Well, we’re not exactly giving away the Grinch. We do however have an adorable Grinch goody bag that’s up for grabs!
Yes, it’s our First Friday Giveaway here at the The Mailbox Blog. To be entered for a chance to win the Grinch goody bag—which is filled with teacher goodies that include felt-tip and dry-erase markers, stickers, colored pencils, crayons, glue sticks, bulletin board border, nametags, and more—simply leave your answer to the question below right here on the blog before midnight ET Sunday, December 13, 2015.
What’s one of your favorite holiday traditions? Feel free to share a tradition you share with your students, family members (including pets!), or community!
Thanks for all you do!
Diane
PS: Did you know my pal Karen is having a giveaway too? Click here to enter for a chance to win five winning products from the Teacher Choice Awards. Wireless bluetooth headphones? A Pete the Cat stick puppet? Check this out!
Congratulations to Jackie L., the winner of this month’s giveaway!
i love when my husband dances with my children after lighting the Hanukkah candles.
Making a gingerbread house
Having a holiday brunch with friends!
We like to spend a whole day just making and decorating special Christmas cookies
At home it’s doing our Christmas village and making a Gingerbread House. At work it’s doing all sorts of holidays with my children, today we did St Nicholas Day so the kids woke up from nap to shoes filled with candy <3
Making and decorating Christmas Cookies with my mom
I loved when my Dad would hide the baby doll in the closet. (I played with it while he was at work and put it back up before he got home.)
Watching Christmas movies especially White Christmas.
When my kids were little, they would use their Fisher Price little people and the barn to tell the nativity story. Our grandchildren are now starting to carry on the tradition!
I do Elf on the Shelf with my students. This year my partner is thw “grinch” (he doesn’t celebrate xmas) and we have been coming up with different ways that the elf has been “taken” by the grinch and escaping.
I make a Christmas Stoillen. It is a tradition that my mother started and I now do each December. Last December I made at least 3 batches with each batch making 3 bread loaves.
At school its the tradition of the school going to Santa’s Magic Forest and seeing Santa but more importantly we pay our entry fee and also bring food donations for the local families in need.
At home its the annual family get together at Grandmas the Saturday before Christmas. Where we all bring gag gifts and play bingo and fight for the best dollar gifts. LOL.
We decorate the Christmas tree and the house Thamksgiving weekend. In addition, we would bake Different Christmas goodies together. Of course, we would watch all the Christmas specials and movies
One of my favorite traditions is having a grinch feast with my students and reading how the Grinch Stole Christmas! Then we sit on the floor and open our secret snowman presents. I actually have all my students bring in a gift that is worth 5.00. They get so excited to see each others face when the person gets their gift. It makes my day because I teach in an area where some kids can not even afford food or other needs but the parents want to make their child happy and participate. If they need help, I will help out. I also pass out my gifts to my students, which brightens up their day and mine also. That is more important to me then celebrating with my own family because my students need more love and help then anything that i could ever ask for.
Driving around and checking out the light displays!
One of our family traditions is decorating the tree. But we don’t just pass around the ornaments; it’s a whole event complete with crazy hats and socks, and mock fights over who gets to reach the top branches (I am the shortest in the family).
Christmas Eve service at church. Singing “Silent Night” by candle light.
My grown daughters and I watch “It’s a Wonderful Life” together every year.
We go to the tree lot and pick out a tree to decorate with Christmas music playing in the background.
Watching Christmas movies 🙂
My favorite tradition is putting up some the decorations in my own house from my childhood. It reminds me of being young and all the excitement I felt when my family would decorate.
My family always goes to church together on Christmas Eve
On Christmas eve we go to my parents house and celebrate with them. Then we come home, and even though my kids are 17, 15 and 10, they open their Christmas eve jammies, leave cookies for Santa, they have hot cocoa, and I read them The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and Twas the Night Before Christmas. Then we cuddle until they fall asleep.
