I received this message on Instagram:

HEY! I was wondering if you have any great ideas for Christmas Day traditions? We have so many wonderful traditions leading up to Christmas and then the actual day seems flat and boring. I’d like to create some traditions to look forward to after all the gifts have been opened and played with.

Our Christmas Day usually looks like opening stockings, having a nice breakfast, opening presents as a family (we go in age order choosing a present for someone else to open and since it’s not a flurry of frantic opening, it takes quite a while).

After the gifts, we spend a quiet afternoon playing with new games or toys – which we all love – and then usually in the evening we host a Christmas dinner for the family.

For some people, the idea of ​​MORE traditions on Christmas Day is quite overwhelming.

One Instagram commenter said: “Excited to have a boring, quiet day after all this madness. Zero help here.”

Another said: “Christmas Day is a day off. We’ve done all the holiday things and it’s our only day off.”

And I’m inclined to agree: I love spending a day just at home and enjoying being together. In fact, a year or two ago, my husband suggested we skip the annual Christmas Day dinner with the extended family he’d been going to since he was a child—he just wanted to be home and not feel the pressure of having to drive and visit a lot on Christmas Day.

But others feel just like that original commenter!

One said: “I don’t have any, but please share! I feel the same way!”

So, if you love spending Christmas day lazily and at home, feel free to ignore all these suggestions.

But if you want to add something or more to your Christmas Day traditions, here are some of the great ideas that have arrived on Instagram!

Over 60 Christmas Day Traditions

• Sledding
• Let’s make Jesus a birthday cake. According to my son he likes confetti cake and lots of sprinkles
• We have breakfast together and games/puzzles all afternoon before the big dinner
• Christmas movie marathon
• Go sing
• This is the day we make our gingerbread houses!
• Large platter for brunch, hot chocolate, fondue for dinner
• We watch Elf and eat Thanksgiving leftovers and the dessert I put in the freezer
• We sing Christmas carols before opening presents and prepare a crock-pot breakfast the night before
• Watch a movie while kids assemble Lego kits on blankets
• Trip to the cinema! (This was a very popular tip!)
• Go on a family visit!
• Great Lego set as a gift for family
• Church in the morning (yes, church on Christmas Day!) and fondue afterwards
• Play together the game we gave the family
• Let’s go skiing if it’s not on Sunday
• Make a point of getting outside – yes, it’s usually cold, but the fresh air works wonders!
• We open one gift or set of gifts per person at the top of each hour!
• Stay in Jammies all day, play with new toys, read books and watch movies! No cleaning!
• Liège waffles! I only make them once a year and this is the day!
• I always got a book for Christmas and then spent the day reading.
• Go for a walk
• We like to go to a diner for breakfast and eat Chinese food
• We moved the family nativity scene for Christmas Day. This way we don’t have to plan two different nights and we can think of Christ at Christmas.
• Walk after lunch and then enjoy some quiet time for new books/toys
• A pleasant excursion while playing high, low, nonsense about the Christmas season
• Big Christmas breakfast with special foods before dedicating ourselves to the gifts.
• Let’s frost and decorate the biscuits together.
• Family talent show
• This year we will take a hot bath with friends!
• My friend’s family went on a scavenger hunt for the ultimate gift! (This is also our favorite Christmas tradition – I have a whole blog post about it here!)
• Bingo for opening presents
• Let’s go easy on opening presents. If kids want to stop and play with a treat for 30 minutes, we let them!
• We take some presents and save them to open on New Year’s Eve.
• Delivering cinnamon rolls with our kids to some of our closest friends before starting the day.
• Family walk with breakfast and gifts. Socks then breakfast, then a walk, then presents
• Every Christmas day I do the same puzzle as my favorite grandfather who passed away
• We stay home in our pajamas, eat lots of frozen appetizers, and play with new presents
• Hearty breakfast with more options than necessary for a family of 6
• We’re always in our pajamas and watching the Charlie Brown Christmas movie
• I hope to start a new one with Merry Bells
• Everyone gets a new magazine and we curl up on the couch to read
• We spend the afternoon with the extended family and then in the evening we go to the cinema.
• Monkey bread for breakfast, read Luke 2, socks and presents, after lunch go to the cinema
• Apps and snack buffet all day, stay in your pajamas, play games or do puzzles. Christmas music on.
• Go to Christmas candlelight service with family
• I have a friend who does a family dive with the polar bear every Christmas
• Nice Christmas Eve dinner, so easy to have leftovers on Christmas Day and I can play and enjoy the day.
• No names, just numbers on the gifts, the children find the number, I say who it is for. Open one at a time.
• Christmas tree-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast.
• Gifts to the brothers before going down to the tree. I love how focused they are on each other for a while.
• We make Chex mix and 1 final batch of Christmas cookies, then play board games all evening.
• Waffle brunch at my in-laws’ place
• Great Brunch with the whole family; pajama day; go for a drive to look at the Christmas lights with cocoa
• Let’s keep the old classics playing in the background: White Christmas, Holiday Inn, It’s a Wonderful Life
• The last gift is always a family gift, usually one we can all enjoy
• Adults tear down Christmas while kids play with new toys!
• Homemade personal-sized pizzas for dinner
• Fancy hot chocolate bar with brunch and cinnamon swirl bread.
• We will walk to our local fire station and bring treats while they are away from family
• Let’s fly! Family of 5. It’s a great day to go somewhere, the airports and planes are so friendly
• When I was a teenager we would go snowshoeing in the afternoon and then see a movie in the evening
• We have a big breakfast with the whole family in the city, each family brings 1-2 easy dishes
• Going to the beach is my favorite Christmas Day tradition in California!

Any other great Christmas Day traditions? I’d love to hear!

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