Epic Holiday Bucket List for a Magical Christmas and Happy New Year's!

Epic Holiday Bucket List: 50 Adventures for a Magical Christmas and a Happy New Year

(Holiday Bucket List Series)

There is a particular kind of quiet that settles over the house on the morning of December 26th.

The wrapping paper is stuffed into trash bags by the back door, the cinnamon rolls have been reduced to crumbs, somebody is asleep on the couch under a brand-new fuzzy blanket, and the tree, still glowing in the corner, suddenly looks a little tired. You stand in the kitchen holding a cup of coffee that went cold an hour ago, and you wonder how an entire season slipped through your fingers so fast.

I have been thinking about that quiet morning since the first leaves started to fall. When my college girls pull into the driveway for winter break, the house fills back up with laundry, laughter, and opinions about which Christmas movie is the best one (they are all wrong, by the way). [Amanda: add one or two sentences of personal stakes for this particular season, the way the summer post named Sophie turning eight and your oldest getting married.] I know how quickly these seasons pass and how fast the people at our table change.

This is my wish for the holidays of 2026: to make THIS one precious season magical, from the first twinkle light to the last New Year's countdown.

If you've been around here for a minute, you know I believe in bucket lists the way some people believe in color-coded calendars. A good list turns "we should really do that sometime" into "remember when we did that?" The holidays have a sneaky way of filling up with obligations, shopping, and wrapping until there is no room left for wonder, and this list is my gentle rebellion against all of that. The magic doesn't come from spending a lot of money or creating a Pinterest-perfect moment. It comes from showing up, saying yes, and making something sparkly happen together (messy and imperfect still counts as magical).

You do not need to do all fifty. Please hear me on that. My best tip is to print this list, hand everyone in the family a different colored marker, and let each person circle the three adventures they want most. Tape it to the fridge, and suddenly you have a plan that everyone is excited about instead of a to-do list that only Mom is carrying.

And if this season feels heavy because someone you love is missing from the table, please know you belong here too. Joy and grief can share the same mantel, and I have learned that the hard way. You will find a few adventures near the end of this list made especially for you.

Grab your cocoa, friends. Let's make this one count.

Cozy Adventures at Home

Because the most magical place on earth in December might just be your own living room.

1. Build a Christmas Eve Pillow Fort Under the Tree Lights: Drag every pillow, couch cushion, and blanket in the house into the living room, build a fort right next to the tree, and sleep under the glow of the twinkle lights. There is something about falling asleep inside that soft, colorful light that makes even teenagers act like they are seven again. Someone will kick the main support beam at 2 a.m., and the whole fortress will come down, and that is part of the story. (Full Guide HERE)

2. Host a Pajama Christmas Movie Marathon: Pick five holiday movies, put on your coziest matching pajamas, and make it an all-day event with a popcorn bar and a snack intermission. Let everyone nominate one movie and then vote on the lineup so nobody can complain later (they will complain anyway). Find my favorite family Christmas pajama ideas HERE. [Amazon link]

3. Unwrap a Christmas Book Every Night Until Christmas: Wrap twenty-four holiday books and let the kids unwrap one each night in December as a book advent calendar. Read it together before bed, snuggled up with a flashlight or the tree lights. You don't need to buy new books, either, because library books and the ones already on your shelves count just as much (wrapping old favorites feels like greeting old friends).

4. Throw a Hot Cocoa Bar Night: Set out a big pot of cocoa with toppings like crushed peppermints, mini marshmallows, whipped cream, caramel sauce, and chocolate shavings. Let everyone build their own masterpiece in their favorite mug. Someone will use fourteen marshmallows, and their cocoa will be more marshmallow than cocoa, and they will be thrilled. Find my favorite hot cocoa bar supplies HERE. [Amazon link]

5. Write Letters to Santa and Mail Them: Sit down with markers, glitter, and envelopes and write real letters to Santa. Encourage the kids to include a question for Santa and something they are grateful for, not just their wish list. Look up the USPS holiday letter programs, too, because there are ways to get a reply that feels like it really came from the North Pole.

