How to do 25 Days of Christmas

Christmas of 2018 didn’t go as I planned.

My husband and I were in the middle of building a new house that was supposed to be finished in November of that year. With high hopes we packed up all our stuff, sold our previous home, and moved in with my brother-in-law and his family for the last few months of the building process.

We excitedly dreamed of moving into our dream house around Thanksgiving and then happily celebrating Christmas together in our brand new home.

But then we got the terrible news: big delays, big problems, and a big chunk of money that we had to shell out to fix it. This was by no means our first or last problem while building this house (that’s a whole different story), but our biggest, most difficult one occurred right then in November of 2018.

We didn’t get our house by Thanksgiving. We didn’t get our house by Christmas. We didn’t get our house by New Years, Valentine’s, or even St. Patrick’s Day. I hope you can imagine our frustration.

But there we were, nearing the end of November of 2018, houseless and living in our brother’s basement with no end in sight.

Christmas was ruined.

Or so I thought.

Yes, it was indeed a horribly difficult time for me and my husband, those long months when we were building our house. It’s not a time I ever wish to repeat. But there, that November, I made a choice. I didn’t want to wreck Christmas with my own pity party, moping around and feeling sorry for myself. House or no house, it was my second baby’s first ever Christmas and I didn’t want to forever remember it as being the absolute worst.

I decided to make that Christmas our best Christmas ever for the sake of my boys, as small as they were (at the time we had two children aged two years and ten months).

So I made a plan. I’d seen plenty of Christmas Bucket Lists and Advent Calendar Ideas and that year I decided to give it a try. I decided that we would celebrate Christmas, in all its glory, for the entire month of December and have 25 Days of Christmas.

And that’s exactly what we did, right there in my brother-in-law’s basement. I planned out the entire month, day by day and week by week, with a special something every single day for my boys to enjoy and to start to learn about Christmas.

Our 25 Days of Christmas made that Christmas season beautifully enjoyable and saved the holiday for our little family. Now I look back at December of 2018 as a month of excitement, fun, and precious memories we made and now cherish, despite those other hard things going on.

In fact, we enjoyed our 25 Days of Christmas so much that my husband and I made it an annual tradition. This year, 2023, we are preparing for our six consecutive year celebrating 25 Days of Christmas. Its something that my kids look forward to for the entire month of December and it’s been a special family tradition we all love.

So if you’re looking to give your Christmas season an extra special spark, I suggest celebrating 25 Days of Christmas. Read on and let me help you out with that.

Don’t stress yourself out!

Usually when I tell people that we do this, their first reaction is of shock. How can I do so much? Isn’t it so overwhelming? Who has time for something like that? Gosh, don’t I have a life?

Uh, yeah—being with my family, that’s my life.

But I’ll tell you the honest truth: no, it’s not overwhelming—it’s delightfully magical and I love it.

Does it take planning and prep work? Yes, absolutely. But is it worth it? Yes, absolutely.

Furthermore, I assume that people project their feelings of stress and overwhelm onto me because they think 25 Days of Christmas means that every single day in December must be a huge production and a massive party.

Nope. Not in the slightest. Nope, nope, nope.

These daily activities are most often very simple, already part of my traditions and plans for the month, and short enough for even my toddlers to enjoy—they are, after all, the reason I’m doing this, and they have short attention spans.

More to this point, remember the entire point of celebrating Christmas: to remember our Savior Jesus Christ and the miraculous gifts He gave to us, including eternal families.

So as you begin planning your 25 Days of Christmas, keep this in mind. Pick activities and outings that will remind you of the Savior, bring your family closer together, invite the spirit of Christmas into your home, and create lasting memories for your precious little ones.

DO NOT pick activities based on their extravagance, cost, social status, or social-media-post-ability. If these are your motivations, then you’re coming at all of Christmas the entirely wrong way and you’ve already doomed yourself to a month of stress, overwhelm, and fatigue.

I repeat: ONLY do activities that fulfill these four purposes:

1. Remind you of the Savior Jesus Christ
2. Bring your family closer together
3. Invite the spirit of Christmas into your home
4. Create lasting memories for your children

So get those initial fears and stresses right out of your mind and let me help you give your family a truly delightful 25 Days of Christmas. Let’s dive right in!

Tips Before You Start:

Start planning in November.

I’m serious. Start marking your calendar for definite events and pondering activities you’d like to do. Make plans with your friends and family for parties, gather craft supplies, research local events, plan games, buy tickets, and get everything ready. This way you’re not scrambling and going crazy that first week of December. Do all that in November so that December can be a peaceful, happy family time of actually doing those fun Christmas activities.

