Christmas Traditions That Move with You: 5 Traditions for Military Families

Picking out a Christmas tree from a farm is fun when you’re stationed at Fort Lewis. But then you PCS to Hawaii.

Spending Christmas Day at the beach is fantastic when you’re stationed at Pearl Harbor. But then you PCS to San Antonio.

Visiting San Antonio’s Riverwalk at Christmas is breathtaking when you’re stationed at Lackland. But then you PCS to North Carolina.

And on & on it goes.

On their own, each tradition is wonderful for a time. If you want traditions that last beyond one duty station, you have to think of ones that don’t tie directly to a place or supplies that are local.

With the uncertainty & chaos involved in this life, holiday traditions provide a grounding, a familiarity, a rare certainty in an uncertain life.  They connect us to our family, the places we’ve lived, and the friends who have come into our lives.

Think practicality, portability & replicability.

• Is this tradition practical given our lifestyle?
• Is this tradition one that can be packed up if we travel home? What if we PCS overseas?
• Is this tradition able to be replicated/modified in case we can’t find X?

Local Traditions…for Anywhere

Most of us, no matter where we’re living, will be near a commissary. The German chocolate Advent calendars you find there every year make a great tradition for military families.

{Tip: They go on sale early in the fall—buy then! They can be hard to find closer to December.}

Make up hot chocolate and head outside to walk your neighborhood. Whether you are on a military base or not, houses will decorate, so this is one that is definitely portable. Warm Hawaiian winters prompted this activity. Indiana was a bit colder!!

{Tip: Are you remotely stationed in a country without an active American presence? Take this opportunity to still walk your neighborhood—chat with neighbors, visit neighborhood stores.}

Buy an ornament for each place you live. This could be a once-a-duty-station tradition or an annual one. Ornaments could represent the area or you could seek out ornaments made by local artisans.

{Tip: Rather than buying an ornament every year, perhaps a photo frame ornament of your family enjoying a local place would be more memorable.}

Along those same lines, send local Christmas cards–either representing your area or cards crafted by a local artisan.

One more ‘buy local’ idea—choose Christmas gifts to send home that are from a local artisan or other local company. Craft fairs and farmer’s markets are great for finding items from small places but don’t overlook larger companies that may be in your area, too.

{Tip: The commissary often has a portion of an aisle (check the condiments aisle) with locally made foods.}

Thank you, Technology!

Is there an annual tradition that your “back home” family does every year? Gather together for a day of baking or gift wrapping? Christmas Eve dinner? Skype in. Keep it casual. It doesn’t have to be a formal thing where everyone on both ends sits down at the screen. Join up while both sides bake or eat dinner, conversing as natural conversations go.

{Tip: If you don’t have a tradition like that, start it now! This would also be wonderful to do with friends-like-family military friends you are no longer stationed near.}

My last idea is magical and it has a military connection.  Track Santa’s travels via NORAD.  A newspaper typo directed kids to call the RED PHONE on Col. Shoup’s desk.  The red phone that only he & a general had the number.  In the midst of the Cold War.  What a surprise it must have been to pick up the phone, anticipating news of an attack on the US, to find a small child asking where Santa was!!  NORAD’s Santa Tracker has an app as well as tracking on their website  

{Tip: Are you living someplace without good internet access?  More than 1000 volunteers are waiting to let you know where Santa was last spotted when you call 1-877-446-6723.}

And still more Christmas Traditions

Thanks to the lovely internet, purchasing Christmas PJs or Christmas shirts each year is easy no matter where you live.

Thanksgiving weekend is for A Christmas Story, my birthday weekend is for Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas Eve is for Christmas Vacation  As long as we have a computer, we can keep the tradition of watching certain movies on certain days.

{Tip: If you are traveling for the holidays or are packing light for your next move, buy a digital copy so you can keep this tradition alive.}

Choose a small, non-breakable decoration that will be your first or last item placed out & do it as a family.  Why small & non-breakable?  It won’t break in your luggage or overseas move.  Our move to Hawaii fell over the holidays and, while we packed our first packing well for practical reasons, we didn’t think to include any Christmas decorations!  I had just enough kitchen items to cook Christmas dinner but nothing to decorate our new home. {You try finding a Christmas tree — real or fake — on December 18 in Hawaii!}

Get more inspiration

What ‘portable’ traditions does your family enjoy?