6. Track Santa on Christmas Eve: NORAD has been tracking Santa's sleigh for decades, and following his journey around the globe on Christmas Eve is pure magic for little ones. Pull it up on the biggest screen in the house and cheer every time he lands somewhere new. When he gets close to your time zone, that is the official signal to get to bed.

7. Start a Christmas Eve Puzzle Tradition: Open one brand-new jigsaw puzzle on Christmas Eve and work on it together through the lazy days between Christmas and New Year's. Leave it out on a card table where people can wander by and add a piece or two with their coffee. There will be one missing piece at the very end, and someone will find it in the dog's bed. Find my favorite holiday puzzles HERE. [Amazon link]

Kitchen Magic

Because the smell of cinnamon drifting through the house is its own love language.

8. Bake and Decorate Christmas Sugar Cookies: Make a big batch of cut-out sugar cookies, mix up bowls of colored icing, and set out every sprinkle you own. Let everyone decorate however they want, with zero rules and zero judgment. Someone will make a cookie that looks like abstract art, and it will be the first one eaten. Expect sprinkles on the floor until February.

9. Build Gingerbread Houses: You can buy a gingerbread house kit to make it easier, or build mini houses out of graham crackers, frosting, and whatever candy you have in the pantry. Turn it into a family contest with categories like "Most Creative," "Most Likely to Collapse," and "Best Use of Gumdrops." At least one roof will cave in, and that house deserves an award too. Find my favorite gingerbread house kits HERE. [Amazon link]

10. Host a Holiday Open House: Invite neighbors, friends, and anyone who might be spending the season alone for a casual drop-in afternoon with snacks and cider. If you know me, you know I'm obsessed with warming trays, and this is exactly where they shine, because everything stays hot without you being chained to the oven all afternoon. Find my favorite warming trays HERE. [Amazon link] [Amanda: add a specific reason you love yours for holiday entertaining.]

11. Make Frozen Hot Chocolate: Hot cocoa gets all the attention in December, but frozen hot chocolate is the fun, rebellious cousin. Make it in a Ninja Slushi for that perfect frosty texture, or blend cocoa, milk, and ice in a regular blender for a no-buy version. Top it with whipped cream and crushed candy canes, and serve it while everyone is wearing their fuzziest socks. (Full Slushie Guide HERE)

12. Churn Peppermint Ice Cream: Make homemade peppermint ice cream in a Ninja Creami, or go old school with an ice cream maker or the shake-it-in-a-bag method. Fold in crushed candy canes or chopped chocolate peppermint cookies at the end. Serve it on Christmas night when everyone is too full for pie but somehow not too full for ice cream. [Amanda: add your Creami tip here if you have one.]

13. Prep a Christmas Morning Breakfast Casserole the Night Before: Assemble an overnight breakfast casserole on Christmas Eve and slide it into the oven while everyone tears into their stockings. Christmas morning feels so much calmer when breakfast cooks itself. Your future self, standing in a sea of wrapping paper, will thank you.

14. Make a Recipe from Someone You Love: Dig out that splattered recipe card in your grandmother's handwriting, call an aunt for her famous fudge recipe, or ask the oldest person at your table to teach you the dish they grew up with. Cook it together and tell their stories while you stir. Food carries memory in a way nothing else does, and this is how a recipe becomes a legacy.

Creative Adventures

Because handmade magic is the kind your kids will unpack every December for the rest of their lives.

15. Make Salt Dough Ornaments: Mix flour, salt, and water, roll out the dough, and cut shapes with cookie cutters. Press little handprints into a few of them and write the year on the back. Bake, paint, and hang them on the tree. Years from now, those tiny handprints will make you cry when you unwrap them, so consider yourself warned.

16. Cut Paper Snowflakes for Every Window: Fold, snip, and unfold paper snowflakes until your windows look like a winter wonderland. Use regular printer paper, coffee filters, or even old book pages for a vintage look. Some of them will look like snowflakes, and some of them will look like Swiss cheese, and every single one belongs on the glass.

