I am posting here and not in "Other Coversation" because much of what I do is Chirstian like, but I am sure any idea can be incorporated in any fashion you see fit. Deena mentioned in another post that maybe I should list some of my ideas for a lowcost more traditional Christmas. I think that is a good idea, because I am sure we can all learn from one another some family tradition to enrich all of our holidays. I must admit, that the last two years my kids got literally everything they asked for. Before that there were so many presents we needed a bigger tree to put them under. lol. Yet, every year, I wished that we focused more on Christmas and family and less on gifts. So, I came up with some traditions. Despite my efforts the gifts still kept flowing. Yes, I kinda enjoy Christmas shopping. lol. Well, this year we are on a bit of a financial low. Maybe God is forcing my hand here, who knows. lol. I guess I could still go out and spend way too much money but why? So, forgive the long post but here are some of my ideas. Please please give me some more! I know we must all have some awesome things we do to glorify the Lord and not the gifts. lol. I decided to make every aspect of Christmas count for something special...so here goes... 1. Decorating Day! The day after Thanksgiving, unless out of town then we do this on Monday, we decorate for Christmas. The kids and I get all the stuff up from the basement. We set everything up save the tree. That waits until Daddy gets home. When my dh gets home we have dinner then we decorate the tree. We eat cookies and have punch while enjoying every ornament that brings back sweet memories. No phone, no tv, just us remembering Christmas' past. 2. Baking day! The week before or week of Christmas. My dd and I bake cookies, make truffles, pumpkin rolls and such for the holidays. My ds will help decorate cookies. We then package them up for neighbors and loved ones. We made candy cane cut outs and then turn them upside down to make a J. We then put the story of the candy cane in with the cookie. We also put plenty of verses with other cookies....like the star cookie gets verses about the star of Christmas and so on. We have chocolate lambs and birthday cookie cut outs also that we put verses with. Kinda like we make our own scripture cookies in a way. Great way to witness and refocus the "reason for the season." 3. Verse Chain. Take red and green construction paper. Cut out strips like you are making a chain. On each strip write a verse that applies to the joy of Christmas or one that is part of the "Christmas Story." Then make the chain. This is used as garland and an advent calendar. Every day, we open one and read the verse and have a mini devotion until Christmas. You can make the chain as long or short as you want. 4. Christmas Craft Day! Every year we make a new craft and an ornament. Last year we used flower pots and painted a winter scene on them and used it as a votive candle holder. We used different size flower pots one year and made chrsitmas trees---that was fun! We mark the year and then display it. We display all crafts from the previous years also! Cheap, fun and special christmas decorations! Then we make an ornament to hang on the tree. One year we made felt mittens. Although I buy an ornament for the kids every year, the handmade ones are our favorites. We even make extras and apply them to cookie containers for loved ones trees. Cheap and special gift ideas! 5. Christmas TV night. This is one my favorites since I am still a kid! When fun Christmas shows are on (we select only a few, which selfishly are my favorites from childhood. lol) we gather together with hot chocolate and dessert and watch the show together. Simple, cheap,yet the kids LOVE it! This is an activity we do a few times. If low on cookies, we make some in advance. The preparation is as much fun as the event. 6. Gift Wrapping Day! I wait to wrap gifts until there are a bunch. We all get together and disperse if necessary depending on who the gifts are for and who sees what....lol. However, we get all the wrapping paper and bows and fun stuff out. In fact, we use plain brown packaging paper and decorate together for a more special touch sometimes. We again, have hot chocolate or spiced cider or tea, and just sit, work and talk! TALK! This is time to be together. Hey you have to wrap those gifts anyway, why not make it an event. 7. OH! Passing out cookies day! That is fun! We get out the wagon, put all the goodies on it and go up and down the block passing out the cookies and presents. (a few neighbors and I exchange little gifts) Now, we do this on ONE day. Get it....if it is all on ONE day then it is now and event. lol. Make all the things you HAVE to do anyway a little more special so they become tradition. The kids LOVE this day by the way. 8. Christmas Eve. We have a candle light service at church. Then we come home...discuss the message and then....open one gift. lol. It was tradition in my home to open one gift on Christmas Eve...so I just keep doing it. 9. Christmas Eve has always been a day until this year that my dh worked. So the kids and I were always together. We would make this day special by having a devotion, baking, watch a Christmas movie and do nothing even remotely related to real work. lol. We use this time to decorate some cookies and discuss the Lord and all the blessings he has given us. 10. This leads me to a craft idea that I was going to do this year. This will either be a craft or a discussion. We are going to list all the blessings the Lord has given us. So, we are basically going to "open" the gifts Jesus has given us. 11. This year we are going to focus on making things for loved ones. Like the wrapping paper---gift bags--bows--and the gift! For instance, we may make a picture frame and put a pic in it for grandparents. All these activities are pretty much the two weeks before Christmas. This way the "season" seems special and everyday is fun. We even do unit studies on things that apply to Christmas. Ok, that is enough for now. Everything we do during this time is focused on the Lord. We either do a devotion or have open discussions about the Bible. I always try to relate a devotion to the activity we are doing. However, if that is not your style, most of these things are everyday things. It will still foster a nurturing relationship with your kids. Please let me know what you do!
