Mom shares her unique and hassle-free after-Christmas tradition to keep the cheer alive

There are several traditions and practices that every family usually follows before and during Christmas to keep the festive cheer alive. There's the elf on a shelf, leaving cookies and milk out for Santa, opening presents on Christmas morning and so on. While these enhance the holiday spirit, it does get hectic and tiring to pack it all up once the season ends. What everyone needs is something to look forward to the next time, so even after Christmas, the cheer and hope still lingers. Casey Chavara—who goes by @thechavarastory on TikTok—shared a simple yet wholesome tradition children and adults can try after the Christmas season. She proudly calls it her "after-Christmas" tradition.

The mom of 4, with 2 daughters and 2 sons, has been sharing her holiday spirit on Instagram. With several traditions, mishaps and joys of the festivity, the mom also shared the after-Christmas tradition that she and her children follow. Explaining the same in her caption, Chavara wrote, "Such a simple tradition, but I love it. Before we put the kids' stockings away each year, we have them write (or we do it for them) a little note about top moments from that Christmas." Elaborating more on the same, the mom said that the note could be anything the person likes about the year's holidays.

Sharing examples, the mom wrote, "Favorite gift to give, favorite gift to get, memorable moments." The mom further mentioned that even adults could opt to do this tradition to keep the Christmas hope alive. In the video, the mom keeps all the family's stockings on a table and each of her children is seen enthusiastically waiting for their parents to help them write their notes to put in. Her two daughters are seen reading and checking whether they have everything they need to jot down before they move to the next step of the tradition.

The note consisted of the person's name and the current year at the back while the front side read things they liked about the year's Christmas. As soon as the notes were all written, the next step was to place them inside the stockings to put them away until the next year. "Then we tuck them into the stockings and store them for the year," the mom said. While this imbibes an added sense of eagerness to look forward to the next year, it also shows gratitude and illuminating emotions. However, the main purpose of this after-tradition is to come back to these notes the following year while putting up one's stocking and read how well the previous Christmas went.

"Putting up stockings is so sweet because we get to read back about previous Christmases!" Chavara said. Several moms appreciated the idea and were eager to try. @valuemindedmama said, "Love this idea! So simple but meaningful!" @livingwithamanda said, "So funny. I've only done this for myself. A note to myself for the next year…to remind myself to slow down and enjoy the season." @brendasestito said, "This is great for a couple that just got married, then have a first, second child, etc., then when kids grow up and meet significant other, and start their life, and have their children....great to recount and look back even with grandparents....great tradition!"