20 Simple, Cheap, Christmas Traditions to Try

1. Open Christmas cards at dinner table and pray for each family who sent one. 2. Buy, assemble, or cut down a Christmas tree with someone you love while eating

something special. 3. Deliver cookies or bread to the neighbors 4. Light advent candles at dinner – even if you don’t have time or energy to read a

verse or a devotional or hang a special ornament that night. Sometime (most of the time), the flickering light is enough.

5. Make a rough schedule for your Christmas movies and decide who to watch each one with. Watch some with your kids. Others with your significant other. Others with a couple of friends. For others, throw a big viewing party. Make each of these movies an event of its own.

6. Eat a simple dinner on Christmas Eve and talk about the simple birth of Christ 7. Keep a box of favorite Christmas children’s books on hand and read them aloud

with people you love. 8. Have a letter-writing night and write hand-written notes to faraway friends,

relatives, soldiers, and others who have impacted your life. 9. Drive around and look at the Christmas lights. 10. Host a fondue night and do all the courses. Enjoy the beauty of eating slowly

and talking until the candles burn all the way down. 11. String popcorn and cranberries. 12. Go to a live nativity. 13. Have a family Christmas photo contest throughout the month. At the end, award

prizes for funniest photo, most creative photo, most Santas in a photo, etc, 14. Crank up the Christmas music in the car and sing along. 15. Make a beloved family meal, cookie or holiday treat. 16. See a local play or pageant. Bring flowers for one of the actors or for the

director. 17. Get out the craft supplies or make a batch of salt dough and have each member

of your family (or group of friends) make an ornament that reflects their year. Not crafty? Instead, buy a pack of empty, glass bulbs and fill one with the highlights and most memorable moments of the year.

18. Make a video on your phone of your family or group of friends singing a Christmas song, burn it to a DVD, and mail it to a friend or relative whom you haven’t seen in a long time.

19. Jot down potential trivia questions as you watch favorite Christmas shows and play Christmas Movie Trivia at your large family gathering.

20. Fall asleep with family or friends under the Christmas tree.