traditions...detailed

Cajun Christmas - Also known as Chinese Christmas, Yankee Swap, White Elephant Game

This is a great game for a party or a get-together. It brings the group together and is lots of fun. It can also help to replace the expensive swapping of gifts to everyone if you have a large family or if money is tight. Children will not understand it however and you should buy what you think they will want in advance and plan to give it to them during the game(same value).

Preparation: Each guest is to bring one wrapped gift of a pre-determined dollar amount. We always make it less than $5. Rules: All gifts (with no tags) are placed together. Slips of paper are numbered for each guest and randomly drawn so as to determine an order. First player will choose a gift from the stack. Open it and show it around. Person with #2 can choose a gift from the stack or they can take #1's gift. The process continues until everybody chooses a gift. The last person has the best number because they can literally choose any gift they want.

Rating: Medium. Downside is children's feelings need to be taken into account before the game is played and something should be brought for them. I enjoy this because it adds "something to do and laughter at sometimes awkward events". However, she "hates it". Why? Because someone steals her present! You may want to disallow children in the game!

German Pickle -

You can buy pretty glass pickles at Christmas stores or you can make one if you are a crafty person.

The pickle ornament is a favorite in Germany where the Christmas tree is supposedly decorated on Christmas eve. The pickle is the last ornament to be hung, with the parents hiding it in the Christmas tree among the other many ornaments. When the children were allowed to view the Christmas tree they would begin searching for the German pickle. The children knew that whoever found the pickle ornament first would receive an extra gift or money and would be the one to begin the unwrapping of the Christmas gifts.

Rating: Medium-Low. Easy to do. Kids might like this. Cost isn't bad. It is a game. Downside is that it is shortlived, only one person can win, and there really isn't a reason this occurs that we have learned about. Few know about it. Again, some might get their feelings hurt.

Kris Kringle- This tradition receives high marks for two reasons: 1. No out-of-pocket outlay has to be made to do it 2. It can work beautifully with Where's My Elf Hat! This is an idea that was passed along to us in a meeting. Sounds like a fun idea. At Thanksgiving or thereabouts everybody who will be involved puts their name on a slip of paper. Names are drawn but no one tells whose name they have drawn. From this date until Christmas, your job is to do simple, special things for the person whose name you drew. If it is someone who lives far away, you may have to be terribly creative. The idea is to do things secretively and sign it "Your Kris Kringle". On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day or whenever your family gets together, this will be the person that you buy or make a gift for. (Remember it is always a good idea to set a dollar limit for all family members.) Everyone is to sit and one by one they will share the different things that their Kris Kringle did for them and who they think this person is and why. After everyone has told their stories and made their individual guesses outloud, the real Kris Kringles will annouce who they each belong to.

Rating: Medium-High.

Advent Calendar -

These pop-up window calendars can be fun if you are a disciplined parent... or have a place to put your Advent Calendar that your child will see every morning. If you make your own calendar you may be more apt to use it daily. We've put some instructions together for you in the form of a pdf file. The calendar begins on December 1 and has 25 windows for the child to open. Behind each is a surprise. Some Advent calendars have pictures, some little prizes, and others have candy.

Rating: Low Medium. Hard to keep up with. Kids like in the beginning but may forget about unless parent is diligent with. Cost can be minimal or much higher depending on how fancy a calendar you get. The idea behind the advent calendar is fabulous but it doesn't allow for skipped days... you only feel guilt when you miss them and rapidly open the doors up. Everybody needs to try an advent calendar at some time.

Look at this Internet Calendar

Creche (Manger Scene)-

When you buy your creche, buy the holy family alone and buy the best you can because this can be a real investment. If you buy a good one, you may have it forever and pass it down through the generations... thus creating probably the finest tradition we have listed here. You can make a nice manger scene to enjoy through the season.

Rating - HIgh. Though this is probably my all time favorite of all Christmas traditions, on the kid-scale, it may not rate as high as Santa Claus. However, it is a forever tradition and is the reason behind the season.

Start a new Christmas tradition this year with Where's My Elf Hat!

We encourage you to shop the stores in your area first.