Making Holiday Memories with the Grandkids

By Grandma Sandy | December 18, 2019

**The grandchildren look forward to our annual holiday cookie baking.**

With parents especially busy this time of the year, grandparents can step in to help. In the process, they create lasting holiday memories for the little ones.

The Christmas Cookie Bake

This is a highlight of the season. I do all the prep ahead, making the dough and icings. Then, I set out the rolling pin, cookie cutters, cookie sheets, and sprinkles so we’re ready to roll when the kids arrive. Be sure to set aside a few of the best cookies for Santa!

Annual Family Photo Session

I insist we take family photos every Christmas. It’s the one time we are sure the whole family will be together, and this custom has preserved a treasure trove of family holiday memories. Steve or the boys do the photography.

**Here’s one from decades ago of my boys and me, scanned from old film.**

How to set a Christmas table with discarded pine branches from the tree lot.

Grandma Buys the Christmas Outfits

My pre-Christmas gift is a party dress for Miss T. I preselect three options, based on my budget (I wait for sales) and taste. She tries them on and picks one. This year, I pinned the choices on Pinterest for her review. (Master N, gets the standard shirt, khakis, vest, and tie.)

**This is Miss T’s first Christmas dress from grandma, which started the tradition.**

Creating Holiday Memories around Meals

We don’t open presents until we sit down to a braided bread I make each year from an old Sunset magazine recipe. You can bake this bread in advance and freeze it. Then defrost, reheat, and decorate. While not on the Sunset website, you can find this recipe on Seattle Flour Child. I make the holly berries from marzipan; the leaves are angelica.

**This Sunset magazine recipe is what we have Christmas morning. You can bake the bread ahead, freeze, reheat, and ice.**

Documenting our Holiday Traditions

While you can publish your own nicely bound family book, it may be easier and certainly cheaper to go low-tech, collecting all your holiday recipes in a binder. Fifteen years ago, I made a binder for each child, featuring our family stories about Christmas and typing out our go-to recipes. All the pages are in plastic sheet protectors.

**This binder, recounts our holiday traditions and features our traditional holiday recipes.**

The Kids’ Christmas Tree

A kids’ tree allows the littlest ones to participate in the holiday decorating. With an artificial tree, there are no worries about the tree tipping over and spilling water, and all the ornaments selected for the tree are unbreakable.

Preserving Memories for my own Kids

This one has been on the back burner for a few years. I plan to scan the best of my sons’ childhood photos from their albums onto a memory stick, so they can upload them to the cloud. I want to ensure their childhood photos are saved from any kind of possible natural disasters where family photo albums might be lost, along with household possessions.

I gave them each a memory stick in their stocking one year, with the promise to fill them with photos. Maybe this year, I’ll get it done!

What are some of your ways of creating and preserving holiday memories? I’d love to hear other ideas.