Remember what I said earlier: activities don’t have to be all-day, huge-production events.

You’ll have some big parties and events, sure, but such big events should be few and far between. Don’t wear yourself out, or your poor kiddos, by planning huge excursions every single day for a month. Plan lots of recovery days with smaller, in-home activities in between the big parties; everyone will be happier that way.

Watch Christmas movies sparingly.

I’m not saying don’t watch Christmas movies, far from it! We usually watch lots of Christmas movies throughout December, both little kiddie ones that my boys like and lots of grownup ones that my husband and I like.

What I’m saying is this: don’t over-plan movies as your daily 25 Days of Christmas activities. Movies, in me experience, are best used as last-minute backups when something else falls through, because guaranteed those days will happen.

Or let Grandma (or your choice of babysitter) enjoy Christmas movies with her grandbabies on nights when you and hubby are going out for adults-only parties. Then the kids can still enjoy a fun Christmasy thing while you and your husband are out, and they’ll make happy memories with Grandma to boot!

When you do choose to watch movies, make it meaningful! Make treats, cuddle under a blanket, and talk about the themes in the movie. What did the Grinch realize about Christmas that made his heart grow three sizes?

Incorporate events and traditions that you already know you’re going to be doing.

No need to reinvent the wheel. List all of your most favorite traditions, and start there.

Look for local-specific events going on near you.

Check your city’s events webpage for things going on at your local library, parks, and community centers. Ask friends and neighbors (or check what they’ve marked “interested” on Facebook) for ideas about what they are doing and where.

Have a specific plan ahead of time.

Don’t just mark your calendar, “Go to a Christmas lights display,” but know which display you want to see, how much it will cost, and what the address is.

Technically I only plan for 23 Days of Christmas—Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations are already accounted for.

We always have a big Danish Christmas Eve party with my husband’s family and then on Christmas Day open presents and have a Christmas feast with my family. I don’t plan anything else for those days.

Remember, this is supposed to be fun!

If you’re killing yourself trying to make this work, you’re doing something wrong. Step back and remember the point of all this. Give your kids happy Christmas memories to look back on, not memories of Mommy ripping her hair out and Mr. Hyde-ing into a Momster.

I can’t stress this enough: we’re not doing this to try to keep up with the super-Pinterest mom online or to boost your Instagram likes. Your kids don’t care how many likes your post gets; they care about spending quality time with their mama. That’s the point of all this.

How to Plan 25 Days of Christmas

Step One: Make a list of any and all possible things you want to do as Christmas activities.

Don’t write strictly 25 things, but include some extra ideas to use as backups for when plans fall through. Notice that I said when plans fall through, not if. Plan for some things to not go according to plan, and ironically things will run smoother.

Simultaneously plan your budget. The following list of suggestions is filled with ideas that range in cost from free to pricey-pricey. Know beforehand what you’re willing to spend on things like tickets for concerts or lights shows, professional pictures, crafting supplies, baking ingredients, etc.

Remember that expensive doesn’t mean better. Your kids will also cherish their memories of cuddling with you on the couch to read the Nativity story from the Bible, and that’s free!

Step Two: Organize your list into three categories—

First, Set-in-Stone Dates:

These are non-reschedule-able events such as family or office parties, local events, concerts, etc.

Second, Suggested Dates:

These are a little more flexible but have a general time frame in which they should be done. A few examples:

I like to do more Christ-centered things on Sundays such as reading the Nativity story in the Bible and watching the Nativity movie(s).

I do crafts or make ornaments near the beginning of the month so we can display and enjoy them.

Near the end of the month is when I plan to wrap gifts, which gives me plenty of time to finish shopping and wait for packages to arrive. I also make treats closer to Christmas Day so we can eat and enjoy them during our festivities.

I also suggest you visit Christmas light displays or other public places on the weekdays when they’re less crowded; plan your weekends with stay-at-home activities.

Third, Flexible Dates:

These are events that can be easily done any day and any time. Fill this category with your movies, sledding, crafts, treat nights, games, etc. All of your extra backup activities, the ones you can whip out on the fly, should go in this category as well.

I also suggest gathering whatever supplies (crafts, games, books, ingredients, etc.) you need for these activities very first in the month and have them on hand so you can easily pull out whatever you need on the day-of instead of scrambling to the store that morning.

Step Three: Plug things into your calendar where they fit best, starting at the top of that previous list and working your way down.

As much as possible, space out your biggest outings, events, and parties to roughly two every week (in the name of not overreaching yourself, I really wouldn’t try for more than three big things in one week or you’ll wear yourself out and create cranky kiddos). Pad these biggest things with your smallest, stay-at-home activities as recovery days.