Ava Rose, Thanks for starting this! I like your ideas! We do some of those things---including the opening one present on Christmas Eve. When they were younger it was often pajamas for them to wear that night, and be comfy in while opening presents on Christmas morning. When I was growing up, we opened the presents Christmas Eve, and played with them on Christmas day. But I much prefer the way my little family does it now, and now that is a tradition they may carry on to their families! We also do a gingerbread house. Last year we bought a kit, then got so busy we never got it done until some time after the holidays were over. That's okay, it was still a fun family time! On Christmas Eve my dh reads the story of Christ's birth that is in Luke 2:1-20. In the past the children have drawn and/or colored pictures having to do with Jesus birth while Daddy read the story. Last year they all just listened while it was read. We have hot chocolate or spiced cider during that time also. I know some people make a cake that they eat on Christmas day and they sing Happy Birthday to Jesus. We never got around to doing that, but I thought it was a cute idea, especially for younger children. One year we strung popcorn and cranberries. It was a little hard, but it was exciting for the kids to put it on and around the tree and know they made it! I like the chain idea, we may do that this year. Does anyone have ideas on what to do to get away from getting presents? I'm like you Ava Rose, I keep meaning to get the kids less, but then get carried away with the shopping, which I enjoy. But I really want to get away from the commercialism, so will be working on that! We could put a dollar amount on it, and really stick to it. Any other ideas?
A few years ago my budget was very tight ( it always is at Christmas but that year seemed worse and the kids were at an age where they understood which made it worse!) and I tried to stick with small but personal items. It is soo funny because my oldest was probably 16 at the time and her main gift was a pair of pjs and I found and adorable hippo stuffed animal. From there I hit Big Lots and the $ store for lip gloss, lotion etc. It actually turned out to be one of our nicer years. I love the idea of this thread because with my dh being out of work I know the holidays will be extra hard this year. I'm hoping I can do more hands on stuff with the girls. An idea for gifts is go homemade. My 16yr old dd just finished a jewelery box, trimmed with fringe, painted and decorated with rub-ons that we estimated cost less than $10 to complete and she is so excited that she made something like that on her own.
To keep the gifts at a minimum, we do three gifts each (symbolic of the 3 gifts given to Jesus). I try to get my kids one nicer item that they ask for, since my kids are not those who get everything that they ask for during the year. We also make ornaments each year. We make enough to attach to our gifts. Everyone gets a new ornament each year. My goal is for them to take them when they leave home. We've made our own wrapping paper, too. I want to do the baking for neighbors thing. I think about it every year but haven't done it yet.
we bake and decorate cookies, decorate a pre-made ginger bread house, watch special holiday movies, decorate the tree-- after re arranging the house to make it fit, wrap presents and make christmas ornaments for family. We have learned we can't hava a live tree in Arizona, they just dry out to fast becoming a fire hazard. (no fire). We also try to send out christmas cards to family and friends. we also open one gift on Christmas eve, from my mother, its always PJ's.
Pam, I think I may adopt that 3 gifts idea. It has gotten crazy, as Ava Rose said, sometimes we have so many gifts we can't fit them under the tree. Even after I've said we're going to cut back. This year I REALLY want to!!! My dh works in fire-protection, so we don't ever have a real tree. We got a great deal on a pretty much real looking green one (SOOOOOOOO much better than the ugly, tinsly silver one my family had when I was little!!!), and the kids like it. They say they'd rather have it than a real one, cuz the smell gets too strong, the needles fall off and stick in the carpet and poke people, we don't have to spend outrageous prices for a real one every year, and we can put our tree up whenever we want! So if they're happy, I'm happy!
we also do the 3 gift idea. They do get more because grandma sends them stuff but it has really cut down the amount I spend. It also makes me be more careful with what I buy. I want them to have something they will want all year long and not some fad that in the end just wastes my money. last year the kids were so young and would have tore up a tree so we waited until a couple days prior to christmas. We were pleasently suprised at how well that worked. Even DH and I were excited. I think we may keep that tradition up. Great ideas on here. Thanks Ava for starting this.