My favorite family tradition is unwrapping a winter themed booked each night in December leading up to Christmas. My kids love it!
In my classroom every year, I hang stockings with the kids’ names on them and fill them the night before break. Many of my kids don’t get much of Christmas, so it’s always so specials to see their faces!
My favorite tradition with my class (besides having a Seuss room & Grinch party) is reading the Gingerbread Man to my class. Then we go to the cafeteria to get our gingerbread men cookies to eat. But when she opens the oven door, the cookies are gone with a note in their place. We go several different places, following the notes, and then end up back in our room where the gingerbread cookies are. We take one bite and then graph which part of the gingerbread we ate first.
I love getting the little items to put in the stockings.
Every year, our classes have a pajama day the last day before Christmas break. We sip hot cocoa and watch Polar Express together.
My favorite tradition is cutting our tree and decorating it while watching Elf and drinking hot chocolate.
My favorite classroom tradition is to have the children create a finger print Christmas tree on a ceramic tile for their parents.
I love driving around and looking at the Christmas lights. It’s such a special time of year!
I love making cookies and wrapping presents with my daughter!
baking Christmas cookies
One of my favorite traditions is cutting down the Christmas tree with the family, then coming home home and decorating the tree. My dad saves part of the trunk so I can take it to school. We do many projects with the trunk and then over the next few months observe the trunk go from heavy to light as it dries out.
Wow! I love the idea of taking part of the tree trunk to school with you. I imagine tree lots have extra trunk pieces, too. Next year!!
Putting a christmas tree and decorate it. I took a little Christmas tree to my class to put up. I would have the children make decorations for our tree and they put them on theirselfs.
We have put a stuffed penguin (Opus from the old Bloom County cartoon) atop our Christmas tree for probably the last 15 years. It’s odd, but I can’t imagine the tree without it. A few years ago I also decided I wanted a more traditional angel, so now they share the space.
The pickle! We always put our pickle ornament on the tree and move it daily. The morning of Christmas the one who finds it first gets to open the first gift from Santa.
The Polar Express Party I hold with my class every year: we wear pajamas, we read the book, make hot chocolate in the slow cooker and watch the film (which the kids have to give tickets with their best quality written on it to enter). It’s become one of the highlights of every holiday season!
Love baking cookies with my kids,
We also go out and see Christmas lights at our local park
Reading the Christmas story and having a small birthday cake!
My favorite part of Christmas is having my brother’s family over Christmas morning for breakfast. He has two small grandsons who are so sweet and just bring life to our family. After they leave, then my husband, daughters, and I open presents and enjoy some time together.
I like to hide a pickle in my Christmas tree, and I teach my students about my heritage when we discuss winter holidays.
My favorite tradition is setting up my Christmas village. I used to do it with my grandmother and now I do it and I hope to pass it down to the next generation.
Celebrating Christmas Eve with my family . We do the Feast of Seven Fish.
I love driving around to look at Christmas lights.
The 5th graders visit the kindergarten to read them stories and to listen to guest readers (our superintendent and the Town librarian). We also all wear our PJs!
My favorite tradition at school is the PreK Christmas program! The students work hard to learn their lines and the motions to the songs. I also enjoy a visit from Santa Claus. He is there with a photographer for students to take pictures with for a reasonable price. Then he visits all of the classes (whether they paid for pictures or not), and is kind a patient with each of the kids. My favorite traditions at home are decorating the house with my husband and daughter; and taking family Christmas pictures with our dogs.. There are always entertaining out takes from that photo shoot! We also look forward seeing the Christmas lights displayed in a local park. There’s so much to enjoy this time of year! I love Christmas!
Doing a Christmas craft as a family on Christmas Day. At school my favorite tradition is we choose two or three needy families from within our school community and give them give bags and bags of food, toiletries, and other necessities.
Christmas Eve candle light service at church followed by lasagne dinner with family.
Our family takes an evening to go around town and see all the houses with their Christmas lights displays. We get excited when we find houses with a nativity in the yard…an extra bonus.