Step Four: Have a general plan for the entire month, but nail down your specifics at the beginning of each week.

Every Sunday I look forward at my three categories. What is for sure set in stone that week? What fell through last week and needs to be rescheduled? What supplies do I need to have ready? What new activities do I need to schedule?

Things will change throughout the month; you’ll get invited to new events, other plans will get cancelled, and plenty of other things will come and go as the month goes on. So keep up on this weekly check-in on Sundays to keep things rolling smoothly.

Step Five: Assume that some days simply won’t happen as you wanted.

Kids get sick, your husband has to work late, the weather is bad, or for whatever reason under the sun (sometimes you just have an off day—I get it!) things just don’t go as planned. Don’t beat yourself up—this is perfectly normal. In fact, if your month goes 100% perfectly as you wanted, then I want to find you and shake your hand, you Imaginary Master Mama!

As in all parenting matters, expect the unexpected and plan on the unplanned!

Step Six: Actually do it!

Enjoy your extra family together time. Do your Christmas activities and love it. Focus on the togetherness and the happiness. Make an effort to bring the Christmas spirit into your home and to make memories as a family.

Step Seven: Take a daily picture of each activity and make a collage at the end of the month. It will be a treasure!

Now that you know how to celebrate 25 Days of Christmas, what should you actually do to celebrate? Oh, have I got some ideas for you!

Here are my best ideas and suggestions for Christmas activities. All of these are things I either have done or plan to do in the future. There are even more ideas out there floating around the internet, but these are my favorite go-to activities around the holidays, even if they don’t always make it on my calendar as official 25 Days of Christmas activities.

They are divided into two categories: Set-in-Stone Dates and Flexible Dates.

25 Days of Christmas Activities

SET-IN-STONE DATES

Attend Your Workplace Christmas Party. Be sure to check well in advance if your office party will be kid friendly or not and get a sitter if necessary.

Attend a Local Community Christmas Event. These can be just about anything and will take some researching and planning. Check your local library, community centers, mall, shopping centers, etc. for Christmas-themed events. They are most likely set for a specific date and time, so be prepared for that. Here are some examples of things we’ve done in the past:

• One year my local library had a Gingerbread-House Contest and put the winners on display, which was way cool to go see (and it was free!). These weren’t like little typical gingerbread cottages, but gingerbread castles and mansions, which was really fun. The University Place Mall in Orem, Utah has also a similar gingerbread house contest, but sometimes they display the winners in November instead of December, so check online before you plan on this one.
• Our city of Eagle Mountain hosts a Christmas Village every year at a large park. Festivities include an outdoor tree lighting, pictures with Santa Claus, live reindeer on display, and various food and dessert trucks to choose from. It is lots of fun for the little ones, especially seeing the reindeer which is quite unique, but plan on a crowd!
• Attend a Christmas craft market. My sister-in-law makes and sells crafts and often sets up shop in several of these markets throughout the year, particularly in December. I see and hear her advertise for them regularly and I usually go to at least one. Besides supporting her (check out her adorable gnomes at Sew Beyond Beautiful!) there are always lots of interesting and unique crafts out there and I’ve definitely found some gems over the years. Plus I enjoy supporting local artists and getting unique and personalized décor for my home.

Have a Christmas Party with Friends or Family. This will require previous planning with friends and family to schedule a definite date on the calendar. The following are my personal favorite set-in-stone Christmas parties:

