When I was a kid, Christmas Eve was my favorite. I loved it even more than Christmas Day because there was something kind of sad about Christmas Day when you are a kid. It felt like all of the fun was over once we were done opening presents. My siblings and I always did our sibling gift exchange on Christmas Eve after church which was another reason to love it. In a family of 4 kids, it was fun to open presents together the night before and watch It’s a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Story until it was time to go to bed. I have always preferred Christmas Eve because it has all the Christmas feelings and leaves so much excitement and anticipation for the big day.
I first saw the idea for the North Pole Breakfast from Cara Carroll of The First Grade Parade and I loved everything about it. Cara does her North Pole Breakfast on the first day her elf arrives for the season. I wanted to start this same tradition but wanted to do it as a send-off on the last morning with our elf, Christmas Eve. It is our final special morning with her and it’s the only time on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that our family is just us- before we head to parties and family gatherings and host company. It’s the perfect way to say goodbye to our elf and get excited for the next 24 hours of festivities.
Setting the Table
The night before Christmas Eve I set the table really “fancy” using all of the fun plates and dishes I can find. I put out real candle sticks and our cookies and milk plate for Santa and basically anything to make the table look like the most festive place you can imagine (like the North Pole!) For the actual dishes, I always grab paper plates, cups and napkins with Santa on them and use those to serve breakfast to my kids. I set out name cards with everyone’s name (including Abby the Elf), and this is where Abby is sitting in the morning when they wake up on her last day. It’s her final hiding spot 🙂
The Meal
My kids are HUGE pancake fans so it is only appropriate to make Santa pancakes out of our favorite recipe. We make these pancakes from Babbling Abby every Saturday in our house. You NEED to make these. They are exactly what their name suggests- perfect every time. Since 2/3 of my kids have egg allergies, I substitute the egg with 1/4 cup of plain greek yogurt and they are perfect every time.
To make the Santa face, you just need:
- whipped cream
- bananas
- strawberries
- blueberries
- raspberries
Something to Open
As I mentioned earlier, when I was a kid I always got to exchange presents with my siblings on Christmas Eve and it was what I looked forward to more than anything that day (what kid doesn’t look forward to getting to open a present a day early?!) Someday when my kids are old enough to exchange presents with each other, I plan to have them do it during North Pole Breakfast. For now, I have their special Christmas book and their ornaments for the year at their place setting, as well as a little craft or activity to do that morning.
Special Christmas Books and Ornaments
For the special Christmas book, each year I give each of my kids a copy of the same hardcover book to continue a collection of classics for them to take with them someday as adults. I have lots of ideas for special books and Christmas books linked here on Amazon. This would also be a fun time to give your kids Christmas jammies or a movie, a gingerbread house kit to build, whatever your traditions are!
Each year I give my kids 2 ornaments- the first ornament is from Shutterfly and it is a photo ornament. It says the year on one side and their name on the other side, and I put photos of them from the last year on it. I try to remain consistent with the selection of photos each year, so I try to always include their Halloween costume, first day of school, school picture, a photo from vacation, etc.
The second ornament is an ornament that symbolizes something that they were really interested in that year. It might be a character from a favorite show, movie or book, or it might be a favorite food, toy or sport. I usually find most of these ornaments at Target. They have a great selection each year.
The Memories
I know it feels like kids only care about presents and stuff at Christmastime, but each year I am reassured that it is the memories made that kids actually remember. In July my preschooler said (out of the blue), “Hey mama, remember how we have those Santa pancakes on Christmas Eve and you lit the candles on the table? I hope we do that again this year on Christmas!” If I asked him what he got for Christmas last year, he probably wouldn’t remember. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday but with kids, it’s a whole different type of magic. I love experiencing Christmas through the eyes of my children. Of all the jobs I’ve ever had, Santa is my favorite.