17. Have a Family Christmas Card Photo Shoot: Pick a spot, coordinate (or very much do not coordinate) your outfits, and set up a tripod with a remote. Take the nice picture, and then take the silly one, the blooper one, and the one where the dog steals the show. The outtakes are always better than the real card. Find my favorite phone tripod with a remote HERE. [Amazon link]

18. String a Dried Orange and Cinnamon Garland: Slice oranges thin, bake them low and slow until they look like stained glass, and string them with cinnamon sticks and bay leaves. Your whole house will smell like Christmas for days. Hang the garland across the mantel, a window, or the tree. (Home for Christmas Series HERE)

19. Make Lavender Sachets and Ornaments: Fill little muslin bags or fabric scraps with dried lavender and tie them with ribbon to hang on the tree, tuck into drawers, or give as gifts. Lavender is so calming during the busiest season of the year, and the kids love scooping the buds. Find dried lavender from my farm, Land & Sky, HERE. [Land & Sky link]

20. Host an Ugly Christmas Sweater Design Contest: Grab cheap sweaters from the thrift store and pile hot glue guns, pom-poms, tinsel, jingle bells, and anything else that sparkles onto the craft table. Give everyone one hour to create the most gloriously hideous sweater ever made. Hold a runway show, crown a winner, and then wear them to dinner.

21. Color Christmas Coloring Pages by the Fire: Print a stack of Christmas coloring pages, light the fire (or turn on the fireplace video on the TV), put on a holiday playlist, and color together. It is one of the easiest ways to slow everybody down on a busy night. Grab my free printable Christmas coloring pages HERE. [Amanda: link your printable once it is ready.]

Out-and-About Adventures

Because some magic only happens when you bundle up and go find it.

22. Cut Your Own Christmas Tree at a Tree Farm: Pack hot cider, bundle everyone up, and head to a cut-your-own tree farm. If you live in the Carolinas, we are spoiled with Fraser fir farms in the mountains. Walk the rows until you find "the one," then let the kids take turns with the saw (with a lot of supervision). The tree you pick will look way smaller in the field than it does in your living room, I promise.

23. Walk the Lights in McAdenville, Christmas Town USA: If you are anywhere near Charlotte, McAdenville is a can't-miss holiday tradition, with the whole little town glowing in Christmas lights. Park outside of town and walk it instead of sitting in traffic, because walking under all those lights with a cup of cocoa is the best way to soak it in. Go on a weeknight if you can.

24. Do a Drive-Through Light Show in Your Pajamas: Load everyone into the car in pajamas, pack cocoa in travel mugs and a bag of popcorn, and cruise through a big drive-through light show. Around Charlotte, Speedway Christmas at the Charlotte Motor Speedway is a favorite. Tune the radio to the holiday station and sing loudly with the windows down at least once, even when it's cold.

25. Stroll Through a Botanical Garden Holiday Lights Event: Many botanical gardens transform into glowing wonderlands in December, and Daniel Stowe Botanical Garden near Charlotte does a beautiful holiday lights event. Bundle up, wear your comfiest shoes, and take your time. Look for local garden light shows near you if you live farther away.

26. Go Ice Skating: Find an outdoor rink or a seasonal holiday rink and lace up your skates, even if you have not skated since the third grade. Hold hands, laugh at yourselves, and celebrate every time someone makes it all the way around without grabbing the wall. Someone will fall dramatically, and someone else will turn out to be a secret Olympian.

27. See The Nutcracker or a Local Holiday Show: Dress up a little and go see The Nutcracker, a holiday concert, or a community theater production of A Christmas Carol. Local dance studios and churches often put on beautiful performances for a fraction of the price of the big productions. Watching a child's face during the Waltz of the Snowflakes is worth every penny.

28. Go to a Christmas Parade: Bring folding chairs, blankets, and a thermos of cocoa, and claim your spot on the curb early. Wave at every float, cheer for every marching band, and scramble for every piece of candy tossed your way. Small-town Christmas parades are especially charming, with tractors draped in lights and the local fire truck carrying Santa.

29. Go Christmas Caroling in Your Neighborhood: Print the lyrics to a few classic carols, grab some flashlights, and knock on your neighbors' doors to sing. Yes, it is a little awkward, and yes, that is the point. Bring a plate of cookies to leave behind, and watch your neighbors light up. Your teenagers will protest loudly and then secretly love it.