• Christmas Scones and Video Games on “Christmas Adam.” Many years ago my older brother jokingly named December 23^rd “Christmas Adam” because “Adam came before Eve” (it’s a Bible joke, get it?) and my family adopted the silly term ever since. Shortly after I got married, I wanted a fun way for my new hubby to bond with my brothers (who are all younger than us) and so we invited them over to make scones on “Christmas Adam.” We had so much fun with it that the tradition stuck. So every December 23^rd my brothers come over for scones and then they all play video games late into the night (what better way for guys to bond?). They’re super noisy and boisterous. It’s a hoot. Who would have thought that such a simple game as Bomberman could cause such a ruckus?
• Friends’ Reunion Christmas Party. Way back when I was in high school, my friend hosted our first ever friends’ Christmas party and we had a gift exchange, played silly games, and drank hot cocoa. A new tradition was born! Now, years later, even though we’ve grown up and our lives have taken different paths, we still try to keep up this annual Christmas party. The party has changed a lot through the years and it’s a much simpler affair these days—fewer games and gifts, more chatting, reconnecting, and reminiscing. It’s something I look forward to every December.
• Our Playgroup Kiddo Christmas Party. Speaking of my old friends, a few of us have kids all really close in age, so we have a regular playgroup for our kiddos, which includes every December a Playgroup Christmas party together for our little ones, usually with Christmas games, treats, and play time. This year our kids are old enough that we’re going to try a white-elephant gift exchange for them. Wish us luck!
• Extended Family Christmas Parties. My husband’s extended family used to have a huge family party on Christmas Eve every year. However, his family has grown too big to keep it up in the same way, so in recent years we’ve implemented a big family Christmas party earlier in the month and in a church building instead of at someone’s house (seriously, we sometimes had upwards of forty people crammed into one house and that just doesn’t work). And now this new tradition is a big hit, and one that we hope continues for years to come! We usually have a big dinner, take pictures, make a craft, and then all the little grandkiddies and cousins perform in a talent show which is tons of fun. And it frees up Christmas Eve to be smaller and simpler, which is another plus.
• Ward Christmas Party. As I’ve said many times, I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. My church is organized geographically into wards and it is traditional for individual wards to host a Christmas party for its congregation. Depending on your ward, specific activities for these parties may vary widely. I’ve been to some where the children perform a live Nativity, or sometimes Santa Claus makes an appearance for photo ops, or sometimes the local high school choir comes to perform. Other times it’s a big dinner or a cookie swap. Whatever is planned, this is a fun opportunity to get to know your neighbors and ward members.

See A Christmas Carol at Hale Center Theater. Hale is a vastly popular community theater here in Salt Lake and every December they perform A Christmas Carol. My parents took my brothers and I to see it years ago and I remember loving it and have wanted to go back ever since. I’m waiting for my boys to be old enough to not only sit through a play, but to also enjoy and understand it. In the meantime, my husband and I talk every now and then about getting a sitter and making it a Christmas date night, but we keep having too many little nursing babies. Also, if this is on your list, plan on shelling out your hard-earned cash for tickets and buying them WELL IN ADVANCE, like start checking in October and November because shows are limited and tickets sell out quickly—I warned you it’s vastly popular. (Seriously–I’m working on this blog post on November 1st and I just checked the website for this year and it’s totally sold out already! Maybe next year.)

See a Christmas Concert. This can be as cheap or as expensive as you like. Some suggestions include:

• A high school choir concert. Usually free or very cheap, which is a plus. This is especially meaningful if you have a family member singing in the choir whom you get to go see and support.
• See a performance at the Assembly Hall in Temple Square. Combine this event with your already-planned trip downtown to see the lights. They schedule free, short concerts every hour for your listening pleasure, both at the Assembly Hall and at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It’s good for your wallet and good for your little ones who will probably only sit still for a short while. Performers are usually high school or university choirs from the surrounding area. You can find a schedule online of who is singing and when, but I bet you won’t be disappointed no matter who you see perform—they’re all really great!
• The Utah Symphony at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City. This one will be pricey, obviously. But it’s very fancy and very classy and makes for a fun evening. It’s not a great choice for the little ones, though; get a sitter for that night.
• The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square Christmas Concert (previously known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir). This is another downtown Salt Lake City event, and if memory serves, you have to sign up for their raffle a few months (yes, months) in advance. But on the plus side, these tickets are free if you get picked. I’ve been to two of these concerts in my life and both times they were incredible and featured a special celebrity guest performer. If this interests you, start checking for tickets well in advance. There is also an age limit and little ones aren’t allowed, so plan on getting a sitter that night for your kiddos and make it a classy date night for you and hubby.

Take Professional Pictures with Santa Claus. For each of my babies’ first Christmases I made a point to get professional Christmas pictures taken, and these style of Santa pictures are my absolute favorite! But here’s the big surprise: that’s not actually Santa, but it’s Mom in a Santa suit! Not only do these make for adorable pictures, but it helps Baby be comfortable and happy to be held by Mom in a red suit rather than a stranger. Or these Santa pictures look incredible with any age, not only babies! I get these pictures done by a company called FotoFly, although I’ve seen plenty of other individual photographers offer similar pictures.

Visit Santa Claus. This one is set-in-stone because depending on where you go, you’ll most likely need an appointment beforehand. Even if you don’t need an exact appointment, locations will only host Santa on specific dates at specific times, so do your research and mark your calendar! My husband’s workplace offers family pictures with Santa and Mrs. Claus every year, but they require you to sign up for a specific time slot, which is why this event is set-in-stone for us. Notice that visiting Santa is a separate experience than the previous pictures of Mom dressed in the Santa suit; as my kids get older, this specific visit is also a time to talk with Santa and tell him what you’d like for Christmas, which is super special for the kids…after they are old enough to understand what’s going on of course, otherwise you’ll just get silly crying pictures like us!

