Discover new traditions to share with your family this holiday season.
The sights, sounds, and smells of the holiday season are nothing without the holiday traditions that bind our families together. Most families have a few holiday traditions of their own, often handed down from their parents or grandparents. But if one thing’s for certain, it’s that adopting new traditions can renew that excitement our families have for the holidays and Christmas.
Whether you’re a new parent with a growing family or your kids are already well into high school or college, here are 5 holiday traditions that are perfect for celebrating the season in Southern Maryland.
1. Catch the holiday light show and other fun activities at the Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center.
The Annmarie Sculpture Garden is a beautiful place to visit any time of the year, but nothing quite tops their holiday Garden in Lights event. You and your family will feel like you’ve stepped right into a winter wonderland as you stroll through the garden to view the numerous light sculptures and stunning light displays.
For the 2020 holiday season, the Sculpture Garden is a family-friendly mask-on event that follows all COVID-19 safety guidelines. You’ll find that all of your favorite holiday market pop-up shops, food and drink stalls, and family photo ops have been moved outdoors to make social distancing easy.
You can find more information about the Garden in Lights event and pre-purchase tickets here.
2. Gather at home for an all-day holiday bake-off with your family, complete with tasty, healthy recipes.
The numerous holiday baking shows that start in the fall is enough to inspire anyone to get into the kitchen! If your family loves to bake and cook, a great holiday tradition to try is an all-day bake-off.
Depending on your family’s preference, you can either make the bake-off a competition for Best Recipe or you can simply enjoy one another’s company in the kitchen. This idea also works well for connecting with local loved ones, as you can all share your baked goods at the end of the day.
A fun and healthy twist on this tradition is to experiment with new recipes. Remember, holiday food doesn’t have to be full of sugar or loaded with calories. Hop online and search for healthier versions of your family’s favorites or try out a completely new recipe.
3. Decorate the Christmas tree and camp out in the living room with your family’s favorite holiday movies.
Putting up the Christmas tree really marks the start of the holidays for many families. If your family already gets together to decorate the family tree, there’s one more thing you can do to really turn this event into a holiday tradition: a living room campout!
A Christmas campout in your living room only requires hot drinks, tasty treats, and a selection of your family’s favorite holiday movies. Get out your sleeping bags, warm blankets, and all the pillows you can to make a comfortable space to relax. Kids especially love the novelty of living room campouts, but we bet you’ll feel taken back to your young years as well.
If you’d like to pick up your own Christmas tree this year, look for a local place like this one.
4. Fill a thermos with hot cocoa, change into cozy pajamas, and spend the evening driving around to find the best decorated house.
Playing tourist in your own town is a lot of fun during the holidays. About a week or so before Christmas when most houses are fully decked out in lights and decor, gather up the family for an evening drive around the city. Everyone can change into their coziest pajamas and fill their thermos with hot cocoa or apple cider. Don’t forget to play some Christmas music to really put everyone in a festive mood!
For extra fun for the kids, you might even play some road trip games with a holiday twist. Two that work very well for this situation are Christmas Eye Spy and Christmas Name That Tune. Eye Spy is a classic that even young kids will enjoy. Name That Tune involves playing about five seconds of a song and seeing if anyone can guess which one it is.
5. Spread the love and generosity of the holidays by giving back to those who find themselves in tough times.
The holiday season is one that has a heavy focus on family. Unfortunately, not everyone is always so lucky to be able to celebrate the holidays in this way. A heartwarming holiday tradition to add to your family’s activities is to give back to those who need help in your community.
Some ideas include volunteering at a soup kitchen, putting together survival kits for the homeless, and donating warm clothes or other necessities to your local homeless shelter. Your family can also donate to your local animal shelters or help out with cleaning and walking the adoptable dogs.
Get in touch with the local shelters that interest your family to find out how you can help spread the love.
Take a moment to schedule your kids’ next dental appointment before the holiday rush takes over.
While you’re making plans for new holiday traditions to try, don’t forget to take a moment out of your busy schedule to book any necessary preventive dental care appointments.
If your kids are close to or past the six-month mark from their last visit to a pediatric dentist, now is the perfect time to get them in. Not only will it check off something on your holiday to-do list, but it will also ensure your kids’ smiles are healthy and bright for all those upcoming family photos.
During business hours, you can call our closest office to book an appointment, or if you’re short on time, you can fill out this easy online form and we’ll call you back.