Winter Nature Adventures

Because the earth is still putting on a show in December if we remember to go outside and look.

30. Take a Winter Solstice Lantern Walk: On the longest night of the year, December 21st, light lanterns or battery candles and take a slow evening walk around your neighborhood or a favorite trail. Talk about what you want to leave in the dark and what light you want to carry into the new year. It is a beautiful, quiet tradition that balances out all the December hustle.

31. Make Pinecone Bird Feeders and Identify Your Visitors: Smear pinecones with peanut butter, roll them in birdseed, and hang them where you can see them from the kitchen window. Then use the free Merlin Bird ID app to figure out who is coming to dinner. Winter is a wonderful time for birdwatching because the bare branches make them so much easier to spot. (Full Merlin Bird ID Guide HERE)

32. Watch the Geminid Meteor Shower: The Geminids peak in mid-December and are one of the best meteor showers of the whole year. Pile into sleeping bags in the backyard or on the trampoline, bring hot cocoa in a thermos, and give your eyes time to adjust to the dark. Make a wish on every shooting star, and keep count to see who spots the most.

33. Have a Snow Day, Real or Imagined: If you get real snow, drop everything and go play, because Southern snow does not wait for anyone. Build a snowman, have a snowball fight, and make snow cream. If the snow never comes (which, around here, is likely), declare a fake snow day anyway with an indoor snowball fight using rolled-up socks, a snowflake craft, and a "snowed in" movie afternoon.

34. Host a Fire Pit Night with S'mores: S'mores are not just for summer. Bundle up in coats and blankets, gather around the fire pit, and make s'mores with a holiday twist, like peppermint patties or chocolate-covered gingerbread cookies instead of the plain chocolate bar. Tell stories, sing a carol or two, and stay out until your toes get cold.

Giving Adventures

Because the most magical gifts are the ones we give away.

35. Adopt an Angel from an Angel Tree: Pick a tag from a Salvation Army Angel Tree or a giving tree at your church, school, or local store, and let the kids help shop for a child their age. Talk about what that child might be hoping for this Christmas. It is one of the most tangible ways to show kids that giving feels even better than getting.

36. Fill a Reverse Advent Calendar Box: Instead of taking a treat out each day in December, put something in. Add one nonperishable food item or toiletry to a box every day, and on Christmas Eve, drop it off at your local food bank or shelter. Watching that box fill up is a quiet, beautiful way to count down to Christmas.

37. Bake for Your Local Heroes: Bake cookies or make a goodie basket and deliver it to your local fire station, police station, hospital nurses' station, or the folks who keep your neighborhood running, like your mail carrier and trash collectors. Have the kids make handwritten thank-you cards to tuck inside. So many of these people work through the holidays so the rest of us can celebrate.

38. Send Holiday Cards to Service Members and Veterans: Military families spend so many holidays apart, and I know firsthand how much a kind word from a stranger can mean during that season. Write cards for deployed service members, veterans in VA hospitals, or residents at a local veterans' home. [Amanda: add a link to the program or organization you trust most for this.]

39. Do a Random Acts of Kindness Countdown: Write one small act of kindness on each of twenty-four slips of paper, fold them up, and pull one every day in December. Pay for the coffee of the person behind you, leave a note on a neighbor's door, tape quarters to a vending machine, or shovel someone's driveway. The kids will start looking for ways to be kind before you even pull the slip.

40. Declutter and Donate Before Christmas: Before the new gifts arrive, have everyone go through their rooms and choose toys, books, and clothes they have outgrown to donate. It makes space in your home and in their hearts. Drop everything off together so the kids can see where it goes.

New Year's Adventures

Because the best way to welcome a new year is with your whole heart and a little bit of confetti.

41. Throw a Noon Year's Eve Party for the Little Ones: Little ones and midnight are not friends, so celebrate at noon instead. Count down to 12:00 p.m. with balloons, noisemakers, sparkling juice, and a confetti drop. Everyone gets the thrill of the countdown, and bedtime stays intact. (Grown-ups, you are welcome to do it all again at midnight.)

