The NNAM Cracker Christmas Giveaway
Woohoo! I get to be Santa (or a sidekick anyway!)
As many of you know, I work with businesses and affiliate partners throughout the year to share interesting products and services with you on the website. I really do appreciate your continued support. I get to feed my kids, Aussie family businesses get their name out there and you get the heads up on the best stuff.
So this Cracker Christmas Giveaway is our way of saying thank you and paying forward a bit of good karma. Check out the prizes and then find how to enter down the bottom. Good luck!!
♥ Lhami Summer Beauty Box
Gorgeous natural new age mum, Natalie from Lhami has one of her all natural Summer Beauty Boxes to giveaway.
Perfect for all skin types, it includes the citrusy Foaming Cleanser, Wattleseed Exfoliating Cream, Soothing Face Lotion, Balancing Face Oil, Peppermint & Lavender Spritz, Lime & Patchouli Body Lotion after your shower and an eco sunscreen.
Over $130 worth of summer essentials for just $74.95! It makes a gorgeous gift too.
Check it out here.
♥ Inspire Me Naturally Salt Lamp
Janice from Inspire Me Naturally is a Queensland mum and the go-to person for all things salt lamps. She stocks a wide range at great prices with a flat rate for shipping. Janice is kindly giving away this natural salt lamp to one of you.
Check out all of Janice’s beautiful products here.
♥ Shop Naturally Glass Lock Storage Set
Joanne at Shop Naturally is kindly giving away a Glass Lock 9 piece glass storage set to one of you! This set is oven safe, microwave safe, freezer safe and top rack dishwasher safe. Made from tempered, shatter proof glass with BPA free locking lids.
Joanne stocks a massive range of every natural product you could think of from food, health, home and beauty to lunch boxes and water bottles.
♥ Nature Delivers Classic Makeup Set
I first met Joanne at a festival years ago and loved testing out her whole range of natural make up and skincare. Nature Delivers is so affordable while still being great quality and you can get $2 samples with free shipping to try out things first.
Joanne is kindly giving away one of her Classic Makeup Sets which includes a mineral foundation, blush or bronzer, eyeshadow, Kabuki brush and a 100% natural mascara in a mesh makeup purse.
Check out everything at Nature Delivers here.
♥ Hippie Mumma New Year Reading
The lovely Jackie from Hippie Mumma has a gorgeous website that is an offering of inspiring articles to expand your soul and find the goddess within. You’ll also find free monthly readings and guidance to lead a conscious and natural life.
Jackie offers private tarot readings and is giving one of you a New Year reading on any topic you like. Find out about your life purpose or what your career and love life has in store.
♥ 4 My Earth Insulated Lunch Bag
I have an eco-friendly lunch bag from Julia at 4 My Earth to giveaway!
This Insulated Lunch Bag is big enough for morning tea, lunch and drink too. Zip close, freezer safe, washable and has a handy name label on the outside. Ethically made from BPA, phthalate & lead free cotton canvas. We have a couple of these bags and they are so durable and easy to wash. We even use them for toiletries and other things as well!
Check out Julia’s store here for a huge range of reusable and eco-friendly lunch products.
♥ Biome Eco Toy Pack
Biome Eco Stores are one of my all time favourite! Tracey has a great collection of eco-friendly and educational toys in for Christmas and is giving away this awesome gift pack.
One lucky winner will get all three of these toys:
Click Clack Firetruck Eco friendly truck designed for tiny hands, made from sustainable plantation beechwood, lead-free paint and non-toxic glue.
Green Start Wooden Puzzle These earth-friendly puzzles are made with wood from sustainable forests, printed with non-toxic vegetable inks and are packaged in a reusable carry-along storage case. Contains 14 fun colourful pieces that are specially designed for children aged 3+ years to enhance their learning skills.
Crayon Rock Bag These beautiful Crayon Rocks are made from non toxic, natural soy wax and encourage a tripod grip, which assists in the development of fine motor skills and handwriting technique.
Check out more at Biome Eco Store here.
♥ Earthing Oz Laptop Protection Case
Laura at Earthing Oz is my go-to person for all my radiation protection and earthing products. They make awesome Christmas gifts for the person who has everything.
Laura is kindly giving away one of these Laptop Protection Cases. They are a case for your laptop with anti-radiation and EMR blocking that you can also use as a workstation. There is even a built in mouse pad.The radiation shielding technology was tested in an independent FCC certified lab to show it blocks up to 99% or radiation (ELF & RF).
Check out Laura’s store here.
♥ Happi Empire Happi Cards
Fran’s Happi products are things that I buy girlfriends for Christmas and birthdays. They are gorgeously designed and charged with positivity and good vibes. Fran is kindly giving away a set of her Happi cards to one of you!
Check out Fran’s store here.
♥ Element Crystal Labradorite
Jackie from Element Crystals is generously giving away this stunning polished Labradorite palm stone. Element Crystals is an online shop based in the Blue Mountains where Jackie lovingly and carefully hand-picks the majority of crystals for their individual quirks and vibrations and to ensure the highest quality possible.
Check out the range here.
♥ Beautiful Because Plume Lash and Brow Serum
Nina has a background as a beautician and now has the most awesome natural beauty store – Beautiful Because where you will find everything natural beauty that you can think of!
She is kindly giving away a Plume Lash and Brow Serum to one of you. This is a 100% natural alternative to conventional growth serums, specially formulated by a master cosmetic chemist. Plume promotes the longevity and fullness of brow and lash follicles to naturally enhance what you already have.
Check out Nina’s store here.
♥ The Spiritual Toolbox Smudge Box
One of my gorgeous natural new age mums, Rhiannon started up her own business this year, The Spiritual Toolbox. You can purchase a range of different boxes and products that are all designed to raise your vibration and encourage positivity and learning about the new age world.
One of you can win The Smudge Box. It contains everything you need for smudging including smudged sticks, spray, crystals and more. Love it!
♥ $50 voucher at Ishani Designs
Alicia and Ajay from Ishani Designs are kindly giving one of you a $50 voucher to spend at their online store! Ishani Designs are a Brisbane based small business that sell gorgeous hand blockprinted boho style clothes and accessories. Alicia designs all the clothes and then they head off to India and get the fabric printed and clothes made up. I love that they use the fabric offcuts to make super cute bras and undies! Don’t miss their beautiful recycled sari gift bags for your Christmas wrapping this year.
Check out all the pretty things here.
♥ Happy Skincare’s Woohoo Body Deodorant
Woohoo Body is one of my favourite natural deodorants ever. It really works!
Aaron and Phoebe are brilliant at creating natural skincare products and their Woohoo range is no exception. All natural, Aussie made and owned, vegan and using recycled packaging, this deodorant paste is perfect for sensitive skin. It comes in Urban and Wild scents and one lucky person is winning them both.
Check it out here. PS use the code: NNAM for your first order to get 10% off!
How to enter:
This giveaway has now closed. Here are the lucky winners. If you have not replied to me via email, please do asap!
Prize winners listed in order of the prizes they have won listed as above.
- Angie H
- LJ S
- Becca A
- Sandra K
- Kaylee
- Cheryl H
- Jemima I
- Casey W
- Lucy C
- Anne Maria B
- Nicole G
- Nichola S
- Larissa H
- Samara C
- Simone
This giveaway is a multi-draw so by entering, you may win any one of the awesome prizes shown.
♥ Be a subscriber the Natural New Age Mum’s newsletter. Sign up here (and get your free ebook too!)
♥ Leave a comment on this blog post, letting us know one of your family’s favourite Christmas traditions.
♥ Share this post at least once using the share buttons below.
Terms and Conditions:
This giveaway finishes on Friday the 9th of December at midnight AEST. The winners will be chosen using a random number generator from those meeting the entry conditions. There are 13 prizes to win and there will be 13 winners. Prizes are allocated to the winners randomly. Please provide a current email address when you leave your comment (not made public) so I am able to contact you when you win. Sorry, only those with an Australian residential address are able to enter. Good luck!
