Hi There! I posted about the Christmas Elf last week sometime. I hadn't heard about it until then.
Anyway, here's a neat tradition that my friend does, you might like it!
On Christmas eve she and her daughters put those round red/white swirled mints into a small hole dug in the ground, then she tells them that if Santa comes to the house that his magic (or spirit, can't remember which) will make the mints grow. The next day, the kids awake and the swirled mints have turned into Candy Canes that stick up out of the ground!
I hope I explained it well. I think it's really neat.