Carriage ride with my husband and daughter
We love picking a new kind of cookie to make and leave out for Santa.
One of my favorites with my students is studying about the Grinch. When I teach 1st grade, I always do a huge unit on the Grinch and then have an all green Grinch party in our pj’s!! It is a blast!!! My favorite thing with my family is sitting by the fire at my Grandparents house opening presents and feeling the excitement and love we have for each other. On my dad’s side of the family we play dirty Santa because there’s too many of us to exchange gifts! I love just being with my family and enjoying the time we have to be together.
My husband and I make Carmel corn for all of our family and friends as part of their Christmas gift. It’s not Christmas until the popcorn popper gets brought out.
I love teaching my students about different holiday traditions around the world. Each week we do a different country and we do an activity that represents that country. The kids have so much fun eating, crafting, and enjoying learning!
Even not that we are grown, my siblings and I (and our spouses) all wait upstairs until we are all ready to go downstairs together. Then, when we are all ready, we go down, and do stockings only! Then it’s time for a coffee and breakfast break. After that, the entire family goes into the living room, and opens gifts!
We are starting a new tradition this year of having a classroom breakfast instead of the usual Christmas party. The students will come in pajamas and parents will be providing fruit, donuts, breakfast tacos, and juice.
Spending time with family!
My favorite tradition is decorating the tree both at home and in my classroom. Each is always different.
My favorite traditions are the town tree lighting, baking cookies all day with my Mom, and snowball fight “paper balls” with my students (they are kinda shocked when I say GO!”
I love when my family gets to together to decorate the tree…every year we go theough the ornaments and reminisce…its such a happy time!
I put up a Christmas tree in my classroom Dramatic Play area and allow the kids to decorate and re-decorate. So many of them aren’t allowed to touch their trees at home. They love it, and it reminds me of helping decorate trees with my family growing up.
Watching Home Alone while putting up our family Christmas tree every Black Friday!
Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas with my kids.
Listening to the muppets Xmas cd while decorating the Christmas tree. Everyone takes turns putting on their ornaments. So much fun!
We go to the Today Lights every year! This is a huge light display with over 3000 lights. Years ago I started taking my nieces and nephews and now I take my son too!
decorating the tree at home and at school- The children get so excited to see their ornaments and all the lights.
Baking many different batches of Christmas cookies with mom!
Watching all the different movies that the holidays bring: snuggled on the couch with my children: the grinch stole Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas, frosty the snowman, Rudolph the red nosed reindeer.
We decorate the tree and the house every week end after Thanksgiving. At school, we have a time where all the elementary students get together in the gym and sing Christmas carols. It gives me goosebumps when they sing Silent Night.
Every Christmas season, my students create ornaments for their parents as gifts. We wrap them up and present them at our little concert.
I love making souvenir ornaments with the kids as we do Christmas Around the World.
Listening to Christmas music and decorating. It always puts me in a good mood!
Since my family is a blended one that consists of five girls and four boys that span over 3 different parts of the country, we celebrate the weekend before Christmas at our “common parents” place so that everyone can still spend the holiday at home with their own families.
Making ornaments with my class as presents for their parents. Our monthly theme is “the gift of giving” so we are also putting together a care package for a service unit overseas who can’t be home with loved ones. With my daughter, we enjoy decorating and making cookies with ornaments and recipes past on from previous generations of family.
My family will always open one gift on Christmas Eve and the rest on the morning. Usually, we open the one we can play with all night. I love having a great family.
When I was a child I would go to mid night mass in Christmas Eve with my family and when we got home Santa would have been to our house . We play with our new toys until daylight and then fall asleep .
I started a new tradition this year with my students. We are participating in “Grinchmas”. After reading and discussing the book How The Grinch Stole Christmas each student writes a good deed onto a heart. All of our good deeds are displayed in the hall as a reminder to all students.
I love gathering together for lunch and gifts at my grandmothers house.