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Watch the LDS First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and every December the leaders of my church have a special broadcast service where they speak about Jesus Christ and Christmas, usually on the first Sunday in December. It is broadcast online and you can watch live or later. It also features musical numbers by the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square. Grab some hot cocoa and cookies and curl up with your family to relax, think about our Savior, and relish that happy Christmas spirit.

FLEXIBLE DATES

Build Christmas Puzzles.

Decorate for Christmas. [Suggested: early in the month.] We put up our tree on the day after Thanksgiving, so come December this is already done and therefore doesn’t count toward our 25 Days. But my mom isn’t as eager as we are, so we often go help put up her decorations in early December, and my kids absolutely love helping Grandma decorate her Christmas tree.

Decorate Gingerbread Houses. There are two ways to do this one. First, you can make mini gingerbread houses with graham crackers. Making these cute mini houses is actually a Thanksgiving tradition in my husband’s family, and my kids love decorating their little houses after Thanksgiving dinner. OR you can buy a gingerbread house kit and build and decorate your own. My boys LOVE decorating this big gingerbread house and it’s a highlight every year.

Pro Tip: Get the gingerbread house kit from Costco because it’s already assembled into a house, which saves you all the headache and misery of having to build your house only to watch it collapse every few minutes whenever your kiddos try to push candy on it too hard. The Costco gingerbread house is prebuilt and sturdy enough to survive my three rambunctious and excitable boys, so you know its built solid!

Deliver Christmas Gifts to the Neighbors. Load up your kids in the wagon and go for a family walk (all bundled up, of course) around the neighborhood to deliver your paper plates of goodies.

Do a Winter Sport. Do this as weather permits, obviously, so plan a few backup ideas in case this one falls through. If this kind of thing tickles your family’s fancy, there are lots of fun options, either free or expensive, and either for little kids or older ones.

• Go ice skating. Outdoor places are usually cheaper, but the downside is that they’re also usually smaller, colder, and sometimes less kept up. I prefer skating at the Olympic Oval in Kearns, but it costs a little more. That is, if my husband liked skating, which he doesn’t—I’m saving this activity for something to do with my kids far in the future on a day that Dad is gone at work.
• Go sledding. Obviously this activity is free, but more dependent on the weather. Remember to plan a backup activity just in case there isn’t enough snow for this. Personally, we like going up the canyon to find good sledding spots.
• Go skiing or snowboarding, as money and skill allow, of course. I loved snowboarding when I was in middle and high school and still have my board and bindings stored away in my basement for that magical day when I get the chance to go again and share this fun sport with my kids, but that’s far in the future. My life these past years has been dominated with new babies, and pregnancy and snowboarding simply don’t mix well.
• Go tubing at Soldier Hollow. There is a place in Heber Valley called Soldier Hollow that hosts all sorts of events throughout the year (it’s famous for hosting some Olympic events during the 2002 Winter Olympics). In the winter it is transformed into a massive tubing hill with a tow rope and all the works. It is an absolute blast, but it gets really expensive really quickly.

Go to a Christmas Lights Display. There are tons of these around. Seriously, hop on Google or ask around; guaranteed you’ll find something close to you. Being in Utah, I’ll list the most popular around here:

• Going to Temple Square in downtown Salt Lake City is hugely popular (and free!). But expect about a hundred bazillion other people to be there on the weekends. My suggestion: try to go early in the month, on a weeknight, and early in the evening (lights turn on at 6:00 but the crowds won’t start to really bombard the place until about 7:30 or so, in my experience).
• Thanksgiving Point in Lehi puts on an amazing Christmas lights display, called Luminaria but the tickets to get in can be a bit much. Get tickets in advance, because it will definitely fill up as you get closer to Christmas.
• Draper makes a really amazing “Tree of Life” display at the Draper City Park for Christmas that’s totally worth a visit. And it’s free!
• In South Jordan (the last time I checked) there is the Christmas in Color drive-through lights display. Again, expect to shell out a pretty penny for this one. My then-boyfriend-now-husband and I went to one of these when we were dating and it was really fun, but definitely expensive.
• Many cities, including my Eagle Mountain, post special Christmas display homes on their websites. This is when people super decorate their homes with mega displays of Christmas lights and then put up their address for you to come by and see. You can vote online for your favorite house. This makes for an easy, laid-back evening of driving around town and enjoying a variety of displays from the warmth and comfort of your own car. I know Saratoga Springs does something similar; check if your city does too!