I knew I shouldn't have looked around this site for the rest of the evening. I was about to get off and clicked around and came across this thread. I love it!!! So I signed in again and here I am not making dinner. We decorate the day before or after Thanksgiving while we listen to Christmas music and I make Champurrado. It has been a tradition for many generations to make it while decorating and Christmas morning while opening gifts. The nativity is the first thing to go up. During the weeks before Christmas we make wrapping paper, unless I see one I really like at the store, and cards. We do the chain thing as a count down. To keep expenses down, my sisters and I draw names for us and our spouses. This way we give gifts to only one sister and one BIL but everyone still receives one. We have a Sister's Day where all my sisters and I get together and exchange gifts and share a special time together because we can not all meet for Christmas day. We make many gifts and ornaments throughout the month. We bake cookies and candy to give away at church and to friends. On Christmas Eve we make tamales for Christmas breakfast. This has also been a family tradition for many generations. On Christmas day we read from the Bible before opening gifts and then spend a peaceful quiet day at home or gathered with loved ones. We have started using a fake tree. We always bought live trees and planted them in the back yard after Christmas but we have officially out of room. So now we go fake.
Funny, we promise only three gifts every year. This year I mean it! lol. Especially now that Pam mentioned the symbolism. I thought about having my kids pick out a bunch of fleece and make those throws that you tie the ends. I haven't checked the price of fleece but that may be somewhat inexpensive and fun.
A good thing to do before shopping this year is to think about all the things you bought last year. Then ask yourself how many of them are still being used? I did this and realized I was wasting alot of money on things they didn't even play with a few months later. Also if money is tight stick with one specail gift and then fill a stocking or make the rest have to be homemade. Christmas is much more enjoyable when youget rid of all the comercialism. Oh I almost forgot one tradition we have is that we get a new game every christmas eve. That evening we play games together. It helps ease the kids excitement for the morning.
What a wonderful thread idea. I see many things on here we already do, and other things I definately am going to try! We only give gifts that will be useful educationally or creatively. We have a 150 dollar limit for each child, and the older ones get things that are useful like a digital camera, or a musical instrument. The younger ones got things like old fashioned games with educational or creative slants. They use these things much more than modern, use it and lose it gifts. I always wanted to incorporate this into our tradition but it was not well received by the family - so maybe it's not such a great idea. But I thought, the whole thing is about celebrating Christs' birth, right? So why not a birthday party with gifts? One year I made a beautiful cake, just for Him. It was white, with pearls draped around it, etc. Lovely. Each child (and us) was to spend time thinking about what gift they would give Christ this year. We wrote them down on pretty, homemade scrolls and placed them under the tree. At the party time, we sang happy birthday and opened His gifts, reading them out loud.