I live in Australia but grew up in Poland and there are lots of beautiful Christmas traditions I remember from my childhood. Obviously it’s the northern hemisphere’s winter so gets dark early so children go outside to look for the first star of the evening meanwhile Santa/baby Jesus delivers presents under the tree. Before dinner with break a thin wafer with each other to apologise, forgive for any wrog doing of the past year and to wish all the best fit the next year. Then we sit down to a traditional 12 dishes dinner consisting of wild mushroom/ borscht soup with dumplings, cooked dry peas and lentils, cooked sauerkraut with mushrooms and fish. After dinner we have some Polish sweets: a poppy seed roll and baked cheesecake. Then it’s present time. At midnight there is a special mass called Pasterka – peasants mass and a lot of people go to officialy begin Christmas. I haven’t experienced this tradition for about 18 years due to travelling and working overseas and then moving to Australia. The best thing about this upcoming Christmas is though that there have been some Polish people moving into my area and we’ll be recreating Polish Christmas in Australia! I’m excited for my children to experience it for the first time!
Coming from a split family I spend my Christmas on the road. I’m blessed to send my morning at my mums where we celebrate Xmas Canadian style as that’s where my Aunty and her family live with a twist of Australian by cooking it all in the BBQ over looking summer set dam in Queensland… from there my husband and I pack our daughter into the car and travel to the city where we meet my dad’s family and celebrate Italian style with food food golorius food.
From there we treacle home with our left overs and fall into food coma.
Merry Christmas everyone!
One of my favorite Christmas traditions was started by my mom. The night before Christmas is very exciting for little kids and trying to get them into a bath and to bed can be very difficult! So my mom said that Santa’s elves came over while we were having a bath a dropped off a pair of new pyjamas on our beds. While we were in the bath we could hear the jingle of santas sleigh. That way we were very excited to have a bath and go to bed in our new pyjamas but we also had something nice on for our Christmas morning pictures.
Instead of buying and sending Christmas cards
back to the UK we buy chickens and water
from the Oxfam site and just take a photo and
put on Facebook and tag out friends overseas.
Been in Aus for nearly 10years now and love it but would love to take my kids back to experience the kind of Christmas I had as a child, dark and cold and magical xx
Hi one of our xmas traditions is the yummy plum pudding…passed on through the ages from one mother to her daughter and so.on. The other is we light candles for those who cant be with us this year
I think we need to remember what xmas is about! In this day and age i think the true meaning of xmas being with family and sharing love ..food …gifts..praying for those who are much less fortunate has been forgotten.
It would have to be our advent calendar. We leave little notes in each box and do things together as a family such as going stargazing at night or to a creek for a swim.
We always have a lovely fish course (prawns, flathead) then we have our traditional lunch with turkey, ham, chicken and all the lovely roast veggies.
Wonderful prizes, Sonia! Thanks for giving us a chance to win. We are a family with young kids so are only this year beginning to create Christmas traditions with them. One activity is setting up the tree on dec 1, which for us is the start of the festive season. My 3yo son kindly woke us up at 6:30 this morning to ask if we could put the tree up then. It really is lovely reliving the youthful excitement and anticipation of Christmas as a parent 🙂
My parents are divorced but every Christmas Eve, my Dad, my brother, my Mum, my StepDad and myself would all go to Mum’s house for a traditional Christmas roast. For the last 10 years, since I have left home and been old enough, I have taken on this tradition. This year my 6 year old son has created an entree for dinner “Italian plough men’s platter” and I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
In Canada, our family would always receive a mandarin at the bottom of our stocking. It was such a nice treat amongst all the sugary chocolate we would also eat.
Now here in Australia we try to make sure we get out for a mountain bike ride in Christmas Day. We are all so happy when we are on our bikes so it’s a perfect way for us to spend time together on such a special day.
Australian Christmas to me means spending the day by the pool, Christmas lunch with family, gift giving and then off to give food,water and a small gift to the people at the local shelter for women and children. Every Christmas we try to give rather than receive and I’m hoping to make this a tradition my son continues with his family.
Wow what a comp!
Once the Christmas tree is up (early this year because of nagging, I mean excitement) my sassy 6 year old daughter goes over the top with decorating the house. On the big day itself, we are up at the crack of dawn opening presents then spending the day with family. Then we do it all again Boxing Day. It’s a great time of the year.
Wow what a fab selection of prizes. The only Christmas tradition in this household is that I cook the Christmas lunch with all the trimmings. My beautiful daughter, her husband, my son and hubby are the only ones at our table.
My faviurite Christmas Tradition is finding healthy versions of desserts to make for my family.
My favorite Holiday Tradition is: I do love decorating the Christmas tree with all of the family around. The tree is laden with so many memories. Many the children made at Kindie all those years ago. Our beautiful Angel tops the tree. Watching over us all.
A wonderful opportunity thank you.
One if my favourite traditions is decorating the Christmas tree together, including the dog who also gets decorated ?
My mum started it, we all pitch in and buy a swag and kit for someone who has found themselves living on the streets.
Our favourite family Christmas tradition is having pancakes for dinner on Christmas Eve, dressing in our Pjs and heading out Christmas light looking and then coming home and watching Home Alone – our favourite Christmas movie!
I don’t know if we have any particular traditions but we do love to simply get together as a whole family and laugh, eat and just enjoy a wonderful day all together. It’s just nice to spend quality time together as a family.
Getting together with family – a chance to rest, catch up – take time out from our busy lives.
What a great giveaway, thanks for the chance to be a winner Sonia. Our tradition is just all being together decorating the Christmas tree while listening to Christmas carols!
My favourite tradition is helping the kids decorate the tree and then all standing out the front of the house ready to flick the switch and turn on our Christmas lights…my girls are still quite young so the magic is well and truly alive!
Wonderful giveaway Sonia, thank you! Our Christmas traditions all start on December 1 – the kids wake up to their advent calendars hanging on their doorknobs, Christmas music playing and they get the tree up and decorated before school. Such a fun day!
Christmas with my in laws generally consists of water fights, and a giant slip and slide in the backyard. It’s always such a fun day!
Christmas is the most exciting time of year. My family traditions is everyone buys a gift, gifts are labeled with a number and everyone gets a number, everyone gets a chance to draw a number from a hat and choose that gift with that number but if the number is coloured with red or green you can change your gift (random) – with the gifts already opened we like to play this exciting game after much delicious food! It’s really fun and brings so much laughter and photo opportunities.
My favorite Christmas tradition, spending Christmas day at my in-laws. My son loves having his dad and I together under the one roof ( we are separated).
I absolutely love Christmas. My favourite tradition is decorating the Christmas tree and house. I love that it feels so magical for the month of December. And of course I love having Christmas lunch with my family.
Our favourite family tradition is waking up christmas morning and watching our children open their presents from Santa. This time is just our family before the happy awesome chaos of christmas with the extended family begins.
I make cookies for Santa with my kids!
Each year my husband and kids make a gingerbread house. It’s something they look forward to all year long, and the kids are now 14 and 12 and boys! (I’m now redundant in this process, but it’s great to see them all worming together.
What a fantastic range of prizes! Thanks NNAM Affiliates and of course Sonia for bring us this awesome info all year round!
One of our favourite Christmas traditions is our advent calendar, little drawers filled with acts of kindness to do around Christmas. We also have Christmas Eve boxes which are a newish tradition for our family, where the kids get new pjs and a Christmas story for Christmas Eve.
Lovely set of prizes! A friend has a Christmas party on the Sunday before Christmas where we all put a $5 present in the Santa sack. One of her friends dresses as Santa and hands out the presents. We started this when our kids were toddlers and kept on going. The kids are now in their twenties and still like to go if they can. Just waiting for grandkids now!
Fantastic prizes! I have young children so our traditions are developing each year. We put the tree up sometime between 25th Nov (my sons birthday) and 1st Dec and the kids get to decorate it, with a mixture of bought decorations and their handmade ones. We have an advent calendar that has a clue in it each day and the kids have to find the treat, which could be a small chocolate, a new decoration, a Christmas book or CD, a craft to do etc. We also have an Elf on the Shelf that the kids adore and I love listening to them talk about him and to him. Their excitement is contagious! We also spend Christmas Eve reading some Christmas stories and listening to carols. I loved reading everyone else’s traditions as it is helping me with ideas to expand on ours 🙂
Our tradition is a fun game to play on Christmas Day. Whoever is hosting, buys each person a funny gift and wraps it up. Each person has to ask clues as to what it is. Only once it is guessed can it be open. Sometimes it can take a while ?