Lego Christmas Building Day. We love Legos in our house and so every December we set aside a day to create some Christmas-themed Lego builds that we can then display for the rest of the month. We have a few actual Christmas Lego sets that we put together, but we also use our imaginations and create our own Christmas builds. I’ve also searched on Pinterest for Christmas Lego ideas and there are tons of homemade instructions and inspiration that we look through every year. This is a favorite Christmas tradition here at our house and one my boys particularly look forward to. Pro Tip: Organize your Legos beforehand and set aside all the red, green, and white pieces; it just makes finding pieces so much faster.

Make a Christmas Craft or Homemade Ornament. Pace yourself here. Just because you found a Pinterest article titled, “50 Christmas Kids Crafts” doesn’t mean you have to make 50 freaking craft projects. Pick just one, for goodness sakes! And be sure to pick something that is both easy and ability-appropriate for your child; don’t expect your two-year-old to be able to paint delicate snowman faces onto his handprint.

Pro Tip: As a young mother of toddlers, I’ve learned that a craft for my little ones typically means I spend twice as much time prepping, finishing, and cleaning up as it takes for my toddlers to actually do the craft. I enjoy crafting myself and look forward to this kind of thing, but that doesn’t negate the extra work that I need to consider when picking and scheduling crafts. If in doubt, always err to the side of simple.

Make Christmas Treats. The possibilities here are endless, so pick just a few of your favorites. But note that some of these need to be done near the end of the month, like baking cookies for Santa and making Christmas candy, so these treats can be eaten and enjoyed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Plan accordingly.

• Bake cookies for Santa. Obviously do this later in the month so they are still good for Christmas Eve.
• Make Christmas fudge. This is my mom’s specialty she passed down to me and is a family favorite—it’s not Christmas without homemade fudge! She usually makes multiple batches of fudge throughout December (and for Thanksgiving in November too) and we have no problem gobbling it up because it’s so stinking delicious! Some years, when she’s in the mood, she’ll make fudge for neighbor gifts too and we’ll spend a day or two prepping Tupperware containers and stirring endless batches of evaporated milk with sugar–it’s quite the arm workout. Making Christmas fudge with my mom has always been one of my most cherished Christmas memories and traditions and it’s something I plan to continue for the rest of my life. What’s that, you ask? You want a copy of our Famous Fullmer Family Fudge recipe? I’d give it to you, but then I’d have to kill you. Google your own, lesser fudge recipe, you uncultured swine!
• Make Christmas candy. This is a tradition that I adopted from my paternal grandma, who always makes a huge variety of homemade Christmas candy for the holidays. When I was a teenager, my grandparents decided to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and we had to go without Grandma’s candy for a couple years. So what did I do? Before they left, I asked her to teach me how to make it myself! I enjoyed making it so much that I’ve made my own Christmas candy every year since. They make great friend/neighbor/teacher gifts or party appetizers. I always make chocolate-dipped and caramel-dipped pretzels, peanut butter balls, and Oreo truffles.
• Decorate Christmas sugar cookies.
• Have a hot cocoa bar. Invite friends or family for this one and set out a variety of hot cocoa flavors and mix-ins. This is a great activity to combine with another, such as reading the Nativity story from the Bible or watching a Christmas movie.

Play a Christmas Game. Like crafting, your choices for this one vary hugely, but choose wisely based on your kids’ ages and abilities. You can search Christmas games online galore, but there are tons of games already out there that you can alter just slightly to give it a Christmas theme. These are a my simplest and most-successful Christmas game ideas:

