament and 2020 Frozen ornaments and think back to when our kids were just babies. We added a ballerina for our daughter’s first year of dance, Paw Patrol ornaments when our two oldest were obsessed with those, and now I need a Nee-doh ornament!
Matching pajamas for the kids
They’re at an age where they love to do things together, so matching pajamas was a no-brainer. We’ll see how long this one lasts 😉
Family Christmas party
The family Christmas party started with my husband’s side of the family and was something his parents did from the time he was young. We took it over a couple of years ago. The party normally includes lots of extended family and friends and always happens the weekend before Christmas. It is always a very busy, but fun, night.
Baking cookies and more
My grandmother used to make a LOT of cookies and buckeyes (a midwest thing, they’re peanut butter balls dipped in chocolate) around Christmas. I definitely miss dipping into those big glass jars of sweets! My sisters and I usually try to get together to do some baking. I think it would be cute to do this as an annual tradition, especially as my kids and the cousins get older.
What’s your favorite holiday tradition?
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