In years past, our December was so jam packed, it became stressful to fit in all the traditions we wanted to do with our family. We were rushing around, stressing ourselves out to hit all the fun things on our list. It felt more like a chore than having a holly jolly time.

I finally came to the realization that we needed to slim down our calendar and have time to breathe, to savor the moments we had together instead of blazing through everything.

We decided to have a Christmas Family Council about what activities were most important to everyone in the family. We went through all our traditions and realized there were some we continued to do year after year than nobody cared about. We were just doing them for the sake of tradition. I grabbed the wipey board and the expo marker and we made a list of everybody’s top 2 or 3 favorite Christmas traditions.

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Once we had our list, and had cut out the extra fluff, we plugged our top picks into our calendar. This was super important to do as early as possible, before our calendars filled up. Our family traditions became important appointments so we didn’t say yes to other activities that would keep us from our precious family time.

We have been holding this family council for years. It is interesting to see how traditions come and go. Just because we skip a tradition one year, it doesn’t mean that it is gone forever. Our family activities ebb and flow as our family grows up and depending on circumstances such as weddings, travel or health challenges.

This year, I made up these printables to help us keep track of the things we love to do and keep, and the things we are letting go of.

I made a Christmas version, and a holiday version for you guys, depending on what you are celebrating this season.

Click the images for print friendly versions

When we held our first council, I was pretty amazed that almost all of the kids said their favorite things were to get the Christmas tree (all we do is run to Home Depot and grab one- nothing fancy), and go see the Christmas lights. I found that I was the one hanging on to all of the extra stuff.

One thing I like to make sure we fit into December, are our service activities. I loved talking with Merrilee Boyack about all the service her family gives on our podcast. Some acts of service were as easy as seeing how many smiles you can get in a day.

I’m excited to share our traditions with you throughout this month. We have some really fun old ones and some great new ones I can’t wait to experience with my family.