I love making time with my family to bake a fruit cake – we all take turns of adding ingredients, making wishes and remembering past Christmas celebration – a special time indeed.
We started our own tradition with mango smoothies for Christmas morning! So good!
What lovely prizes! Me, my husband and our two boys pick each other the most festive (or embarrassing) Christmas t-shirts that we can find and we all have to wear them on Christmas Eve when we go and look at the Christmas lights and out to our Christmas Day Lunch. We look forward to it every year. ??
Since our first child was little, we like to have a special night at home together on christmas eve. This is usually the first day of my husband’s time off work for christmas too which makes it extra special. We have an early roast dinner, open a special family christmas present with gifts for everyone inside, including ingredients for hot chocolate or some freshly baked cookies & a new christmas movie that we watch together before the kids go to bed.
Our favourite Christmas tradition is when the Pyjama Elves deliver a special package on Christmas eve! The package contains new pyjamas for the kids, a board game, sometimes a movie and some yummy treats! The board game means lots of time spent together x
Our favourite Christmas tradition – I have four kids, instead of them buying me or my husband a present, they each write me a note with at least one ‘out of the ordinary’ kind deed they have done for someone else and put this under the tree. We try to encourage giving kindness, understanding and assistance as a gift instead of a material item.
going for a swim at the beach Christmas morning before our big Christmas lunch.
Oohh what wonderful items! I’m very behind on my Christmas shopping so I’ll be heading to a few of these shops no doubt!
My new Christmas tradition is to collect non perishable foods to donate to a women’s refuge… Sparked by the charity e-book xx
We have a few common traditions. One is Xmas tree up on the 1st weekend in December. I like to give a Xmas book at the start of December too and a set of PJ’s on xmas eve. Last year we took our then 4yr old out looking at xmas lights for the first time, we will probably continue that on for this year. And also baking Gingerbread men for Santa (and us!)
We have simple expectations at Xmas and we aren’t often with extended family. My side of the family decided to cap present spending at $20 and focus on the togetherness, food and just being. Rather like Danish hygge I’ve since discovered! Cosy xx
Ours is an interesting festive season. Being raised as a half-German agnostic we have always celebrated the more traditional (less religious) German Christmas traits such as the Advent Calendar, the Adventz Krunts (Christmas wreath of candles meant to either count down the Sunday’s to Jesus’ birth or until Yule), bunter teller and celebrating Christmas on the night of the 24th.
Now that I have become Pagan, we celebrate Litha (midsummer) on about the 22nd of December too where we have a feast to celebrate the apex of summer and all the local foods. Celebrate life, love, family and friends. It is less stressful and there is no consumerism need for gifts. Just homemade whole foods shared between friends.
We still celebrate Christmas on the eve and have a quieter whole family get together on Christmas Day, but since the kid’s have come along we have started a new tradition on Boxing Day. On Christmas Day we unwrap a board game hubyy the kids and I have given to ourselves. We choose a new one each year. Then on Boxing day we spend the day having an indoor picnic on the lounge room floor and play board games. Simply, low key and fun family bonding. Keeping the love and magic alive without the stress and hassle. Suits us well.
Our favourite Christmas Tradition is definately decorating the tree. We do it together and the kids get to reminisce over all the wonderful creations they made at kindy and school over the years as we hang them on the tree. Special <3
My favourite Christmas tradition is decorating the tree. It’s changed as the kids have gotten older. They’ve taken it on as their job now and take a lot of pride in it. They exclaim over the old and familiar ornaments. It’s a very hotch potch affair but it’s filled with memories. A few years ago they asked to sleep under the tree on Christmas Eve and they’ve done it every year since, much to our amusement.
The kids and make gingerbread every Christmas Eve and love watching the carols.
Our best Christmas tradition is being relaxed; about food, about timing, about location. Keep it simple and enjoyable for everyone ☺️
I keep wondering whether we actually have any traditions – but I guess the things that I’m absolutely dead set that we do together as a family are our traditions. We love decorating the house and the tree together (with Christmas tunes playing loudly). We try to attend one Carols Service somewhere… We love watching the Sydney Carols and then the Melbourne Carols together. And then the really BIG one: we have to get together with ALL family members who can be gathered to have a traditional Christmas lunch on the 25th!
Decorating the tree and the house together is our favourite Christmas tradition but also leaving a carrot for the reindeer and kombuua and a healthy snack for Santa on Christmas Eve.
On of our family traditions for Christmas is that everyone in the house must each have a turn stirring the Christmas cake batter before putting it into the tin and baked.
We bake cookies together then wrap them up and deliver them to our neighbours.
My husband is German and one of my favourite traditions is to incorporate parts of that culture into our festive season. We lit the first advent candle last Sunday, and we make the 24th very special as well as 25th, as 24th is the big day in Germany – so we are lucky enough to have a 48 hour Christmas. I love it! 🙂
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Sharing now!
What a wonderful variety of giveaways – thanks Sonia et al. ! My children are only three and nine months so our own little family traditions are only just beginning! I plan to light a candle at bedtime for my son on Christmas Eve when we read his bedtime stories, and as he gets older, thread popcorn together to make tinsel 🙂 – I have also made an advent calendar this year with little pockets container handmade felt decorations and know my son will enjoy hanging one each day this month. There is also the tried and true making of the Christmas trifle which I know will be a family affair of custard/jelly/jam roll sampling along the way!
We always get together at my Mother In Laws and all the grandkids help her put up Christmas Decorations, while all the adults have a catch up over coffee and cake before Christmas
Our Christmas tradition is to open one present Christmas Eve (because we can’t wait for Christmas!) and one present on New Year’s day to celebrate the new year.
Although I was born and raised in Australia, I spent nearly 30 years in the UK so my favourite tradition was one we had in the UK – Christmas morning neighbours and local friends would come to ours for champagne, coffee with christmas inspired pastries and canapés. We have tried to get the same tradition going here but everyone is too spread out and rushing off somewhere.
Christmas Eve is a time where we get all our family together and make traditional egg nog for all to share, and god knows why we eat too many nibbles as well, I think that is too make our stomach stretch for the next day haha. I have been collecting beautiful christmas mugs over the years to serve our eggnog in, so have got quite a collection.
I love keeping a German Christmas tradition alive with my kids, which is putting your boots out on the eve of St Nikolaus, the 6th of December.
The boots have to be polished and shiny and are filled with nuts in their shell, chocolates, oranges and apples and maybe a small present like a book or some clothes 🙂
The kids are still young, so some Christmas traditions are still changing and developing to suit our family, but when we decorate the tree each child has a year where it is their turn to choose if we put up the star or angel on top. They love keeping track of whose turn it is 🙂
… and of course, each year come with a few new tree ornaments made at kinder and school, so getting them back out is a lovely reminiscence 🙂
Every christmas eve for the last 14 years our family have watched ‘Mickey’s Christmas”. It started when my son was 2.5. He is now 17 and daughter 13 but we all sit down together with our array of christmas nibbles and watch it.
P.s we have had to upgrade from a video to DVD!
Our Christmas tradition beginning this year is to shop handmade, ethical and where possible local for each other as much as we can. We are doing our best to purchase thoughtfully and consciously. This includes having a wooden Christmas tree made in Australia for the first time this year. The kids loved decorating it every bit as much as a traditional Chrustmas tree. ⭐️
Thanks for the competition Sonia – prizes look AH-Mazig!
Our few Christmas traditions include me doing a beautiful glazed ham, mum making Grandma’s pudding & as many of the family together for lunch!
Every Christmas, my auntie Ella ( Dad’s sister) always made a special Christmas pudding recipe given to her by her mother in law when she married, making puddings for all the family. When she got Alzheimers and couldn’t make them anymore, I took over the pudding making and follow her recipe every year.
I’m starting new traditions with my 3 young children. We give handmade gifts to neighbours, friend’s and family. It could be as simple as a beautifully drawn picture or making gingerbread together. We are also donating items to the Salvation Army I want my children to know that Christmas is not just about receiving presents but also giving back and spending cherished time with extended family
Christmas for us is about getting together with family and catching up. This year we are inviting the neighbours for brunch. A new tradition.
Pulling out the Santa bags on Christmas Eve ready to put on the end of the beds. These bags are going on 50 years old as they were bought for my Uncles, used by siblings and I and now used by my daughters.
