10 Holiday Traditions & Activities To Do With Teens

This month's 10 on the 10th with Leslie is all about 10 holiday traditions and activities.  When my boys were young we had so many more Christmas traditions but one by one they've outgrown most of them. I'm not sure how many I can list that we still do but I'm going to try to hit 10!

In no particular order here are traditions and activities that my teens still participate in:

1.  Decorating Christmas Cookies & Holiday Baking-- With a son majoring in culinary arts at our local high school baking is one thing that we don't shirk on during the holiday season.  There is always something sweet and sugary coming out of the kitchen and we try to share them with lots of family and friends so we aren't eating them all.

Last year he wanted to try making his own egg nog

2. Driving/ Walking around to see Light Displays-- I have a few new places on my list of things to check out this year.  I try to make it a festive night with cookies and hot cocoa. 

3. Memory Ornament-- Each year since my boys were born we have bought them an ornament that signifies something memorable about that year-- a place we went, a new skill learned, a milestone in their lives, etc.  It's always fun to look back on them all as we decorate the tree each year. 

4. Watching Christmas movies together-- We have so many favorites that we try to watch all throughout the month.  You can check out our list of 25 Moves the Whole Family Can Enjoy.

5.  Decking the halls-- My boys are quite helpful in decorating for Christmas.  They set up my village this year and hang the majority of ornaments on our tree. 

6.  Christmas Crafting-- It's been getting harder and harder to get my boys to participate in craft projects but each year I try to find at least one thing we can craft together.  Check out this list of 20 Ornament Crafts we've made through the years. 

7. Touring a Christmas Mansion/ house-- This a relatively new tradition we just started a couple years ago and one I think we'll be forced to put on hold this year.  We like seeing the Newport mansions all decorated for Christmas and pick a different house to tour each year.  

8.  Decorating a gingerbread house-- I often buy gingerbread kits and the boys have fun decorating them.  This year Alec wants to try making one from scratch but we had the idea to use sugar cookies instead of gingerbread as a base since that's his favorite cookie.  Wish us luck! 

9. Going to the Yankee Candle Flagship Store-- I don't see us getting there this year but we do have favorite scents and I'm planning on ordering a few plug in's and candles for the boys.  It isn't nearly the same but we'll get back there one day. 

10.  Listening to Christmas music-- My boys aren't big fans of Christmas music but we have a few favorites we like to listen to during the season and December is the only month they'll listen with me while we're driving around in the car (especially on the night we drive around looking at lights).

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