Christmas traditions give meaning to the holidays, helping families to forge strong ties.

This article details Christmas activities that are easy to implement and that can be passed down to future generations as treasured Christmas customs.

12 Memorable Christmas Traditions

1. An annual wreath-making party is a holiday activity that engenders the Christmas spirit. Guests bring cuttings from their evergreen trees and fasten these to wire rings. Wreaths can be decorated with small pine cones, candy canes, ribbons, and other materials. Dollar Stores stock an assortment of small ornaments that make good wreath decorations.
2. Gathering for a family portrait is a festive Christmas activity that can enrich the holidays. Some families decorate their front porches with evergreens and Christmas lights and assemble for a group photo. The picture is made into a personalized Christmas card that is printed off from a home computer. For a nostalgic touch, vintage costumes can be worn to reflect a by-gone area. Taking a yearly photo can become a fun Christmas tradition.
3. Creating new Christmas customs is easy. In modern times, a popular holiday activity involves packing a thermos of hot chocolate and driving around to enjoy the Christmas lights. In areas where municipalities award prizes for decorated homes and yards, the sights can be truly awe-inspiring.
4. Nostalgic Christmas cards often depict carollers. Some families have revisited this Christmas tradition by rehearsing Christmas songs and stopping by each house in the neighborhood carolling, as was done in times past.
5. In the week before Christmas, a Christmas poem or story can be read each night around the dinner table. Favorite stories and poems can be placed in a binder for use in succeeding years. This festive activity sets the mood in the days before Christmas.
6. Sharing the holidays with others can add greatly to Christmas memories. Creating another Christmas tradition can be as simple as including someone new at the dinner table each Christmas Eve.
7. Christmas activities add to the excitement of the season. One way of pushing the excitement up a notch is to place a small present next to each plate on Christmas Eve. The gifts are opened before or after the meal, setting the stage for the gift-giving on Christmas day.
8. Slipping some red and green candies under each family member's pillow is an easy-to-adopt Christmas custom that can be part of the merrymaking in the week before Christmas.
9. A family project that makes for a good Christmas tradition is the making of homemade Christmas ornaments. This festive activity is a creative way to decorate mantels and Christmas trees and the ornaments be given as Christmas gifts.
10. Attending a Christmas concert can become a fun yearly holiday activity, adding to the joy of the season.
11. Creating a Christmas scrapbook can help to commemorate the holidays and is a great way to preserve precious Christmas memories.
12. An enjoyable Christmas custom can be the making of a Christmas tree cake. A rectangle-shaped cake is baked and then cut on the diagonal in a zigzag pattern. The two flat sides are joined so that the zigzagged edges (the tree branches) point outwards. The Christmas cake is decorated with green icing. Smarties and tiny candy canes serve as tree decorations and red licorice is used to trim the tree.

Engaging in exciting Christmas activities helps to create enduring family Christmas traditions that put the "merry" back in Christmas.

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