My Daufhter is only 9 months old, so this year will be our first as a family. As a child though I loved waking up to the magic of Christmas, the excitement and the love that fills the house. I am hoping to start a tradition of having a family breakfast and then opening presents.
We love watching old school Mickey Mouse and now I get to show my kids! Baking yummy healthy treats is also so much fun ?
Our Christmas tradition was to go out to my Aunty’s place and just sit around, eat and drink from lunch time through till past dinner time. Simple but amazing. I miss those days.
Our xmas tradition is that the family are all together from xmas eve through to boxing day…and I mean the WHOLE family! Karaoke, games, food…xmas was, and always will be, my favourite time of the year!
Growing up, our Christmas Day consisted of opening our presents in our pjs and throwing all the wrapping in a big pile. We’d then head to Nanna’s for lunch where one of the many many rellies would dress up as Santa and deliver presents to the little kids. One year it was my Dad’s turn and I was scared of him, didn’t want to sit on Santa’s lap!
Now with my children, we still do the big pile of wrapping and spend the day with family, eating lots of yummy home made food and enjoying each other’s company. I love Christmas!!
Thank you Santa Sonia,
Using my grandma’s mixing bowl to make the Christmas pud.
When I was little my parents didn’t have a lot of money so having lots of different fresh fruit wasn’t always an option but every Christmas morning there would always be 2 pieces of fresh fruit on top of our presents which we loved. I told this to my 2 young children last year and they asked if Father Christmas would do the same for them, which of course he did and they were so excited to see them on top of their presents on Christmas morning. It will now be a tradition continued in this family.
Growing up, every Christmas season my family used to blast Nat King Cole and Amy Grant Christmas albums while hand-making ornaments, scented pine cones, bath salts, loofahs etc. to give away to family as gifts. Now that I’m older, my mother and I always bake a homemade organic cherry cream pie, watch Christmas vacation, and open presents on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas morning (because who can wait?). We then open our stockings on Christmas morning as a family and have a special stocking for our doggie. We all enjoy watching the dog jump over the piles of wrapping paper and presents and usually get a lot of pictures and laughs of everyone in their pj’s.
We’ve actually lived away from family for years so lots of our traditions have gone out the window. The one we’ve adopted from my partners childhood though is opening one present on Christmas eve, new PJ’s! Lol. We have fancied it up into a Christmas eve box though.
Going down to the beach for a walk and play with Granddad.
One lovely tradition we have is getting out our handmade xmas sacks, made by our grandma, from when we were kids.
We have a new family tradition of two years now. . This one being our 3rd…. I have two boys and we love going to the kmart Christmas gift tree. .. we specifically choose a gift for a little girl… always has a classic doll of some sort and then some some items of clothing eg. pretty summer dress or top and shorts etc. My boys absolutely love it. We wrap it and they write a gorgeous message on the card. They love placing it under the tree and having their picture taken with it.
It humbles them. ❤
We have a separate “Sibling” Christmas with my 3 step children and partner, their children, my children and my husband. This gives us a chance to all catch up as one family unit prior to the big extended family on Christmas Day. It’s more intimate and personal. Everyone in the extended family talks about our special sibling christmas, it’s lovely.
We have a family tradition of gifting our pets on Christmas morning with little treats (bones, chook food, horse chaff) in alfoil and tied up with a pretty ribbon. My Granny started this and I have such special memories of lining up all of the cattle dogs on the patio while they waited patiently for their Christmas presents. This is now a special part of Christmas morning for my human and fur/feather babies now too!
We love going to see the xmas lights with the kids. So full on wonder and magic on their faces. All done in xmas pjs of course
My favourite family tradition involves my mum, dad, my 4 sisters, all of their partners, our 9 kids and the 5 grandkids.
Every year we have to dress up (xmas style). It ranges from different themes such as footwear, hats, shirts to this year is FULL CHRISTMAS costume. Its fabulous and so much fun.
My mum would always put a special chocolate pudding in our stocking. A few years ago she decided that we were too old (my brother and I are in our late 30’s) and didnt give us one. Well there was outrage from both of us!! Needless to say she hasn’t forgotten since!
My favourite christmas tradition was waking up early to open the presents under the tree
My favourite tradition is to buy an advent candle each year as a countdown to Christmas. Each night I light to till it burns down the day and give thanks to God for all my blessings.
What a great competition – thanks for giving us the chance to win! Our children are still young so we are enjoying creating new traditions each year. Today my son and I set up our little advent table and lit the first candle to celebrate. Tomorrow we will decorate a homemade wreath for the door. I’m looking forward to spending the few days over Christmas with all our family (with lots of yummy food!).
A fave family tradition is our advent calendar. This year I put a Christmas affirmation and a wee yummy in each pocket. He gets a treat and special saying to keep with him all day. I love watching his face light up when he realises it’s morning and time for a new pocket!
Our family tradition is getting together and going on a picnic. Even though my kids are all now grown with kids of their own we still do this. If it rains we have a picnic indoors.
We’ve started a new family tradition of creating a kindness advent calendar. It was beautiful to watch our daughters carry out random acts of kindness each day in the lead up to xmas last year.
In the Aussie outback, when us kids were still living at home, every xmas we would head out the paddock and get a ‘real’ tree. I still remember when I was old enough to go out on my own and cut one down. I found the perfect tree and after a bit of effort with the axe, I had it chopped and loaded. I proudly brought my tree in the yard only to find it wouldn’t fit through the door 😛 I couldn’t believe it. My tree looked so little amongst all the rest lol. ‘My’ tree got decorated and left on the patio while dad lopped the top off it to make a mini one to bring inside.
Having lunch with all our family on Christmas Day. The lead up is so exciting with cooking, gift wrapping & Christmas craft.
it would be reading the story of Jesus’ birth with our children christmas eve and re-committing to emulating him in love and service to others, after all, he is the #reasonfortheseason
We are a family with young kids so Christmas traditions are not really established yet. We did put up the Christmas tree the other day to have most of the decorations ripped off it within 3 hours ? . Also trying to start a tradition of donating good toys/clothes to those in need at Christmas time and working on finding a women/children’s shelter to volunteer around Christmas time, I want Christmas to be about our kids giving and enjoying helping others ?
Oh wow, thanks Sonia for putting on a great comp, thanks for the opportunity to win something awesome! Our family favourite Christmas thing is the deliberate (as opposed to random) acts of kindness advent calendar, starting today when my DD4 and DD2 helped put the christmas tree in place and decorate. I personally also love to write my beloved other half a Christmas letter reflecting on the year that’s been and the amazingly blessed life we share to date.
every christmas day we have a huge water fight – it is always so hot and we dont have a pool so everyone gets in on the action (young and old) and has a happy wet time 🙂
Growing up we had horses and Christmas morning my sisters and I would always spend extra time grooming them and plaiting a little tinsel into their tails before giving them lots of carrots. Then we’d head out for a ride before coming back and opening presents.
Our family tradition every Christmas is to go out and enjoy an “experience” together, which changes as our family dynamics changes. So last year we decided to go cherry/fig picking and stay overnight at our relative’s restaurant. The year before that we went somewhere for a short trip away. We are likely to do the same this year, as we celebrated the birth of our second child just last month, so will plan a nice little family-moon away somewhere. Another tradition is that we usually leave such spontaneous adventures to the last minute haha.
Our favourite Christmas tradition we have started with iur two toddlers is our Kindness Elves. Each day until Christmas they travel from the North Pole with a letter listing a special job or community service act that the children can do to help others.
Our family love opening presents in the morning, having lunch with one side, dinner with the other side then basically roll home only to have dinner left overs the next day. Love it!!
We started a tradition of going to the shops, buying a bunch of flowers, attaching Christmas messages to them, and giving them away to people to brighten their day. At first my children were shy, but once they warm up, they love seeing the joy on peoples faces – especially when people try to pay for the flower, and they tell them that it is a gift from them.
We make Christmas fruit cake every year.
My favourite Christmas tradition was actually on Boxing Day when my mum and dad would the whole family down to Rockingham for a day of relaxation and fishing. If we were really lucky we’d see a stingray or a seal! Our little boat just fit all 6 of us and we’d be so excited to eat lunch on the boat, even if it was parked(?) on the shore. Lunch always consisted of boiled eggs, sliced tomatoes and cucumbers, watermelon, grapes and bread. Oh for the simple things ?
