Christmas Eve Activities for Families

Christmas Eve is a day filled with anticipation and often preparation for the big day that follows. This year, get more out of the holiday experience by enjoying these fun, fresh activities on Christmas Eve.

Stave off holiday weight gain by participating in a 5K run with your family and friends on Christmas Eve. Registration fees for events like this often benefit local or national charities, so you can celebrate the season with the gift of giving and give yourself an excuse to enjoy an extra glass of wine at dinner. Check with your local running club, local newspaper, or on the Active website to find out if there are any events in your community.

Forget driving around in the car to look at Christmas lights. This year, enjoy your hot cocoa from the computer chair as you watch stunning Christmas light displays set to music on YouTube. These displays are often assembled by professionals and require thousands of lights blinking in perfect synchronization. Start with these videos: "Wizards in Winter,""Amazing Grace," and "Carol of the Bells."

If your Christmas is on track to be a white one, get out and enjoy the snow on Christmas Eve. Fill spray bottles with water colored with red and green food coloring, then spray the snow in your yard to give it a festive look. Build a Christmas snowman with half of a carrot nose and a guilty plastic reindeer placed nearby. If you don't have snow, take a walk around your neighborhood and have a Christmas scavenger hunt, spotting things like inflatable snow globes and someone hanging lights.

Before the hustle and bustle of gifts, dinner, and other family obligations on Christmas day, gather the family together on Christmas Eve. Snap some family photos with the tree or stockings in the background. If the members of your family have a competitive streak, some healthy competition in the form of board game tournaments or a cookie or gingerbread decorating contest are fun activities.

If you usually only leave cookies for Santa, this year make some magic reindeer food. You will need sugar, uncooked oats, and red and green sugar sprinkles. You can combine the ingredients in a baggie, or layer them in a jar. Before bed, spread the magic reindeer food out on your lawn.

As the day winds down, check in with Santa on the NORAD website. This military organization, along with Google Earth, track Santa's progress as he travels around the globe the night of Christmas Eve. Watching him get closer and closer to your home town will motivate your kids to get into their jammies faster than any other night of the year.

Source
Reindeer Food Recipe and Poem