Learn about Christmas Morning Traditions for your kids that they will remember for years to come.
Simple Christmas Morning Traditions Your Family Will Never Forget
Christmastime is family time. It’s a time for families to enjoy each other’s company, relax, and make memories. It’s a time when we look forward to our family traditions, no matter how simple they may be, because they bring us together after a long and busy year.
As a parent, my favorite traditions are our Christmas morning traditions. Having Christmas morning traditions not only helps families to make memories; they also serve as transitions during a sometimes crazy Christmas morning routine.
With four kids, things can get a little crazy for us on Christmas morning. While their goal is to dive into the presents and tear all of them open (totally fun though, right?), I want them to take their time and remember what Christmas is all about and spend quality time as a family.
If you know me, you know I like to keep it simple and practical. Here are 3 simple Christmas morning traditions that anyone can use for their family.
Be sure to leave a comment below sharing your favorite Christmas morning traditions!
Christmas Music Alarm
Out of habit, I’m almost always awake before my kids every morning. It’s no different on Christmas morning: I wake up, have my coffee, shake the fog from my mom brain, and then wake up the kids.
Except, because it’s Christmas, I change it up a bit. Instead of going to their rooms quietly to rouse them from their slumber, I crank up the Christmas tunes.
When I was little my parents would always play Bing Crosby, but my kiddos are huge fans of Pentatonix, so I turn up the volume on my portable bluetooth speaker and play our Pentatonix Christmas playlist.
Even my grumpiest child wakes up happy when Christmas music is playing! They can’t all help but to wake up happy and excited! It really sets the mood for the whole day.
Christmas Morning Family Photos
When my siblings and I were kids, my parents would only let us go so far down the stairs on Christmas morning. Imagine all five (yes, five!) of us lined up, trying to get a peek of what was waiting for us downstairs! It really built up the anticipation of what we knew was coming, plus it kept us from tearing into the presents.
When my kids are all awake, I line them up on the stairs for the traditional Christmas morning photo. They’re all in their matching Christmas pajamas and beaming with excitement, so it’s pretty easy to snap a nice photo of them all together.
Someday they’ll appreciate seeing all of the photos from their childhood, and I hope they’re even inspired enough to recreate a few!
I love comparing each year and seeing them grow. It’s both heartwarming and bittersweet to see them all grow up so fast!
Christmas Morning Breakfast
Once the excitement from opening presents has died down, it’s time to eat! Our Christmas breakfast is more like a breakfast feast compared to what we usually have for breakfast!
Our breakfast menu consists of:
- Eggs
- Bacon
- Toast
- Cinnamon buns (with red and green sprinkles, of course)
- and a cup of hot cocoa!
Gotta have a little bit of sweet with the savory, right?
This breakfast is special, because we all sit down together to count our blessings and spend time together as a family. We usually don’t eat this meal together in the mornings since we’re all up at different times, so it’s nice to sit at the table all at the same time.
I like to keep breakfast festive, which is easy with our Re-Play Recycled red and green tableware!
Note: Hot cocoa has been cooled down with a little milk in these cups!
If you’ve been following me, you know my love for Re-Play Tableware.
Re-Play uses recycled HDPE plastic, which is the plastic used for milk jugs. HDPE doesn’t have chemicals found in other plastics, which means it is:
- BPA-free
- BPS-free
- PVC-free
- Phthalates-free
- Melamine-free
Each Re-Play product saves a certain number of milk jugs from ending up in a landfill. So, in my case for our Christmas breakfast, with 4 tumblers and 4 divided plates, we’re saving 16 milk jugs from the landfill! (And that doesn’t count all of the other fantastic Re-Play products we also have!)
These divided plates are great for our breakfast. It keeps everything separate and portions everything just right.
Many thanks to Re-Play for sending us these plates and cups for our Christmas morning traditions!
Be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram. A little birdie told me that they’re going to be unveiling new products and new ways to shop!
What Are Your Christmas Morning Traditions?
Share with us! What are your Christmas morning traditions? Is there one that is unique to your family? Leave a comment below!
Rachel L. Alba says
How heartwarming that was. It reminded me of when I was that small. My mother used to love watching us open our presents and I had dolls galore. Breakfast was also a big part of the day and so was Christmas dinner with some relatives. Merry Christmas, Marissa to all of you. I can’t get over how small Lia looked just 2 years ago.
Jackie says
I love the idea of waking everyone up with Christmas music! One of my favorite traditions is our Christmas morning breakfast. It’s our “family time” before leaving the house for the day.
Have a wonderful Christmas!
Amanda Stovall says
Love your traditions!!!
Marissa says
Thanks!
Stephanie Z says
You have some great Christmas traditions. The Christmas Music Alarm is a neat idea.
Andrew says
Heartwarming stories such as these are the real stuff of life. Memories, children, family, love.
I grew up yearning all year long for the warm lights and the crackling fire during the cold and snowy Christmas seasons in suburban Montreal. My sister and I would get our snacks and watch the classic Rudolph, Frosty, The Grinch and Merry Xmas Charlie Brown specials on TV every Christmas! When I was a teen, my father and I would drive down to the shelter on Christmas Eve and deliver bags of clothes and food. As a blessed dad of two wonderful boys, we love attending the Nativity service with live animals at a historic church in the city, and s’mores and apple cider are always around! The traditions of family are so special and so important.
Glynis says
My six children have always risen early on Christmas Day in our house and are allowed to open their Santa Sacks. After we get up stockings are opened( a tradition my Mum started with the kids when she was alive that I continued in her memory) and then we have breakfast. We go to church and return home to morning tea with shortbread, mince pies and Christmas cake. After morning tea. with the kids getting more and more excited, we open presents under the tree, in age order ,one gift at a time so everyone gets to see what everyone got and appropriate thanks given. Makes the whole gift opening last longer. Then its a big traditional Christmas lunch, with turkey, ham and beef and lots of roast veggies followed by pavlova as no one in my family likes Christmas pudding. The afternoon is spent relaxing and looking at gifts, snoozing or playing new games. Tea at night is left over meat and salads. Lots of lollies and nuts and savoury snacks abound throughout the day. Things have changed a little since the children have grown up but the stocking tradition and unwrapping of gifts by age order continues to this day even with the grandchildren
Marissa says
Glynis, that all sounds so wonderful! So much quality family time, it’s no wonder your kids have continued the tradition. Thanks for sharing!
Zoe Graves says
My parents (well…I mean Santa of course) would sneak into our rooms at night and leave our stockings on the end of our beds. In the morning we were allowed to go into each other’s rooms and go through all of our stocking loot, before waking our parents up and going downstairs. It was a nice start to the morning, and our stockings didn’t get lost in the craziness of presents under the tree. My parents later admitted that they did it because it bought them a little bit more sleep on Christmas morning since they were usually up late wrapping presents and assembling dollhouses, etc. It was genius. I remember it fondly and hope to continue that tradition with my children.
Marissa says
I love that idea, especially the extra sleep part! lol It must have been such a fun treat for you as kids.
Scarlet says
I love the Christmas morning photos especially seeing them year by year! Great tradition to have.