East Coast Mommy: Christmas Eve Traditions

Christmas Eve is my absolute favourite day of the year, and I always try to make it special for my boys. I believe that family rituals and traditions bring families together and provide the foundation for childhood memories. Today, I am sharing my family's Christmas Eve Traditions.

1) Special Christmas PJs - My boys always get new Christmas PJs to wear on Christmas Eve... and they always look so cute in the Christmas morning pictures.

You can do a fun Christmas Eve basket too. I have a lovely FREE printable tag here.

2) Cookies for Santa and Reindeer Food on the Lawn - We always bake cookies for Santa, and we leave them on our kitchen table with a big glass of milk. And of course, we don't forget about the reindeer. We always sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn before heading to bed. It is made from Cheerios, oats, and magic sprinkles {colored sugar crystals}. If you want to package it ahead of time, you can find a cute tag here.

3) Magic Santa Key - We don't have a chimney, so we always leave Santa a magic key to make sure he is able to get into our house without any problems. {You can find a free Santa Key Tag printable here.}

4) Saying Goodbye to Elfie - Before heading to bed, we always say goodbye to our Elf on the Shelf. {Then, in the morning, the boys are always happy to see he has left a note and a new Christmas movie.}

5) Reading "The Night Before Christmas"- The last thing we do, before heading to bed, is read "The Night Before Christmas". {I love this part!}

I am a firm believer that traditions bond a family together. Does your family have any special Christmas Eve traditions?

♥

Gina Bell (aka East Coast Mommy)

8 comments:

Kristen9 November 2013 at 23:18
What a fun list! Also, do you happen to know the source of those stockings? Or where a pattern for them might be found? Thanks so much!
Unknown10 November 2013 at 10:08
In our house we also take those red/white star mints ( that we unwrapped together because as my son pointed out plastic is not good for the ground, lol) and "plant" them in the ground next to where we put the reindeer food. With all the christmas magic they grow into candy canes that we pass out to the family as they come for dinner. I leave the wrapping on the full candy canes. After all the fun of looking thru stockings and opening gifts its so fun to see their faces when they remember to go look to see if they have grown and even more fun hearing them tell family how they grew their own candy canes!
Digi mom 23 December 2013 at 16:08
We read the night before Christmas as well Christmas Eve everyone. Even mommy and daddy has there own stocking we even did one for grandma last year when she stayed for Christmas this year we added. Two more stockinngs for our newest family members Glitter and Buddy(our EOTS) my aunt usually buys my dd pj's were doing santa key for the first time this year thanks for the idea oh and Don't forget the milk and cookies were leaving some reindeer food and treats for Glitter and buddy as well my dd insisted they needed presents too.
Jo22 November 2015 at 07:30
Our Christmas Eve traditions- include a big nice family dinner so that Christmas Day I'm not spending it cooking. My children (now 24,21, and 13) take turns reading a page in The Polar Express which we've done for 16 years now. They still love seeing who gets to read the last page and has bragging rights because of it. They all get a new pair of Jammie bottoms that they wear to bed so everyone gets to wake up in them. My oldest two always spend the night if possible. And we do the usual milk and cookies.