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South Valley Riverton Journal

Making Holiday Memories: Nine Creative and Frugal Traditions

Dec 05, 2014 11:02AM ● By Joani Taylor
I recently met a gal who told me a story about how they use their cowboy boots for Christmas stockings. This came about because, during a move to a new home, the box with their holiday decorations got lost. Instead of buying new stockings they hung their cowboy boots on the mantle and have kept the tradition ever since. 

When you think of Christmas traditions you might think of driving around and seeing the lights, watching a favorite holiday movie, enjoying special recipes or opening up PJ’s on Christmas Eve. Holiday traditions invoke wonderful and playful memories of childhood and help bond us to those we love.

We asked our readers at Coupons4Utah.com what their favorite holiday traditions are and we got a lot of great responses. Here are a few favorites that are out of the norm and easy on the wallet.

Stop a Cop: Wrap up goodies, then on Christmas Eve find a police officer or stop by a firehouse and deliver your treats, with an offer of thanks and gratitude for keeping you safe on the holiday.

Toy Clean Up: Two or three days before Christmas gather the kids and go through their toys. Place those they no longer play with in a special bag and put it under the tree. On Christmas Eve, St. Nick will take the bag and replace it with their newly wrapped toys. The toys get donated to a local shelter or care center.

Table Talk: Use butcher paper instead of a tablecloth and breakout the crayons. Everyone, adults and children, writes or illustrates something on the table. It can be words of gratitude, a big announcement or sharing a goal they hope to achieve. When it’s time for dinner each person shares what they wrote.

Go Camping: Camp out around your Christmas tree the night you decorate it. Tell stories by candlelight. In the morning have the same breakfast menu from year to year, like funny face pancakes or a special muffin or bread that you only make on that particular morning.

Discover Your Inner Actor:  Put on a holiday performance. Act out the nativity and read the story of Christ’s birth from the Bible. Then, have a gift exchange game where the gifts cannot cost more than $5.

Newlyweds Forever: Make a yearly decoration for the tree out of things you can find around the house that represents where you are in that stage of life. Your ornaments will tell a story of time as you grow your family.

Winter Wonderland: Make a paper snowflake each day during December and have your child write something they are thankful for on it. Then hang the snowflakes in the window or around the house.

Ants in Your Pants: Go sledding or ice skating on Christmas day after opening the gifts. This is a great way to channel the Christmas excitement into a healthy family activity.

Hide and Seek: Santa’s mischievous elves hide one present for Christmas Eve. They leave treasure hunt style clues all over the house leading the way to the gift.

What’s your holiday tradition? For more ideas our readers submitted visit: coupons4utah.com/traditions

Happy Holidays!