Five Simple Family Christmas Traditions in Our Home

I love traditions that get richer year after year. The season feels more special when there are specific gatherings and moments that we get to prepare for. I thought of 5 simple Christmas traditions in our home that I come back to year after year. Many of these stem from childhood traditions and others from my husband’s family traditions. Regardless, these simple family Christmas traditions wrap the entire Christmas season up, making it one of my favorite times of the year.

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A Polish Christmas Eve

My husband is 100% Polish and has strong Polish traditions, especially at Christmas. I am not Polish, and came into his family loving this rich Christmas Eve tradition. We gather with his whole family to celebrate this beautiful feast.

oplatek (A thin wafer)

Before the meal, we say a few prayers and each person gets an Oplatek, which is a thin wafer with an imprint of the Nativity scene on it. Then we break bread with each member of the family. We each break off a small piece of the wafer and then hug, share our love for each other, and mend any wrongs from the year. It is my favorite part of the Christmas gathering. We have a huge family, so this can take some time to greet everyone! It is special to have this time to connect with each person in the family.

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The Food

As I said earlier, my husband’s family is 100% Polish. These are the traditions of how they celebrate Christmas Eve. Growing up, in my family, we always had a nice steak dinner with mashed potatoes and a vegetable with bread. Then, when I attended my first Christmas Eve with my fiance, I was surprised to see that there was no meat at the meal! This wasn’t just forgetful planning, it was an intentional tradition. In the Polish Christmas Eve tradition, you fasted from meat as a way to honor the animals that were present at Jesus’ birth. When I learned this, I thought this is such a beautiful tradition. Instead of eating meat, we eat fish, perogies, nalesniki (crepes), vegetables, potatoes, and usually a lot of Christmas cookies.

Ho-Ho-Ho and Gifts

This is a tradition that my husband remembers growing up. His Wuja’s (uncles) would all compete in a ho-ho-ho content. Essentially, they each give their best Ho-Ho-Ho, and the children would vote. Whoever had the best Ho-Ho-Ho would wear the Santa had and be Santa for the duration of the giving of gifts. All of the presents are piled high, and Santa sits in front of them all. With help from a few little elves, the children, of course, will bring packages to Santa. The person comes to sit on Santa’s lap to open their present. One by one, we open the gifts under the tree.

Christmas Morning Breakfast

As a child, my 6 siblings and I would wake up Christmas morning to the sound of music, more on that tradition later, as well as stockings filled by the fireplace and a beautiful breakfast table fit for a king. Maybe that is why my mom set the table like she did growing up, to have it fit for a king. I have continued the tradition in our home, and it is one of my favorite parts to prepare.

I set out my Christmas tablecloth, special dishes, poppers, Christmas mugs, and a beautiful centerpiece with some representation of the Nativity. I have a few statues and Icons I rotate through, or we set up part of our Nativity scene in the center of the table.

The food is also an important part of the morning. Cinnamon rolls just seem like the perfect Christmas morning treat. With some fresh fruit and scrambled eggs.

Reading the Gospel

My dad would always start our meal with a reading from one of the Gospels. He would read the Nativity story so that we could reflect on and enter into the true meaning of Christmas. This is another tradition we have continued in our home before we enjoy our Christmas breakfast.

Visiting Family

We never traveled far for Christmas, but we always were traveling around visiting family on Christmas Day. Both sets of grandparents lived about 30 minutes from our home growing up. We would visit both sides and eat with both sides of the family. Now as an adult, with my children, we still travel to visit my one set of grandparents who are still living. All of my cousins and their children are also there which is a fun and exciting gathering. It is a blessing to have so much family so close to us, that we don’t have to travel far to see them.

Music on Christmas Morning

Now, back to the music on Christmas morning. My dad loves music and has playlists for every liturgical celebration. I think my favorite playlist he has is his Easter playlist, but Christmas is a good second! For my entire life, it seems like music has been a huge part of it. Music is nostalgic and can create a specific atmosphere so easily as well as enrich memories. Here are some of my favorite Christian Christmas songs we play loudly in our home on Christmas morning and the days following Christmas.