Every year in my first grade classroom one of Santas elves stops by at night. The elf leaves a note to my class that is very messy and hard to read. Everyone tries to guess what the elf is writing with a little promoting from me. As we write the elf back, the students take turns to be good writing role models. Every year my kids impress me with their extremely neat handwriting to the elf. The crazy elf usually knocks down the easel, eats candy and gets into desks. He leaves a big mess every morning. Excutement is at a fevered pitch every morning!
New matching pjs for my kids on Christmas Eve
Reading ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas as a family on Christmas Eve
Going to the Christmas Carol mass with my family.
My favorite Christmas tradition is driving around to look at all the decorations of houses around town on Christmas Eve then getting into our matching pajamas. We exchange gifts on Christmas Eve while playing Christmas music and in our pajamas 🙂
Family lights and decorates tree together while listening / singing Christmas songs.
Watching Christmas movies on Christmas Eve and going to midnight mass!!
Attending midnight mass on Christmas Eve.
Each year in my classroom, I like to introduce Jan Brett books to my students and do an author study. Her books are beautifully illustrated and many reflect the holiday season.
Going to see Christmas lights in the town and having hot chocolate on the drive
My family gets together on Christmas Eve to eat, play games, and watch videos of Christmas’ past! It is always a lot of fun and helps keep memories alive!
In my special needs classroom we celebrate daily because my daughter-in-law is a music therapist and she writes and records music for us to sing daily. I use a lot of the materials from Mailbox to have hands on materials to use with the music. We cover so many traditions and symbols of the holidays.
My favorite school holiday tradition is making gingerbread houses and ornaments with the left-over free breakfast food. I have so much fun teaching my students to use low cost items to create special gifts. We end up with frosting and crumbs all over the place- but the room smells like Christmas and my students go home with gifts to share.
One year when my family was snowed out of celebrating Christmas with family and my kitchen was bare – I made a breakfast quiche out of cheese slices and instant egg whites (that I had bought for making ginger bread houses), every year after my son would ask for the Christmas Quiche. The Christmas Quiche became a family tradition,
I used to be very possessive of our Christmas tree and decorating it until my 2 older boys moved out/went to college. Now I miss them so much that it really makes you realize what’s really important. So now every year during Thanksgiving break, I let all 3 of my boys decorate the tree while I watch/give tips and take pictures. Let me tell ya, it’s not easy for this mamma but it’s worth it. 😉
Every year my church kids make ornaments and sell them to raise money for their chosen missions project. It teaches them to do something for others.
We have a crazy Christmas day in our classroom where we dress in our favorite Christmas clothes or ugly sweaters and our entire preschool classroom goes to all of the other classes in school and we sing Christmas carols that we have practiced!
I’m a Family Consumer Science teacher, and we are doing a great activity The Grinch’s Board Room which is sure to become a Christmas tradition at our school. I can’t wait for Thursday where they will sell their product and with the money but gifts for the shelter.
What a great idea! Wishing you great success!
Dinner and a Christmas movie. For each Christmas movie we have dinner along with the theme. Tonight we had spaghetti and watched “Elf”. Sunday we’ll have roast beast sandwiches, who has and Grinch punch while we watch “The Grinch”.
I love how we go singing Christmas Carols at nursing homes. It is so wonderful to see their smiling faces and watch some of them sing along.
I am a first year preschool teacher . I took a plastic canvas train and village that my great-grandparents made into school to decorate our lobby ! I am beyond thrilled to be able to share it with my students ! I hope to continue this tradition for many years to come !
My favorite tradition are the ones that didnt start as traditions but now my kids say.. but mom you always…. 🙂 Like putting candy canes on the tree- just did it one year and now my kids think its a tradition.
Dressing my boys matching Christmas pjs
And shopping my together for an angel tree family.
Making puzzle piece frames with my students
Reading “Twas the night before Christmas” and then my husband would sing Silent Night to the boys. They enjoyed the book. His singing, not so much!!