We always did the silly cracker hat photo at the dinner table, and for the presents – if you took your hat off, no presents for you!
We have an advent calendar we put little animals and tokens in, our kids are little so each day when we find the item, they have to think of a nursery rhyme or song that has that animal or thing in it. So much fun! Also everyone stirs a wish into the Christmas cake batter as we are making it.
There are so many wonderful traditions for Christmas, but what I love most is Christmas Eve. The excitement as the kids get tucked into bed is wonderful.
We make our own bon-bons with our own silly made up jokes, a chocolate or a funny little trinket, use a light-weight choccy though, as we once used heavier ones which became dangerous projectiles! And we add in a postive inspirational message for the coming year!
Every Christmas our family gets up early to paste our lamb on the spit with lemon juice, herbs and garlic. Allowing it to rotate and slowly cook for 4 hours ,ready for our Christmas lunch.
Carrying the tradition of the penny in the pudding, my Nan doesn’t like to see any one lose so she spends her Christmas Eve’s sanitising $1 coins and every plate she dishes up has one in it. Her way of making everyone feel special for the day <3
We play “Tinsel Twister” where we tied our arms and legs together with long lengths of tinsel and proceed to play regular twister!!! It’s hilarious!
There are so many little family habits that grew into traditions but The one I really love is sticking to Santa delivering the presents while everyone is asleep! The struggle, impatience and excitement this tradition brings along cannot be matched!
I remember trying to sneak out of bed once but forgot my nana was sleeping on the floor (on a mattress) and she screamed blue murder when I stepped on her!
Last year my 4yo sneaked out very early and very quietly to go check the tree in the morning and quickly grab the smallest gift and brought it back into his bed. Hiding under the covers, the wrapping paper noise gave him away. When he realised what the gift was and that I caught him he exclaimed; “I’m just helping you unwrap!!!”
We seem to have lots of little Christmas traditions. My favourite was going on the search for a little roadside stray christmas tree with my Dad and sister. We were surrounded by pine forests growing up. I tried to keep this up when I moved away with my own family , I sent my husband out with our two daughters….the came home with a terrible looking and pesky casaurina pine! I endend up buying a tree in the sales!
My favourite family tradition is snuggling on the lounge with my munchkins on Christina’s eve watching Christmas movies!
We have started the last couple of years giving gifts to the Kmart Wishing Tree Appeal to help the children think of others & appreciate what we have. We also buy a Christmas story book for each child to read over the lead up to Christmas.
Putting up the Christmas tree and decorations with Neil Diamond singing Christmas Carols ??
I love having the opportunity to create new traditions with my own family….so much fun. We have taken to doing a few small things that make christmas special for us, such as making gingerbread people and gifting them to neighbours, a lettter, almond milk and carrot left out for Santa and his reindeer, opening one secret santa gift on xmas eve (which my kids have bought one another), planning something to give towards a charity and writing love letters to one another, which we then share over New Years. Small things but they matter.
Our tradition is simply spending time with family ❤️ I love our tradition ?
Making our Christmas Cake
My family loves to play a game of Christmas Cricket! Its a great tradition that has been happening since my childhood.
We always have a visit from our lovely Elf on a Shelf. She always brings the kids an advent calendar – this year it was from Smiggle. My kids love looking for her each morning but are very sad when she has to go home.
Our family tradition is to each open one present on Christmas Eve. I used to do it as little girl and remember the excitement and feeling extra special opening a gift early. I love seeing my experiencing similar things.
Awesome giveaway btw! Thanks
I’m not sure we have much in the way of tradition. We take in turns which family we visit so it seems to change a lot. I’d actually really like a tradition to start that we can do on both sides. One thing they seem to have in common is nice lunch and then picking at left overs for “dinner”.
We do traditional Christmas lunch with turkey and pork because there are always leftovers and people just help themselves to the fridge throughout the night… the turkey conveniently located next to the beer & wine
My husband and I have started the tradition in our family of the Christmas Eve box. Each year our boys get a boxs filled with a few things they can open the night before. We include a new pair of pjs, hot chocolate and a new mug, Reindeer food and a new Christmas book or movie to all watch together. We love it!
Love reading everyone’s traditions!
We have a few too. Something that’s very important to me is giving at Christmas. I try to teach my boys that this is the best part of this time of year, giving rather than receiving. Every year we make sure we buy some toys, wrap and deliver them to a church in The Valley, Brisbane, where they are delivered to kids who aren’t as fortunate as us. My 3 boys love doing this! We are a single parent family so we are in no way well off but I explain to them that there are always families who are struggling more than we are. We also clean out our rooms and pass on toys, books and clothes and donate them to our local Salvos store (or friends if needed).
On Christmas Eve it’s tradition for the adults in the family to gather together and watch ‘Love Actually’ (I cry at the end every time). Christmas Day we are together or visiting the other side of the family.
Boxing Day always involves gathering the family together again to finish off the leftover food and play a game of backyard cricket or swim in the pool.
Our favourite family tradition is on Christmas Eve. As a kid my mum always let me open one gift on Christmas Eve, so I created a Christmas Eve box for my kids it contains their outfit to wear on the day, a DVD, a Christmas activity & other knick knacks. We have dinner & then we go & look at Christmas lights. It’s the best time of year because everyone else is out doing the same & all the kids are excited for Santa to come.
Oh man, all the prizes look great! Let’s see, favorite Christmas traditions..we usually put up our tree many weeks ahead of time and the kids get their yearly ornament to hang up. We’ve never actually done Christmas with just our family, it’s always been with the grandparents (whoever we are staying with at the time). This year we’ll be in Southern California, probably munching on oranges and burritos 🙂
Family tradition is going back to our history, on South africa we open our presents christmas eve so that we can really focus on the real meaning of Christmas on christmas day . Its like celebrating twice!
Every Christmas day we get together with my husbands family and have a lovely lunch, for which we all contribute. There is no need for presents it is just lovely to all get together and catchup and enjoy.
My favourite family Christmas tradition is that every year on Christmas Eve the man of the house buys all the ladies of the house their favourite box of chocolates. My grandad started it and it has been don now for many years in our family.
As a child, we would always watch the Australian Dance Sport Championships on tv every Christmas night. Such a magical sight for a little country girl 🙂
Our favourite Christmas tradition is taking time each day from Dec 1-24 to read an advent reading. This year we are reading a book called Unwrapping the greatest gift by Ann Voskamp and it’s exciting to read and daily anticipate the coming of Christ. Of course there are also lots of yummy traditions based around food – love making a gingerbread house, shortbread, fruit mince pies.
My favourite family traditions are all about the food. No xmas is complete to me without a breakfast fruit platter with gourmet yoghurt, champagne and guava juice and prawn cocktail.
Love your blog Sonia!
We’ve only got small children at the moment but we will continue this with them as they get older ..each year we pick out a toy for a child that is less fortunate and donate. They don’t quite understand completely yet but as they grow I want them to understand the importance of giving xx
My most favourite tradition from when I was a child that I now do with my children is reading the book I Think I Just Saw Santa on Christmas Eve.
I love that they love this book just as much as my brother and I did as kids x
Like most families, my kids LOVE Christmas! We dont have very unique traditions just the advent calendar, calendar for my Mum and leaving out homemade gingerbread biscuits for Santa!
Rachel x
One of our favourite traditions is a 12 days of Christmas with new books for out libary. We love books!!
Our Christmas tradition is that every year our boys get a new Christmas ornament, locally sourced and handmade.
One of my favourite Christmas traditions that I’ve carried over from my childhood to my own family is the Peter Coombes christmas album. I’m hoping my boys will grow to love it like I do, every time I hear it, it makes me so happy 🙂
We are yet to have our own family tradition as my husband is always been away for Christmas working. But I now cook with my little girl a gingerbread house every year as something we will do together. I love the family spirit that Christmas brings, just wish for one year we could make our own family traditions. ❤️
We are looking forward to starting some new traditions for our little family – it’s my brother’s baby’s first Christmas <3 I've seen some great ideas from the other entrants, I can't wait until little Dana is old enough to enjoy Christmas time!
Our favourite Christmas tradition is having scorched almonds for Christmas breakfast. We have for as long as I can remember.
We love sining Christmas carols around the tree on Xmas eve
We love listening and singing cheesy carols on Christmas morning.
