Covid parenting is HARD! But the thing I keep reminding myself and the girls is that life is not canceled! And the holidays are not canceled! So I am making active effort to not skip over the things we would have done with extended family, and perhaps starting a few new ones. I have this post with a bunch of things to do but I thought I'd share some traditions that would make the next few days special.
Hot cocoa & ride to see your neighborhood lights!
Make & decorate cookies or cupcakes (no shame in pre0made cookie dough or boxed cupcakes, they won't remember that part, they will remember the togetherness, giggles and snacking on decoration!
We did a December first gifts with new pj's, a treat and an ornament but you could also do this on Christmas Eve!
Decorate a gingerbread house! Some make them, some (like us) buy them and build/decorate. Sooooo much fun. Graham crackers with frosting works too!
Make some ornaments, we are making salt dough ones with hand prints but these wooden ones were so fun to paint, and you can also just make some cute homemade ones, bonus points if you can print our a photo and use it!
Homemade is awesome but we also love to buy a yearly family ornament, This years has masks on everyone and I LOVE IT.
We usually would visit Santa, and I keep them framed to take out during Christmas but this year there is a blow up one on our street that I am going to have our girls pose with!
Homemade gifts! Oh gosh I love this, I started a new tradition of making something for the girls. Going with hand painted painted little wooden loose parts toys, and some embroidered bookmarks for the girls.
Make reindeer food and cookies for Santa!
Plan a fun Christmas Eve or Christmas breakfast! I have some biscuits that I am going to make into donuts on Christmas Eve with fruit for just us, and then a big brunch with everyone on Christmas Day.
Make cards for our neighbors! We may not know many of them as this is a new place to us, during a pandemic but we have waved plenty and making little special handmade cards to put in mail boxes has been SO fun.
Get into Christmas PJS early, pop some popcorn, make a dinner snack platter (I put fruit, cheese crackers, and raw veggies on a wooden cutting board) and put on a Christmas movie a few times this month, nothing like disrupting our usual routine to make it special. We also love doing this as game night!
Make a Christmas card video! Put on your Sunday bests and record a little video saying Happy Holidays and taking turn sharing what you are thankful for. This is a new one for us and will be great to look back on.
Learn how other countries celebrate! We have this book but you can easily google!
Make decoration for the kids rooms! Paper snowflakes or paper garland works so well!
Print out the words to Christmas songs and sing/have a dance party. Great for reading practice and actually I was surprised at how many songs I only knew parts of the words too!
Sort through toys and donate any well loved toys to a shelter or community center for kiddos in need. We do this every year to make room for other toys but to also teach the girls about giving.
Make cookies or any treats for your local hospital, fire department or police department as a thank you for all that they do!
Create a snack basket with waters or gatorade for the delivery folks that are making Christmas possible! We do this every year and I showed it on my Instagram. Use what you have an know they will be grateful.
Have your kids pick out and wrap a gift for their sibling/siblings! We are doing this for the 3rd time and they have so much fun. (last year was the first time Ami full out picked the gifts and wrapped!)
There is honestly no better time to do something that is to purely bring you JOY, so set aside the cleaning list and leave the dishes in the sink to start one of these sweet traditions. Thinking of you all and grateful for each one of you that come here to read my ramblings!
Three more sleeps!!
xoxo
Natalie
Comments