42. Hold a Family Year-in-Review Awards Ceremony: Gather around the table and hand out silly and sincere awards for the year, like "Bravest Moment," "Funniest Fail," "Most Improved Pancake Flipper," and "Best Adventure." Scroll through the year's photos on the TV together. You'll laugh, you might cry, and everyone will feel seen. Find my favorite trophies and medals HERE. [Amazon link]

43. Bury a Family Time Capsule: Fill a box or jar with letters to your future selves, a few photos, a newspaper from the day, a list of everyone's current favorites, and a prediction for the year ahead. Seal it up and write "Do Not Open Until" with a date at least five years away. Then hide it somewhere safe and try very hard not to forget where you put it.

44. Go on a First Day Hike: Many state parks host guided First Day Hikes on January 1st, and starting the year on a trail with fresh air in your lungs is about the best reset there is. Pack a thermos and a snack, and take a family photo at the top. If guided hikes are not your thing, any trail, greenway, or walk around the block counts.

45. Eat a Lucky Southern New Year's Day Meal: In the South, we ring in the new year with black-eyed peas for luck, collard greens for money, and cornbread for gold. Make the whole spread, or at least eat one spoonful of black-eyed peas each for good luck. Even the pickiest eater in your family will usually agree to one bite of luck.

46. Write It and Release It: On New Year's Eve, have everyone write down something from the past year they want to let go of, like a fear, a disappointment, or a habit. Then safely burn the papers in the fire pit or fireplace, or rip them into tiny pieces and throw them away. Watching those words disappear is surprisingly powerful, for kids and grown-ups alike.

47. Create Word of the Year Vision Boards: Grab a stack of old magazines, poster board, scissors, and glue sticks, and have everyone choose one word to guide their year ahead. Build vision boards around those words and hang them where you'll see them every day. It is fascinating to see what words your kids pick, because they will tell you so much about their hearts.

Brave List Adventures

Because the holidays ask us to be brave in ways nobody talks about.

48. Hang an Ornament for Someone You Miss: If someone you love is missing from your table this year, choose an ornament that reminds you of them and hang it somewhere special on the tree. Tell a story about them as you hang it, and let the kids ask questions. Grief does not take a holiday, and making room for it is one of the bravest and most loving things a family can do. [Amanda: add your own tradition for remembering Neal here, if you'd like to share it.]

49. Take a New Year's Day Polar Plunge: Plenty of communities host polar plunges on New Year's Day, often as fundraisers for a good cause, and there is nothing quite like running into icy water while a crowd cheers you on. You will scream. You will feel more alive than you have all year. Bring a fluffy robe, a towel, and a thermos of something warm for afterward.

50. Host the Gathering You've Been Too Nervous to Host: Maybe it is your first time hosting Christmas dinner, a cookie exchange for neighbors you barely know, or a New Year's party for friends you have been meaning to reconnect with. Do it anyway. The table does not need to be perfect, and the turkey does not need to be magazine-worthy. Doing brave things you think are impossible resets your what's possible button, and the people who show up will remember the warmth, not the mashed potatoes.

BONUS: Write Your Brave List for 2027: Before the ball drops, sit down with a journal and write a list of the brave things you want to try in the coming year. Big things, small things, scary things, and silly things all belong on it. Have your kids write their own lists too, and tuck them somewhere safe to read next December. A year from now, you'll be amazed at how many you crossed off.

Make This One Precious Season Count

Before you know it, that December 26th quiet will settle over your house again. The tree will start dropping needles (you will still be finding them in July), the cocoa mugs will go back into the cabinet, and the twinkle lights will come down one strand at a time. And standing there in your kitchen with that cold cup of coffee, you will have the chance to look back and wonder. Did you make this one precious season count?

Some of these adventures will go sideways (I guarantee it). The gingerbread house will cave in. The hot cocoa will end up on the new rug. Somebody will cry during the Christmas card photo shoot, and it just might be you.

The messy moments are the ones they will remember most.

Now go bundle up, light the candles, and make some memories. I hope that when the quiet morning of December 26th arrives, you'll smile, because you'll already have a whole season of stories to tell.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year, friends.

Amanda

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