Christmas traditions are handed down from generation to generation, but sometimes new ones can be especially meaningful to your family. Here are some wonderful traditions you may want to do this year.

WISH BOOK: This clever book will simplify Christmas shopping for the whole family. Using a medium-size notebook, made a divider for each person in the family. Each person's section includes a page for clothing sizes, items needed and items wanted.Decorate the notebook with fabric, wrapping paper, or contact paper. When Christmas (or birthday) present suggestions are needed, one glance at the book and you can select the perfect gift. Compare notes so several people don't buy the same gift.

Keep the notebook in a location accessible to all family members and use it year after year. Make year dividers at the end of the notebook to keep last year's pages. You'll enjoy looking back at them as the years pass.

STORY TIME: Read a favorite Christmas story together as a family after dinner or before going to bed each night in December.

ORNAMENT KEEPSAKE: Give each child an ornament every year. When they leave home and start their own traditions, they will already have the beginning of a collection.

NATIVITY PAGEANT: Put on a family nativity pageant, complete with the baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, wise men, camels, shepherds, donkey and the heavenly star. If your family is small, invite a neighbor family to join you.

CHRISTMAS ELVES: Each week in December, have each person draw the name of a different family member. Do secret acts of kindness for that person during the week.

View Comments

FAMILY CHRISTMAS BOOK: On separate pieces of paper, have each person record a favorite memory about each of the other family members. The written memory should be about something that occurred during the past year and might be a shared experience, a kindness done, a good attribute noticed or an anecdote.

Collect the papers and preserve them in your Family Christmas Book to savor in years to come.

TAPED STORIES: Personalize a storybook for a young child by recording it on tape. As you come to the end of each page, pause a moment and ring a bell or tap a glass with a spoon to signal that the child should turn the page.

PRESENTS: Rather than opening gifts in a grand melee, open one present at a time while everyone watches. It's sometimes fun to wrap something quite small in a very big box.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.