I just love Christmas!!! For the last few years we bake several different types of cookies, fudge and candies like divinity and we take them to some of our neighbors. I think this year I will have to include some of my church friends. All during the month of December we set aside Saturday night as Christmas movie night. The girls each do crafts throughout the season and we decorate our home with them. On Christmas Eve we go to church then drive around with a big bowl of popcorn and look at lights and decorations. When we get home we usually have some hot cocoa and read the Christmas Story from the Bible and The Night Before Christmas. Then we put the kids to bed and watch It's a Wonderful Life.And I always cook a Holiday Wreath (Pampered Chef Cookbook) for hubby and I to eat while we watch the movie. I think this year I will let my oldest stay up with us to watch the movie. Oh and before they go to bed they open one gift which is always a new ornament. I want them to be able to take all of them with them when they grow up and move out. Christmas morning we get up early, open presents and have a big breakfast. Then we usually watch more movies or play new games with the kids. This year we are also going to do a gingerbread house at the request of my 3 year old. That should be fun. I also got a book called the Texas Night Before Christmas that I am going to read this year to the girls. There is a drwing of a man in that book that looks exactly like their grandpa!!!! And he's wearing long johns!! They should get a kick out of that. Now all I need is a really good recipe for fudge. I didn't like how it turned out last year and we ended up not putting it in our basket for the nieghbors.:cry:
One thing I do for and with my kids is to fry cookies. They all love them and we only make them at Christmas because it keeps them special for all of us. They are so pretty and my mold looks like snowflakes. I take them to church and give them to the neighbors and family members. My sister says they make her think of funnel cake in the way they taste but they are crisp and light like a potato chip. I put cinnamon and sugar on them when they are done. Oh man I am making myself hungry. Beth
I like Christmas and Christmas music also, but since we don't like the commercialism, which has Christmas stuff out even before Halloween now, we have a rule that we have to wait until after Thanksgiving to start the Christmas music and decorations! Wow, some of that stuff you guys makes sounds great! I want some!!! We let the kids pick out an ornament of their own each year. That way it's more special to them. It's neat to look back on the ornaments they picked---it shows where they were at and what they liked during that year! They each have their own box that their ornaments are kept in. Last year I had to get bigger boxes for the older two! They will take those ornaments with them when they move ontoo, as some of you have said. We also help with a Christmas Eve program every year. The kids have sung, played piano pieces, read short stories, readings or Bible verses, and done sign language to songs while they are sung. It's a neat program. The lady that started it homeschools her children, and mostly homeschooled children are used in the program that is for the whole church. Adults are used also, but she uses mostly homeschooled children, because usually the other children are working on programs for their school, and also the homeschoolers are more readily available for practices, etc. Anyway, it's a great tradition, and good for praticipation experience for the homeschoolers!
I like this tread! Our Christmas traditions are to go shopping on the day after thanksgiving... I have done this since I had infants, take kids with me and everything, eaaaaaarly in the morning! I don't always buy anything but I get freebies from the stores that have those! We vary when we start decorating because we have always been in WA for thanks giving. THis will be our last year doing that.... The Plan is to decorate as soon as we get back. We trim our tree slowly, because we have a story with most of our decorations. Hubby and I have one or two from our childhood days and share stories of Christmas' past while we do this. The kids have thier special ones they recieve each year from grandparents as well! ONe of my most favorite ones is one my mother made.. it is me as an angel inside a glass ornament! She made it inside the ornament like they do with ships in a bottle! ON Christmas eve, you are all invited to join us in an old fashioned caroling night! I make a huge pot of Clam Chowder, and cocoa, candycanes are there and lost of finger foods for snacking on! The adults and some kids go out caroling with me, and some folks stay behind and visit with my hubby who is not into walking around in the cold hehehe. This has been a tradition for ten years now I think.... We wander and sing, just like in the olden days, around our neighborhood. After all the guests leave my children open one gift from a grandparent , this will now be just from Grama Myrna cause she is the last one who does crafts as gifts. Then they go to bed and hubby and I retreive the rest of the gifts, we put most of them under tree as we get them, in mail etc. But save some for kids not to snoop into! Christmas Morning.... we wake up early, hubby used to work and come home at different hours so we started our kid years wiht this .. we get up, kids wait till I am up and making coffee before they get up. I usualy have breakfast things on table, fruits and pastries, some years eggs and bacon stuff we dont have all the time. Then after daddy gets up we go to the family room and retreive oru stockings.. everyone in the house helps to fill these on Christmas eve! with out looking at each others stuff we stick things in them... sometimes new stuff sometimes kids put old toys to trade to one another, its cute. So we go one item at a time through our stockings.. takes near an hour! Then we go to living room. Mom sticks bird in oven about now when we have that, or takes snack foods out and cleans up the breakfast stuff. Whiel I do that the kids get ready for thier skit! They put on a play for us each year, the Christmas story of course, and we never told them to do it, they do it all on thier own! Some of our er, cast has changed,from dolls to cuddle toys to robots, lol, but it is always origonal works by the Wilson Kids heheh They finish and we begin our gifts ... one at a time again, it lasted all day once because my family PLUS hubbies family went over board in a year I thought we had no one else sending anything so I bought an exctra gift each too! Lol So, then we eat when we are done, hubby goes to bed, and kids play with stuff, I watch old Christmas movies, and relax! that is it in a nutshell, sorry its so messy, I have been wanting to write this but between my arm, shoulder and tendonitis acting up my writing is sporatic at best today! Be blessed as I am when I read your traditions!