We love doing Christmas Eve boxes .. with pj’s, movie, popcorn, hot chocolate and a book … it’s a great way to spend the night together before a busy Christmas Day
We’ve just had our first baby so will be starting all new traditions! Some that we will be continuing from my childhood is to make shortbreads at my Mum’s house, to read I think I just saw Santa (very well loved from when I was little) and I’ll be introducing Elf on the shelf including reading the book every year.
Our favourite Christmas tradition is going to the beach. With blended families it’s hard to work out who should host Christmas so now we just all bring a plate and meet at the beach
For me it’s the little things. All those little things make it into the day it is. It’s the excitement that builds from putting green up the tree to the night before Christmas.
It’s coming together as a family to share.
Snow scenes, smell of pine, food cooking, traditions passed down.
Enjoying each other .. and then passing these onto your children and experiencing those child like magical moments all over again. X
My favourite Christmas tradition would be Dad’s punch bowl drink with lunch. You never really know what’s in it but it always tastes amazing.
Our favorite family Christmas tradition is putting up the Christmas tree and taking the kids driving around the city to look at all the beautiful Christmas light displays. ❤️???????❤️
My favourite Christmas tradition is waking up early on Christmas Day, putting Croissants in the oven, some classic Christmas music and sharing in the Children’s joy. x
Our favourite tradition for our little family is to pop on the Christmas Carols and the reindeer antlers whilst we put up the decorations and Christmas tree. We finish up by both holding the angel and placing her on the top of the tree.
We love it when Daddy comes home early on Christnas Eve. He tres to be home by 9 to see the kids before bed. It’s the earliest night he gets over harvest season.
We have lots of traditions, but our most favourite is visiting our local church. They have an amazing light display each year, as well as static displays, carolers, scavenger hunts for the kids, cups of tea and handmade ornaments for everyone. It’s just a wonderful community feeling and even thought we are not parishioners, everyone is made to feel extremely welcome. It’s a lovely atmosphere to sit in for an hour or so amongst all the rushing around that happens at this time of the year.
We also have fond memories of this church, as my doll-obsessed daughter, as a toddler once stole baby Jesus from the display and lovingly carried him around for 10 minutes before we realised! We love to recall that memory every year.
We do the Christmas Eve goody box. Inside is a Christmas movie, some movie snacks, and pajamas for everyone.
What a beautiful group of prizes. The winners will be certainly blessed this Christmas.
Our Christmas Eve rituals are Watching the Carols. Leaving out milk and biscuits for Santa and straw for the reindeers. Putting out the stockings for Santa. Christmas day is a day of being together and enjoying a delicious lunch and a family game of cricket or football .
We always watch the carols on Christmas Eve. Always. Even now the kids are big, they love them.
My favourite Christmas tradition is making Christmas cookies and gingerbread houses with my children with carols playing in the background.
Our newish one since moving to our new home is on Xmas morning, the neighbours (men) dress in Santa outfit and santas helpers aka fairies and drive their tinny round the lakes with presents for the kids. We hang out on the pontoon as they drive past and they deliver a little surprise for the kids!! Hilarious for us parents seeing these guys dressed as fairies and so fun for the kids to have a real Aussie Xmas summer style out on the water!!
We have several Xmas traditions here. We always make cookies, make our own cards and advent calendar. This year we started a new one,which is donating a present to the giving tree at my partner’s work. Always yummy seafood, salads and frozen cheesecake for dessert. I try to make our Xmas choices sustainable but would like to work on incorporating more from my partner’s background,he’s German. Would love to take my kids there for a white Xmas one day!
I love making gingerbread men with my little ones a couple of days prior to Christmas. We leave one out for Santa on Christmas eve. Also we like to go for a walk around the neighbourhood at night and see the Christmas lights.
Ooh wow why an amazing giveaway! We would love to win!
Our Christmas traditions have changed since my daughter arrived … but mostly for us it’s still all about spending time with family and loved ones … every year we try to scale back to keep it a bit more simple and about what is truly important which is time with each other x
Our Christmas tradition is that anyone is welcome to Christmas lunch. Especially those who don’t have anyone to celebrate with. We have regulars every year & people that come & go. I feel comfort in knowing that people feel welcome to bring along anyone they know that is in need of some company & delicious food & the door is always open.
As a child, Mangoes were seen as a luxury fruit, and we always used to have to share a mango between our whole family. So my parents made the tradition of sticking a whole mango in our Santa sack that my brother and I could eat all to ourselves.
My mum was health conscious so we were also never allowed to have cocopops, fruitloops or frosties. But in our Santa Sack each year we would receive a mix pack of the mini cereal boxes that we could enjoy around Christmas. Knowing what we all do now, she probably wouldn’t have even let us have them at Christmas. However they were such a fun treat, which my brother and I always looked forward to in our Santa sack each year!
As our daughter is getting older, we are starting to begin some little family traditions. Putting up the Christmas tree on the 1st of December, having our own advent calendar that I put special little things in to count down to christmas, going to look at the christmas lights and of course on Christmas eve, putting out those cookies and milk for santa and water and carrots for the reindeer! I look forward to when my son is a little older to start enjoy these traditions with us!!!!
When I was a child we would start with my 5 siblings opening Xmas presents at home. Then we would get dressed up, pack our togs (swimmers) and go to our cousins where we all gathered around the massive pool table convered to a long grazing table of sweets.
Between swimming and grazing through lunch and desserts we would open bonbons, read the silly jokes and wear our paper crowns.
Best of all as the fans kept flies away in the hot evening, we would sit with the adults playing cards (500) often astonishing them with our skill.
Christmas for me is all about that family time. And what I call the Christmas graze.
When we were kids, our family had a tradition of watching Carols by Candlelight together on Christmas eve, while enjoying mum’s homemade mince pies. I loved the anticipation of what the next day would bring, so this is a tradition that I am continuing with my own family.
Our favourite tradition is the Family Advent Calendar. Each child (4) get one day of doing something special. This year we are making tree ornaments and window stickers.
What lovely prizes!
My favorite Christmas tradition is doing the activity advent calender with my kids. Every morning they open it and there is is anew aactivityfor to do together 🙂
My favourite Christmas tradition is choosing a new decoration every year. Today I found the most beautiful wreath made of feathers with glittery sparkles all over it. It’s white and grey and I’m in love!
My favourite Christmas tradition is doing the advent calender with my kids so everyday some Christmassy activity together. Great lead up to Christmas to get us all in the mood!
Coming from Finland we have many lovely Xmas traditions that we try to hold on to here in Australia. One of my favourite ones is a real Xmas tree, it brings such a nice smell and Xmas feeling.
Our Christmas Tradition is Open our presents first, then Chocolate and Ice Cream For Breakfast.
This is such a break from our normal way of eating, so it’s super exciting for the kids and for mum and dad. Chocolate and Ice Cream for breakfast is reserved for Christmas, Birthdays and Easter. Santa always chooses the best chocolate (not that cheapo stuff) and ice cream is my homemade banana cashew nut ice cream and banana chocolate ice cream.
We have a big lunch, and leftovers for dinner because we all can’t move – LOL!
Have a wonderful Christmas
Bel xoxo
On Christmas Day, growing up and for many years after our family would have traditional hot roast chicken and turkey with all the trimmings and plum pudding and custard for lunch even on the hottest of days ( my parents are from the UK!) We would do the Xmas Bon bons, jokes and wear our hats of course! Beforehand we would do present opening one at a time. Carols playing and the house would be beautifully decorated. We used to always have a real Xmas tree too! Now a days we all have our own families so tend to do a gathering with family after Christmas Day. One of our new traditions is opening a present on Xmas Eve as my married in family is Dutch. Merry Christmas everyone!
I have 2 youngish children. I have been trying to think of a beautiful family tradition but can’t find the right one. We don’t have family traditions with my parents or my parent in laws.
Am loving reading other people’s responses to give me ideas.
One of our family’s tradition is an advent calender that doesn’t involve chocolate. This year we are doing a Jesse Tree, which involves a bible reading each day about a different ancestor of Jesus, and a symbolic ornament to hang on a small tree. Other years I have wrapped up 24 story books, some about Christmas, and others that are lovely family stories. Each night the kids take turns choosing a wrapped book, unwrapping it and then we share it as a bed time story.
