Why Christmas Traditions Are Important

Christmas is a magical, special time of year, especially when you’re a parent. Seeing the children’s faces as they experience Christmas – their excitement, their joy, their love – is amazing, and something that can brighten even the darkest day. Every year, it’s likely that you will bring out the same old decorations, sing the same old songs, do the same old things, and that, as you will see, is extremely important. Here are the reasons why.

Traditions Make Memories 

When you step back and think about it, Christmas is not about the presents or the decorations, or even the copious amounts of food that somehow get eaten across the holidays. It’s about making memories so that you can look back and remember how wonderful it was to be with everyone and to see them all so happy. Every time you decorate the tree in the same way, or make the same toast over the turkey, or buy personalised Christmas cards on the same day, you can remember the year before, and the year before that, and so on, and your happiness will increase. 

Something To Look Forward To

The anticipation of Christmas is often the best part; once all the presents are opened, and the food is eaten, and everyone has gone back home, it’s all over, but until it all begins, there is a sense of excitement in the air, and that’s a lot of fun. 

When you have traditions that you know are coming, they can add to the adventure of Christmas as well. You can enjoy looking forward to carrying them out, and the satisfaction of having done them for another year will make you smile. 

Order In The Chaos

When you’re a parent, Christmas can be a stressful, chaotic time. That’s not to say it’s not fun because it most definitely is, but it is also often exhausting. Something that can ground us and keep a little order in the midst of all this chaos are our family traditions. They are a fixed point that we can work everything else around because they are the things that you cannot change. Whether it’s baking on Christmas Eve, reading The Night Before Christmas before bed, taking a long walk in the woods, or opening one present each at midnight, it all needs to be accounted for, and everything else comes second. 

For A New Family 

As children get older, they will start to make their own way in the world and, often, make their own families too. Being able to pass on the traditions you all enjoyed when they were little and seeing how they meld with their new partner’s own childhood traditions is wonderful – it shows just how important everything was to your children and how good a job you did at ensuring they had the most wonderful time at the most wonderful time of the year. 

Of course, some traditions, like heading out to see Santa or decorating the tree altogether while listening to Christmas music, can still be carried out as a family, and it’s satisfying to see how they – the children and the traditions – grow.