5 Ways to Create New Holiday Traditions

With four of her five children now grown, singer Amy Grant says her family's holiday traditions have evolved. "We have traditions, but they change every year," she tells Good Housekeeping. "Children grow up, so now we're just a bunch of adults enjoying one another's company. Christmas is a kind of journey. You can have ideas, and you can plan for it, but it kind of takes on a life of its own."

So it is for many families with grown children.

Here are some tips for starting your own new holiday traditions as an empty nester.

1. Shift your perspective.

Rather than bemoaning the changes in your situation, embrace them. "Think 'This is my new lifestyle, with less cooking for others and less doing laundry for others,'" says Natalie Caine, owner of Empty Nest Support Services, which offers support groups, workshops and private counseling for people transitioning to an empty nest. "You finally get to embrace your own interests and do what you want to do."

2. Tweak your traditions.

If it's no longer feasible to engage in all your family's time-honored traditions, choose a few to keep and let go of others. For instance, the Christmas Eve movie night with the whole family may not be possible, but you can enjoy a movie alone or with your significant other, and find another time during the holidays to get together with the whole family.

3. Consider new possibilities.

Eat your holiday meal in a restaurant. Take a trip to the coast. Brainstorm about all the different things you could do to celebrate the holidays without the obligations of a growing family. "What has meaning for you at this stage of life, beyond being a parent?" Caine says. "That's a good place to start."

4. Make friends a priority.

Rather than waiting for friends to call, take the initiative to share the spirit of the season, says Kate Forgach, an empty nester and a baby boomer consumer specialist who writes for USA Today and other publications. One year, when she was feeling particularly lonely, Forgach threw an open house on Christmas afternoon. "I was thrilled at how many people stopped by," she says. "There wasn't room to move in my little house, and everyone had a great time. Since I held it later in the day on Christmas, I didn't need to provide much food and just set out a big punchbowl of eggnog."

5. Give back.

There's nothing like helping those in need to help you appreciate your own circumstances. Consider buying and delivering gifts to foster children, spending the day at an animal shelter or other nonprofit that may be understaffed during the holidays, visiting a nursing home, or cooking and serving dinner at a local shelter. (Forgach recommends visiting HomelessShelterDirectory.org for a list of volunteer opportunities.) You'll spread holiday cheer to those who really need it -- and you may be surprised at how cheerful you'll feel when you leave.

Read more: 10 Things Not to Say to Singles During the Holidays