• Christmas carol charades or pictionary. Write down as many Christmas songs as you can think of on strips of paper. Divide into teams, set a timer, and take turns acting out or drawing as many songs as you can before the timer stops. Obviously kids need to be able to independently read for this one.
• Christmas Bingo. Search on Pinterest for a free Christmas Bingo printable; I’ve found countless themed Bingo sheets over the years for various holidays, all for free! Bingo is easy and fun for little kids, so this is always a winner at our house.
• Christmas Catch Phrase. Assuming you are familiar with Catch Phrase, simply alter the game slightly with Christmas words. Again, think of as many Christmas-related words or phrases as you can and write them on strips of paper. Set a timer, and the player has to describe the word or phrase without saying any part of the word for his/her team to guess. For example, you might describe, “The four-legged creature who pulls Santa’s sleigh and has a light on his face,” and the answer, of course, would be Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
• Christmas Headbands. This could be a simpler one for young children if you use pictures instead of words. Print Christmas-related pictures (or words/phrases, for older players who know how to read) onto index cards. A player holds the card up to his forehead so everyone else can see it except him. You can wear an elastic headband around your forehead and slip the card in the front of it so the player doesn’t have to hold it there (hence the name of the game). His team must give clues about the picture for him to guess what it is. Want a harder version of the game? Clue-givers can only give one-word clues, or for every clue given before the correct word is guessed, decrease the amount of points awarded.
• Christmas Chaos. Do you remember my traditional high-school friends’ Christmas party I described? I learned this game at one of those Christmas parties well over a decade ago and it was our collective favorite for many years, but be warned: this game is best for older kids (teenagers are perfect) and a large group. Get an empty tube of wrapping paper and a small Christmas trinket of some sort (this can be anything: a small toy, a Nativity figurine, a tiny ornament, anything, as long as it fits easily into the palm of your hand and isn’t fragile). Whoever is “It” stands in the middle of the circle with the wrapping paper tube. Someone sitting in the circle begins by saying, “I’m going Christmas caroling and I’m going with…” and then name someone else sitting in the circle. The “It” person (with the tube) has to whack that person who was named (in the knee or leg, ideally) before that person can call out another player’s name to pass. Keep calling out names until the “It” person successfully tags another player, who then is “It” and has to stand in the center of the circle for a new round. Meanwhile, just to keep things interesting, subtly pass your small trinket around the circle. If you have the trinket in your hand, you can choose to shout out, “Christmas Chaos!” and everyone has to stand up and move to a new seat, musical-chairs style, and the “It” has a chance to try to sit down as well. Whoever is left standing is the new “It.” Prepare for noise, bonks, crashes, whacks, laughter, and an all-around good time for everyone.
• Christmas Minute-to-Win-It games. Just google this and I guarantee you’ll find endless suggestions for all ages and group sizes. Invite friends, have prizes, supply treats, and have a great time.
• Lisa’s Christmas Game Night game. I made this collection of Christmas-themed games a few years back. It is all collected as a PowerPoint presentation and plays like a game show; you’ll have a Host and two teams competing for points. Details and downloads for this, the ultimate fun in Christmas games, are available at this post here. It takes a little planning and prepping, but believe me when I tell you it is super freaking fun and has always made for a great evening. This game is best suited for teams of about 3-5 people, plus one Host (that’s 7-11 people total). I also suggest an older crowd for these, or at least kids old enough to read, but teenagers and/or adults are ideal.

Read a New Christmas Book. When we lived with my brother-in-law and his family, his wife introduced me to one of their family traditions that I happily adopted. Every year she buys her kids a new Christmas book (and a Halloween book in October) that they add to their collection. I liked the idea so much that I copied her and now we reveal a new Christmas Book every year.

Read the Nativity Story from the Bible. [Suggested: on a Sunday.] Gather the family around and crack open your Bible! Personally I think it’s important for kids, even the littlest ones, to hear and recognize the actual scriptural account of Christ’s birth. So even if they don’t have a clue what a “multitude of heavenly host” is, still read it. But still make this event special! You can sing Christmas hymns that correlate with parts of the story, or reenact the story with pictures or a toy nativity set. This is also a great day to watch a Nativity movie after you read the Bible and let the visual of a movie solidify the story for small kids.

Sing Christmas Carols around the Piano. A favorite tradition of mine is singing Christmas carols with my best friend who so happens to be a brilliant soprano. Combined with my adequate alto voice, we absolutely love singing duets with each other. We used to sing a lot more before we had kids, but playing the piano and singing is just that much harder with babies and toddlers. Regardless, we still make it a point to get together at least once every December to sing our favorite Christmas carols and play our favorite piano duets. I also especially love inviting our husbands to this as well, who sing tenor and bass, and so the four of us can harmonize an entire hymn. Remember, “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”

Take Silly Christmas Pictures. I have this whole pile of silly Christmas props that my boys love to dress up with throughout the season like Santa hats, reindeer headbands, and so on. So dress up your kiddos as silly as can be and get out your camera!

Watch a Kid Christmas movie. Remember my Tip #4: Watch Christmas movies sparingly. Use these movies as recovery, calming, stay-home activities after big outings, but still make it fun. My little ones don’t quite have the attention span or comprehension for most live-action movies, so I prefer these half-hour cartoons and save the bigger movies for just my hubby and I after kiddos go to bed. My favorite toddler-friendly movies include:

• How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the cartoon, not the Jim Carey live action remake. I’ve also heard that the newer 2018 movie The Grinch is fantastic, but I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t personally vouch for it, but it’s on my list of movies to see this year).
• Mickey’s Christmas Carol
• The Snowman
• Assorted Disney Cartoons. My husband found all these old Disney Christmas cartoons that feature Mickey, Donald, Pluto, and Chip and Dale. My boys love them and they’re only a few minutes apiece, so we can watch a bunch and still keep their attention.
• Charlie Brown’s Christmas
• The Muppet’s Christmas Carol
• The Polar Express. Remember when I said my boys love trains? Short attention spans aside, they LOVE this movie, as bizarre as it is.

