1. Writing and posting a letter to Santa
2. Christmas Movie night - choose a Christmas film together and make non alcoholic Christmas punch/mulled wine and make red and green popcorn
3. Make a Christmas shoebox for one of the shoebox charities
4. Christmas dancing night where you put on Christmas music and just dance and be really silly together
5. Make Christmas cards
6. Make decorations out of hama beads, they do glow in the dark and glitter ones now.
7. Sing carols around the neighbours’ houses
8. Making reindeer food and putting in little packages and writing notes on to give to their young friends
9. Celebrate Sinterklaas (Feast of Saint Nicholas. It’s a huge holiday in the Netherlands, a big children's thing, and they do lots of little things. We write a poem to every member of the family poking a bit of fun at them, in a loving humorous way and then we eat a chocolate ‘initial’ – that is the person’s first name initial, example: J for Jennifer. Simply melt cooking chocolate and pour into a aluminium foil shape of the person’s initial.
10. Family night looking at Christmas lights - Drive around with little ones in back of car wrapped in blankets. Keep thermos of hot chocolate in car and drive around looking at xmas lights! sometimes we'd even pull over and just stare (good time to pour hot chocolate too!)
11. Romantic Night for grown ups - Make homemade egg nog and eat pannetone in front of xmas tree (with xmas songs in background and lots of candles strewn about.
12. Family guitar night - We play guitar so we have a Christmas guitar night and attempt to play Christmas songs (got them off internet and printed out) while the family sing.
13. Romantic Night for grown ups - Cheese board and crackers with port or sparkling wine in front of xmas tree with Christmas music on in background and candles.
14. Go to a pantomime
15. Mini Christmas party with games e.g. pass the parcel, musical statues with Christmas music
16. Carol services
17. Building a gingerbread house (you can get kits)
18. Visit Santa - indoor shops open late in Dec
19. Make a xmas box for each of the kids which they make and decorate themselves. This box is then used each year to put a xmas decoration in that the child gets to pick each year (this can be a great outing each year hunting for the one they want.) Each time the decoration is put away they write their favourite xmas memory from that year on a small card. Then when the time comes for them to leave home they already have xmas decorations of their own, and each time they get them out it will remind them of Christmas as a child.
20. Have an advent party on Dec 1st after putting up external Christmas lights. Eat mince pies and have Christmassy nibbles; myself and don’t forget the mulled wine as well! We listen to Christmassy music and get excited when we turn on the lights!
21. Make paper chains &/or turn putting the Xmas tree up into a special day/night
22. Read Xmas stories out loud to each other: the Night before Christmas for the children, A Christmas carol (over several nights!) for adults etc.
23. A board game night.
24. A Charades night.
25. Celebrate Christmas in another countries way, i.e. Russia, Scandinavia etc. Google for their traditions, food etc and they often do things on different dates to us so you can tie in with their celebration if you want.
26. Deliver goodwill wishes & HM mince pies/cookies/mulled wine to the neighbours, sing Christmas carols to them if you are in tune!
27. Go to a carol/Christingle/advent service.
28. Go for a early evening twilight walk in the park & feed the ducks. It's loads of fun all wrapped up in layers then coming home to hot chocolate.
29. Make xmas cakes and mince pies with the kids
30. Magic reindeer food to sprinkle out on xmas eve my kids love doing this Recipe - porridge oats and sparkly glittery bits etc all mixed together n but in organza bags for them to sprinkle out on the lawn or path xmas eve so the glitter sparkles and the smell of oats guide Rudolph to your house.
31. Making gift tags out of the old xmas cards from last year they love doing this also
32. Attend a local carol concert and have a good old sing-song... usually free or collection for charity.
33. Go to a local 'turning on of the Christmas lights' ceremony.
34. Go to your local Primary School Christmas Fayre
35. If you can afford it and you have a local steam railway they usually have a special Christmas steam day, which Santa attends.
36. Have a special 'recycle gifts' evening when you all look for things you no longer want which could be recycled in some way... given to charity shops, given to your local women’s refuge or even sold on ebay.
37. Make little individual Christmas cakes in empty, clean, baked bean tins... ice them and take them to anyone housebound and/or who will be on their own this Christmas.
38. Design Christmas cards on the computer... most people who run MS have the 'Paint' program under
39. Go for a walk together to collect things to make into table decorations, e.g. fir cones, twigs, interesting pieces of fallen bark etc. When you get home spray them gold or silver and stick into oasis.
40. Make and decorate a Christmas placemat for everyone who will be with you for Christmas meals. If you use A4 paper/card you can decorate this then get it laminated.
41. Adult only xmas night... saucy board game night... children all in bed, a couple of glasses of something nice, turn the heating up and play strip poker, naughty forfeits etc! etc!
42. Christmas Eve... track Santa by satellite: http://www.noradsanta.org/en/home.htm
43. Go to Midnight Mass... Even if not religious it always feels special!
44. I read somewhere about someone doing a Christmas camping night. all camp out in sleeping bags in the living room, huddled round the fire watching dvd’s and eating marshmallows (or fondue type thing)
45. Make gingerbread men and / or ginger parkin
46. Make Christmas sugar cookies with the kids - I plan on painting egg whites on the outer edges of plain round sugar cookies and mixing red and green food colouring with Demerara sugar (2 separate sandwich bags and give a good shake) and cover the edges with the colours just for something different. Also use different cookie cutter Christmas shapes to make cookies another day with the kids.
47. Romantic night for adults - A night wrapped up in blankets in the dark in front of the lit Christmas tree and the fire, with a few savoury nibbles, whilst cracking nuts and drinking wine and Christmas music on in background. Don’t forget to hang some mistletoe (holly will do nicely!)
48. Christmas crafts with kids - I plan on doing crafty stars with lollipop sticks glued at ends to form a star and the kids will glue jewels or draw on them. We can add transparent thread to them and they can use them as xmas tree decorations.
49. I'm also going to do paper plate Christmas trees - cut a slice into the paper plate just up to the middle and shape like a cone. glue cone together and kids will glue jewels or other bits and pieces to make a xmas tree.
50. Chestnut roasting night with mulled wine and other nibbles
51. Christmas buffet and disco night with just the family – have fun and dance all around the downstairs doing the conga
December may never be the same again - Here's the list!
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5 comments:
What a wonderful list Jennifer!
Thanks Catz! My friends at MSE helped me compile it last year! :D
Jen
Holy moly! What a list! How much of this do you guys do yourselves?
We haven't even gotten our decorations down from the attic. My husband found a LEGO advent calender for my son and we've been listening to carols on the radio as much as we could stand, but that's all we've managed so far! Bad, I know. I think we may be able to decorate this weekend though. Maybe.
Hi Tara
Well I'm doing '25' of the listed '51' ideas this month. :D I never miss an opportunity to have a romantic evening under the tree and i love to bake and do christmas crafts with Elle on the weekends.
Jen
We used to have lots of Christmas traditions when the kids were younger but they've kind of fallen by the wayside in recent years, partly because of my health and partly because they've outgrown them. One thing I do like to do now is have an evening alone, with Christmas songs and just the tree lights and some candles glowing, relaxing and thinking about the Christmases in the past. I have some wonderful memories :)
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