How to Start a Christmas Eve Tradition

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By HillbillyHeart
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Setting a nativity scene can be a wonderful Christmas Eve tradition

Christmas Eve is a great time to establish some traditions. This can be as somber or fun as you want it to be. Some families like to have the tradition of opening a gift of new pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve. Whatever your new tradition is make sure you practice it year after year so that it will become a treasured memory.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

craft supplies
Holy Bible
tradition ideas
recipe ingredients

Step 1

Plan ahead to make a craft with the family. This will be something that can be displayed for the rest of the holiday season and then stored to be displayed during future holiday seasons. An easy one to do is for every person participating to make an ornament for the tree. If you do not display a tree then you can make ornaments to hang from a mantel or window.
Step 2

Read chapter 2 of Luke in the Holy Bible. This tells the story of Jesus' birth and can really help your family to get grounded in the meaning of Christmas. Those present can take turns reading. The reading can be done by candlelight to make the story even more special and realistic.
Step 3

Make a recipe together. A good one would be something simple like 'monkey bread'. This is made with 3 cans of canned biscuits, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 tbsp. cinnamon, 1 cup brown sugar, 3/4 cup margarine and 2 tsp. water. Cut each biscuit into four pieces. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and roll each biscuit piece in this mixture before placing into a greased bundt pan. Mix the brown sugar, margarine and water until melted and boil this for 2 minutes. Pour this hot mixture over the biscuits and bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Let it cool a little before removing from the pan and you have a delicious help yourself treat to have with coffee for the adults and eggnog for the children.
Step 4

Set up a nativity scene to depict the birth of Jesus. This is fun for the young ones to do. If you don't have a nativity set you can collect different pieces from thrift shops and yard sales that can represent the people in the nativity story. Save these pieces until Christmas Eve so that they can be arranged together to tell the story of Jesus' birth.
Step 5

Make an easy punch to go with your Christmas Eve treats. This can be as simple as combining a box of green sherbet and 1/2 bottle of ginger ale. Let the sherbet thaw a little and then mix the ginger ale a little at a time until you have a slushy punch drink.
Step 6

Plan to go caroling with your family and friends. This is always a good activity to get the whole neighbor involved in the Christmas spirit. You can get together with participants and practice before hand or you can just wing it. Most everyone knows some Christmas songs like 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer', 'Silent Night, Holy Night', 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas', 'Ole Little Town of Bethlehem' and there are many others that are popular for caroling.
Step 7

Repeat your new holiday traditions year after year so that they will become something that people look forward to.