Our Christmas tradition as a child was putting our shoes out on December 4th for St Nicholas to come from Holland to Australia and put lollies in our shoes. We still continue this with our two children. Tonight put your shoe out and St Nicholas may even visit your house.
My tradition that I have started with my girls us to take amusing Christmasy photos and make them into cards for our family. I love doing it and I love looking back at the previous year’s cards too.
Putting up the Christmas tree with my three girls, I love how much they love it.
We made our own pocket Christmas advent calendar and do something Christmassy or summery together each day 🙂
When I still lived at home, my father, who is a giant kid at heart, would be awake first on a Christmas morning, waiting for everyone to open their presents. So to wake up the household, he would choose his favourite Christmas CD and play it as loud as the CD player would go.
A tradition in our family is to set up our tree and decorate the house on the 1st of November each year. It gets us right in the spirit of the festive season. I love my house looking Christmassy.
Growing up, making Christmas treats with my mum was always my favourite thing. We also celebrate Christmas Eve as my mums side of the family is European. I’m really looking forward to sharing these traditions with my baby girl and creating new special ones for us too.
My kids help make german christmas cookies on christmas eve to eat while opening presents around tree. We also always have a boxing day picnic at the beach with family.
We love taking our 2 little kids to look at the Christmas lights. We drive around in the car playing carols looking at the decorations and lights people have put in their front yards. The kids are still very young so it is a novelty staying up late (till it’s really really dark!) to do this.
We have always had Christmas Eve boxes which we open on Cristmas Eve. They contain a pair of pjs to wear, Christmas Day crafts, a new tree ornament, a Christmas storybook and a choccie. We are now continuing the tradition with our kids. It is so wonderful! Love Christmas time xx
My Nanna always made us a Christmas cake. She passed away many years ago but I now make the cakes, one for my house and one for my mum to still enjoy.
My favorite Christmas tradition is spending time with my family. Nothing beats that
I love that I grew up with real tree (not always pine) Christmas trees. Some were branches off the large pine in our backyard, others were smaller sapplings (a Christmas bush once) to add to our backyard, and some were cut pines. I love the smell of the pines but also love the idea and concept of natural and real is best that my parents have instilled in me.
I love making avent wreaths from pine and candles and mushrooms on a wooden log it reminds me of my family home in Switzerland and I make one every year!
My fave tradition is something we eat!! Every year one of the highlights is sharing Plum pudding with Brandy Sauce. Oh my. The Brandy sauce is a recipe from my Great Great Grandmother and keeps being passed down. A beautiful tradition.
we have quite a few traditions but for now while our kids are still young our favourite is going to our local church Christmas eve service and then driving around looking at Christmas lights. the excitement and oohs and aaahs from everyone in the car is beautiful, this is the one night we all look forward to.
Scandinavian tradition is gingerbread and lots of it!!! We make it with the kids 🙂
My favourite Christmas tradition is our laid back morning. No pressure to go anywhere, no stressing about cooking. We wake up whenever the kids wake us, hang out and open presents at our own pace, eat whatever we feel like for breakfast (if we feel like anything) then we clean up while the kids play with their presents. I sometimes find Christmas to be stressful as everyone expects you to visit them or come to your house. Having the mornings just for us balances the rest of the day out 🙂
It more of a boxing day tradition, but my partner and I will take our two girls to a nearby cave and bush walking track have a picnic and just spend time together. It’s my favourite part of the holidays, nice and quiet and relaxing after all the hustle and bustle and build-up to the day before 🙂
I love being LAZY at Xmas – family, beach, bbq, beers = joy!!!
On Boxing Day we invite friends and neighbours who do not have any close family to come over enjoy a meal with us.
Our favourite tradition is putting up the Christmas tree and cranking the carols. I let the kids go crazy with the decorations, I think the most beautiful ones are the home made ones. I always try and remind the kids it’s about spending lovely time with family and making memories rather than presents!
Once upon a time my family’s tradition was a traditional cooked lunch (regardless the weather! lol), my darling Mum’s special dishes, passed down from her mum. However, since marrying and having a baby I’m hoping to create a tradition of our own. So I’m creating Christmas tree decorations that represent all of our family members (seeing as we are spread to the four winds!) so that we can send them our love and thoughts as we dress the tree each year.
I’m a single mum and I couldn’t afford a Christmas tree for my two girls, so every year we go for a wander in the bush, find a beautiful dead gumtree branch, bring it home and then the girls would paint it, put glitter all over it and decorate it themselves. They were so proud of their tree and it is my favourite thing to do every year.
My family have a few traditions we folllow each year. The kids always have an Advent Calendar to count down the days until Christmas. Lunch is always a hot meal with all the trimmings and pudding for dessert and then we have seafood for dinner.
Our family is separated but the children’s Dad always stays over Christmas Eve to be here to open presents Santa has left and share the joy 😀 We went all out for the easter bunny once (he left footprints and all) but my Son (Autism and Global Developmental Delay) was very uncomfortable with an oversized bunny traipsing through our house while we slept so he now leaves a parcel and Santa magics the presents under the tree because we don’t have a Chimney for him to get in anyway 😀
We love going to see Christmas lights.
Wow, what a fantastic giveaway!!! I would especially love the stunning Labradorite Crystal! One of our family traditions is hanging our Santa keys on the front door so the big bloke can get in sans chimney ❤️️
Choosing a Christmas tree colour theme, everybody getting in to help put the tree and decorations up, and opening one gift on Christmas Eve night after dinner.
Christmas pudding is a special tradition for us, with nickels and pennies inside. If you find a coin in your pudding, you get a lucky dip in the goodie bag. My nana always took care with this, but with her passing last year my mum now does the pudding. I love staying connected with Nana on Christmas Day when we eat the pudding.
Decorating the Christmas tree with the kids and nice relaxing lunch at home on Christmas Day ?
Taking the children to see the Christmas lights and decorations on Christmas Eve. They have their PJ’s on and we drive around marveling at the clever displays and then we all hit the sack as soon as we get home. Late nights don’t mean sleep ins- especially at Christmas time!
For us Xmas is about coming together as family
It’s been a very tragic time for us and now we all make the extra effort to come home to Mum and spend the day laughing and ensuring the kids have a day filled with love and laughter
Creating memories for them and thier future xmases
Favorite traditions are decorating the Christmas tree with our the children and spending Christmas day with the extended family.
When our children still lived at home on waking we would play Nat King Coles Christmas album on waking. We still play it and our children play it no matter where in the world they are having Christmas. The memories of the kids pulling out their presents from their santa bags while Nat smooth tone in the back ground, brings joy to my heart every time I hear Nat King Cole.
My Christmas Tridition would have to be my mums Christmas pudding.She is not with us now but for the last 13 years I have made it every year.
We love Christmas Eve boxes, my little one loves it and we spend some time together opening and enjoying it.
Has to be the family water fight. It started for us before we had children, you would use anything you could grab if you weren’t lucky enough to receive a new water pistol! When my son and nephew were old enough to receive their own water pistols to join in they thought it was awesome. Was always a laugh and works well for the Aussie heat ?
My Christmas tradition is staying up late with the kids outside in the hot evenings, playing cricket, having a swim or anything else that reminds me of my childhood
A big family get together at the beach – lovely to see the family growing over the years!!
When I was little we were allowed to open one present under the tree. I was one of six kids and my sister was the one who knew how to rattle and shake all the gifts, she could work out just about anything. Some how we have stopped gift giving, I think it was lack of money or families growing too big.
Every year my mother comes to our house and bakes her Christmas fruit cakes for friends and family. My boys and I love it as it makes the house smell amazing. Then on Christmas day we spend the first half of the day with my family and then drive to my husbands sisters house and celebrate with their family. This Christmas is even more exiting as our 3 year old is excited about Christmas for the first time.
Now that my daughter is 2.5yrs and starting to understand Christmas this yr, we have introduced the ‘elf on the shelf’ tradition to continue down the track. Other than this, each year we drag my brother and SIL back from interstate and have a lovely meal with all my siblings, my p arents and whatever other ring ins that have nothing else on the day. The focus is on yummy food and catching up 🙂
Thank you NNAM you for the opportunity to win some awesome prizes.
We have a few traditions with our kids, mainly around the spirit of giving. We visit a wishing tree to choose a gift to give to charity, we make gifts for our neighbours and create photo cards for our family and friends.