Watch a Grown-Up Christmas Movie. Again, these are usually for hubby and me. Often, with my husband working, I’ll do a special Christmas activity during the day with my kids, but I don’t want my husband to feel like he’s missing out on everything, so we make a point to watch lots of Christmas movies together at night. These are our annual favorites:

• Home Alone and Home Alone 2. Classics.
• The Man Who Invented Christmas and A Christmas Carol. Our favorite is the 1984 movie starring George C. Scott.
• Miracle on 34^th Street. There is an old black and white version of this and a “modern” 1994 movie; we usually like the 1994 movie with Richard Attenborough—after all, he spares no expense.
• It’s a Wonderful Life. This is my husband’s most favorite Christmas movie, so we definitely watch this one every single year, even if we don’t always get to the all the others. Sometimes I don’t like watching George Bailey be miserable for two straight hours, but by golly does that ending just get me every time! I once suggested that they should make a modern remake of this movie and my sweet hubby about had a heart attack. “You can’t have It’s a Wonderful Life without Jimmy Stewart!” he exclaimed. Well fine then.
• Elf. Actually I have to take this movie in small doses and I can only stand to watch it once every few years. It just got overplayed in those first few years after it came out. And Will Ferrell is best in very, very small doses. But still, it’s hilarious.
• The Santa Clause. Skip the sequels and stick with the original on this one, trust me.

Watch the Nativity Movie. [Suggested: on a Sunday.] My church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, produced this beautiful movie depicting the nativity called “The Nativity” that we make a point to watch every year (watch it here). It’s quite short so even my little kids enjoy the whole thing. Or, in 2019 they made another nativity movie called “The Christ Child” that is worth a watch as well (watch it here).

Wrap Christmas Gifts. [Suggested: late in the month.] I always schedule The Big Wrapping Day near the end of December in order to wait for all my packages to arrive. This simplifies my schedule and contains messes beautifully, as I’m not pulling out and cleaning up the wrapping supplies every other day when another package arrives. I much prefer this streamlined approach.

A realistic note: specifically I have two or three Wrapping Gifts events: one alone when I wrap my husband’s gifts, one with my husband when we wrap our kids’ gifts, and one with my kids when we wrap our extended family’s gifts. If it all lines up nicely, I can get it all done throughout a single day and that’s my goal. Wrapping gifts with my kids is the part that I try to make a special event for them and take a picture and everything so they feel involved and excited to help.

Now what?

As of my most recent count, including every single sub-suggestion, this list contains roughly 60 daily Christmas activity ideas. Obviously you’ll never do that many in a month, nor should you! So here’s what I suggest:

List anything and everything that appeals to you. Chances are you’ll come up with far more than you need. But remember, don’t wear your poor kids out and run yourself ragged trying to cram all of this in; 25 Days of Christmas is supposed to make your holiday happier and more memorable, not crazier and more miserable. So don’t overschedule yourself!

Just to super duper emphasize this point, let me repeat myself here yet again: 25 Days of Christmas should serve you in four specific ways:

1. Remind you of the Savior Jesus Christ
2. Bring your family closer together
3. Invite the spirit of Christmas into your home
4. Create lasting memories for your children

ONLY pick activities that will best serve these four categories for you and your family.

If you need to pare down your list a little bit, try picking just one activity per category, such as one Christmas craft, one game, one winter sport, one light display, one concert, etc.

Next, prioritize your list of things you MUST do, things you REALLY WANT to do, and things that would be NICE to do. Focus on the “musts” and the “really wants” first. Save all your “nice” items for backup days.

Do you still need to simplify your list? Combine items. Make Christmas treats for movie nights, bake cookies on the same day you deliver them to the neighbors, enjoy your hot cocoa bar when you get home from sledding, and so on. Seriously people, it’s not rocket science.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, you may not want to do something Christmasy for 25 straight days (you Scrooge!). If you don’t have enough activities you’re interested in, try doing the 12 Days of Christmas instead: start on December 12^th to finish on the 23^rd. Easy peasy.

The End!

Now you can enjoy your month of December happily and successfully with 25 Days of Christmas! Good luck, have fun, and remember Jesus Christ was born and died for you.

Merry Christmas!