Some cherished Christmas traditions include:
·Decorating our tree when my step daughter joins us for the first time every December.
·Visiting a Christmas light display with my ex-inlaws (parents and sisters with their families.)
·Distributing Christmas cards to my family, church families, co workers, our students and their families.
·Attending Christmas eve services then distributing Christmas cookies to individuals who are stuck working on Christmas eve (gas stations, hospital ERs, etc.
·Drinking a cup of coffee on the sofa with my husband as we watch the children enjoy Christmas morning before I cook our traditional meal.
As a family we watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas and decorate our tree.
Driving around to look at Christmas lights.
Going to the Christmas Eve service at church, then going around town to look at Christmas lights.
My favorite holiday tradition is singing Happy Birthday to Baby Jesus and adding Him to the nativity scene. Ahhh Christmas!
My favorite family tradition is when we all get hit drinks (hot chocolate, tea, or coffee) and drive around looking at all the Christmas lights around town. One year when our children were in middle school, we took them to Albuquerque, New Mexico and did the luminaries/hot air balloon glow tour. It was amazing!
I love getting together with family. Family is the best!
I love making fudge and giving it to co-workers and friends.
My favorite tradition at school is Christmas Around the World. I especially love when “we travel” to Mexico. The students wear scarves over their heads (girls) or over their shoulders (boys) and we learn about La Posada. After making construction paper luminaries, we act out our own La Posada. When we get to the inn with the stable and the baby is born/laid in a manager, we sing Silent Night. Breathtaking every year!
My favorite tradition that I do with my children each year is waiting until Christmas night to open the stockings. We light candles and have the lights from the tree. We play soft Christmas music and make hot chocolate. Then we all get to open the little goodies that were left in our stockings. It’s a great way to end the night and spend some quality family time with just us…no guests. My kids love this tradition.
When my son was in third grade, he wrote about HIS favorite holiday tradition of “serving drinks to everyone” on Christmas. He added all these details about what he does, etc. but the thing of it was….he has NEVER served a drink in his life! It was hysterical. His teacher told me about it & I thought he was messing with me! So, now it’s our big holiday joke. We make him serve at least one drink for lying on his assignment.
Making gingerbread houses and ornaments with my daughter.
One of our Christmas traditions in the classroom is making and decorating Christmas cookies for them to take home, after drinking hot chocolate and watching Polar Express. The kids love it. We also make Christmas angel tree ornaments. It is so much fun- the 5th grade class I work with are always so excited when they know our craft fun day is here.
I love being with the family.
With our world turned upside down, my daughter and I started a new tradition
Last night. We normally go around looking at Christmas lights while sipping cocoa and listening to Christmas music. This year we added some fun with a lights/decorations scavenger hunt. Even though we’re missing her dad and grandma with us, we had a blast screaming out what we we able to cross off our list! This is going to be a yearly tradition from now on.
I love being with my family, particularly when we go to London to celebrate with my brother and his family. We blend the traditions that my family grew up with in the US and ones from my sister-in-law’s Irish childhood. There are stockings by the mantle, but also stockings at the end of my nephew’s beds. My sister-in-law makes the best “crispy potatoes” that have me drooling right now just thinking about them!
Shopping with my mom and doing the holiday gift with my students for their parents. THe parents are always surprised to get the craft each year.
I have a therapy dog who visits patients in the hospital he loves wearing his reindeer antlers and making everyone smile.
One of my favorite things to do is Christmas tree decorating – both at home with my family and at school with my students!
My favorite tradition is watching White Christmas. It was introduced to me by a high school teacher many many years ago. I have to watch it every year!
We ate a big pancake breakfast, then my mom got to open our handmade presents to here. It’s always a sweet memory on Christmas morning.
Decorating the tree, cookie exchanges, and sending Happy holiday cards to family and friends!
I love to read Robert Sabuda’s Christmas Alphabet Book. I encourage my students to guess the pop up for each letter.