Our Christmas tradition was listening to Christmas Carol’s while decorating the tree . Afterwards we shared a tin of Quality Street while watching a Christmas movie.:-)
We do a recycled op shop gift game where everyone buys one quirky present they can find at an opshop and when our name is called out of a hat we pick a random present from the centre of the room. However we have a choice, we can pick a present or steal someone else’s who have already opened theirs. It results in a whole lot of laughs and bargaining. Such a fun way to spend the day
For us it’s about keeping things as simple & meaningful as possible despite having small children! Decorations, craft, lots of baking (mince pies, shortbread, Christmas cake) then the Vinnies gift shopping extravaganza! Each of the children have $5 to spend per person so they can really go for gold at our local op shop 🙂
A quiet gift giving on Christmas morning with just us, then we head off to whoever in the family is hosting that year for a shared lunch!
The only one rule for christmas is to spend the day with family and keep it simple, share our day and our food. To be thankful.
This year we made up a care package to be given to an Australian soldier based overseas.
I would love to make this a family tradition.
I ❤️ Christmas! So I started a tradition with my kids that on the 1st of December when they wake up Santas helpers have been and left them a ‘first of december’ box ?at their door. Inside is there brand new Christmas pjs, a Christmas book or DVD and a Christmas craft item they make and give to somebody. The kids wear their Christmas jarmies every night and we read their Christmas books every night in December.
Merry Christmas NNAMUmmas ?
I’ve always loved the ritual of buying a live christmas tree, pulling out all the loved decorations and decorating the tree and house whilst listening to christmas carols. As a child my mum made a christmas pudding with her mum, then she and i did it and now she and I is do it with my kids, still in her mum’s mixing bowl and pudding bowl. This is the tradition my kids love, they enjoy the tree decorating, but it is pudding making with grandma that they really look forward to and ask about for weeks beforehand (pudding needs to be made by cup day!)
My favorite tradition is that all of us a a family go pick a real tree take it home and decorate it together sometimes it’s the simple things
Our family is quite big so catching up all through the year can be hard, but at Christmas its a chance for us to all be together, and to me thats the most important thing.
My daughter and I like to make and decorate Christmas stockings every year. It’s a lovely way to add a personal touch!
One of our favourite Christmas traditions is reading ‘the night before Christmas’, every Christmas eve before bed! The book gets passed down and it just doesn’t feel like Christmas if you don’t read it.
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Our children are just beginning to get excited about Christmas, our own small family traditions are still to be built. My 5 year old loves decorating a tree in the front garden and lighting a candle each week of advent. But really I think the favourite tradition so far is the long walks around the streets from mid December looking at lights and gardens.
So generous and such lovely gifts! It’s impossible to pick a favourite!
My favourite tradition is simply getting together with family. We are so scattered now that times together are few and treasured.
My children and I love to go looking at the beautiful Christmas lights in the surrounding areas. We always get a gift for the Kmart or Target giving tree’s. My children pick a gift they would like to receive or we buy gifts for a grandparent, early start to sharing for the more needy and appreciating how lucky they really are.
Christmas lunch is with an old neighbour of ours and she has no family and we all eat to much and laze about by the pool or couches afterwards!
Boxing day is another lazy day for us.
My favourite Christmas tradition is going to our local Christmas Carols and being apart of our community sharing the festive spirit together by candlelight.
Sadly we didn’t have any Christmas traditions growing up as it wasn’t something mum could afford. It was usually a small stocking with one gift inside it.
Having no kids myself Christmas has always been quiet but for the past two years my 17 year old stepson is here living with us. I now have a little niece (6 weeks old) too. For the first time ever we have a real Christmas tree up. So we have started the tradition of having a gorgeous tree in our home filled with wonderful baubles that we chose as a family.
Thanks for the chance xx
Even though it was always stinking hot in Darwin at Christmas time my mum would always boil up a Christmas pudding to eat on Christmas Day. It doesn’t feel like Christmas without one.
We get special Christmas pjs and open them on Christmas Eve to wear to wait for santa ??
No particular traditions here but I’m going to start the Elf on the Shelf as soon as grandchildren arrive.!
Our tradition is that we open one small present on Christmas Eve. Hubby doesn’t love it, but the kids do……surprise, surprise!
I LOVE Christmas so much and have created as many traditions for my kids and I to enjoy together. We have an Elf on the Shelf who visits every year. Putting up the Christmas tree is a special family activity. We bake Christmas themed cookies every year to share with family and friends. I think my favourite tradition is the Christmas Eve box which always contains a pair of PJ’s for each family member so that we all look nice and clean for our Christmas morning photos, as well as a new book, dvd, and special snacks for us all to share and enjoy before bed on Christmas Eve.
So many gorgeous prizes on offer – thank you for the chance to win! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
My favourite Christmas tradition our family does is opening one present on Christmas Eve and saving one present also to open on 1 January to bring in the new year.
We get new pyjamas on Christmas Eve, a single gift the night before the big day. I’ve also picked up my mother-in-law’s trifle as a staple. We never had it in my family, but it is something that I love!
For me Christmas is all about family and I am so excited to have my sister with my family and I this year…
The last few years my Father has been taking all the grandkids yabbying Christmas morning, so we have fresh yabbies with our Christmas lunch. The kids have so much fun.
That is a beautiful tradition.
My mum is German, so we do Christmas every year on Christmas Eve as is the German tradition.
There’s always a great variety of food these days, but there is always booked potatoes and the schnitythat we all look forward to through the entire year!
Making Grandma’s Christmas Gingerbread Biscuits! A family recipe passed down through the generations. A favourite with all the kids and adults too 🙂
We seemed to have created a tradition of cold meats and salads for lunch with a BBQ for dinner.
Christmas Day i spend a fair bit of time with my son in the car. He is highly saught after on this special day. His step family has a few small children so Christmas morning there. His dad’s family is large so usually a lunch function there. Later at his step-grandparents and finally to my parents & step family. We sing heaps of Chistmas carols in the car on the way. I’m blessed to be warmly invited to all homes and love the joy in each household. But over the years it’s especially beautiful to see how much love there is from this huge family community towards my son (& myself). Love them & bless them all. Have a happy and safe Christmas everyone. Treasure your loved ones.☺
What amazing gifts to give ? Our family tradition for Christmas is remembering and learning the real reason, the birth of Jesus Christ and being greatful for all we are blessed with ❤️
Super exciting comp, thanks Sonia xo
Our special family Christmas tradition would be the first week of December when we put our tree up and all the decorations. It’s a big deal. We spend the whole week preparing everything and always start on December 1st. This is when we also begin our advent calendar which is little notes we open each day involving something special with the whole family 🙂
Christmas is also my birthday so I ask my hubby to get a gluten-free cake made up at our local cafe, and we also play Christmas carols when we decorate our plant/tree.
Since tragically loosing my father 5 years ago, every Xmas we now play his favourite Christmas songs and carols and we set a place at the table for my Dad where we also place his favourite drink. It’s a nice way to honour him and acknowledge that he is still with us in spirit ?
Elf on the Shelf is quickly becoming a Christmas favourite!
Christmas day is the only day of the year when you can eat whatever you want. Rum balls for breakfast is a favorite.
We’re building a tradition with our kids to only a couple of gifts a day throughout the xmas season. We don’t live close to any family so most gifts are gathered from relatives in early December and placed under our tree. As each gift is opened we read the card, talk about the giver (remembering nice phone calls or visits, etc) and enjoy the gift, interspersed with hugs, play & food.
What an awesome giveaway! Thanks to you and all the companies involved! Baking biscuits for Santa is fast becoming a favourite tradition, as is pancakes for breakfast on Christmas Day. We have no family in Australia to celebrate Christmas with, so forming our own little traditions is so important, and hopefully something my children will one day be able to share with their own families.
On Christmas Eve we make and decorate a gingerbread house and the drive around to see the Christmas lights. If we are lucky, all 3 kids are still awake by the time it’s dark to see them, lol.
We have a Christmas eve box. The kids open it Christmas eve and find new pj’s, a new decoration to hang on the tree, a Christmas book to read, a Christmas DVD to watch and home made hot chocolate. We made the hot chocolate, read the book and watch the DVD in our pj’s before getting ready for Santa!
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