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Paring down the holiday season
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I think everyone must be aware of the precarious state of the world in financial terms which will cause ripples and roadblocks for us all – so I am sure a lot of us are thinking of imaginative ways to pare down the holidays – get back to basics and traditions and make those the reason for the season – which is as it should be and what our children should be learning from us….not some sort of wild money spending festival.
As such lets all put our heads together and put forth tips on saving, traditions, and making Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays to remember and not just a grab fest. Are there movies such as Its a Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street that are favorites – do you have specific Thanksgiving traditions that cost little but mean a lot….you get the idea. Lets help each other out with great ideas for large and small families.
I am fortunate that I have older children who understand only too well that money is tight and we made a decision that we would likely have a handmade Christmas and we would make gifts and do very traditional spiritual things this year, we have always had a limit on gifts but this year we don’t need anything and don’t want to just buy nice to haves for the sake of it. We also sadly only have a few relatives, just 4 other families and we never got into the habit of giving gifts except to our parents – so that has also never been an issue for us, however I bet it is a worry for a lot of people – how do you handle that? Do ou have favorite websites, favorite books that the library may have – any and all ideas will bless us all for this upcoming holiday season…lets see what we can come up with……thanks – Linda
We’ve often done an Advent book or reader or collection of activities and I recommend this. I know many of us have done books like Jotham’s Journey but there are even free things online to do. I think one thing that we can do is just TAKE TIME. Take time to appreciate what is going on, what we are celebrating. I know that our kids love “stuff” but they also love time. Can we make the time to share OURSELVES with them this holiday season? Can we involve them in collecting something for the needy, making treats to share, thinking up inexpensive things our relatives would love? Could we ask each child “If you could have time for ONE thing for Christmas, what would it be?” Not a material thing. Would they like to make cookies with us? Drive around and look at holiday decorations? Invite a few friends over for a cookie party? Make homemade tree ornaments? Go caroling?We get so busy, and I know at times that is what my family needs more than physical things–just simple time together. We love to ask what each child would like to give to Jesus for a birthday present this year. We’ve even written these things on paper and wrapped it and then unwrapped it on Christmas and talked about the things we were giving Him. We may need to pull this one out again this year, we haven’t done it for a couple of years.
For Thanksgiving we have used and LOVED Give Thanks–a collection of readings on Currclick for Thanksgiving. There are lots of similar things for Christmas. When the children were small, we just put all our Christmas picture books in a basket, plus the recipe cards for several treats and the pictures of several crafts. Each day, we chose one picture book to read and one card to make together. We loved that! They are a little old for that now, lol, but it was our “glue” for the Christmas season for many years.
I find the the times the holidays were the tighest financially….the memories were the sweetest.
We have had to pare down Christmas a lot the last few years and it’s made the holiday season much more enjoyable. We’ve read Jotham’s Journey, Bartholamew Passage and Tabitha’s Travels at least twice….this year I am going to read aloud A Christmas Carol.
My children are older now, the youngest is twelve. We do a name exchange between the siblings and they have a $10 maximum they can spend on each other. So instead of everyone getting everyone a gift they only have to focus on getting one person a gift. They love it and are already excited to draw names. We do that on Thanksgiving.
I am always encouraging them to make handmade items. We try to find a few events to do during the season that are free….like light shows…or caroling around the neighborhood. That’s actually been a lot of fun, especially with youth and children. Last year we targeted some of the older people we know and drove to their homes. One of those older people have since passed on but we have some great memories and pictures of our time serenading her with Christmas Carols.
I do have more to say and look forward to what others say….but I have to head out to a Bible study.
We are going to read A Christmas Carol as well (well, that’s the plan anyway;). We plan to Christmas Carol several times during the season, bake, read, watch old movies (maybe even home movies), crafts, etc.
We definately have to pare down the spending this year, which is okay, that just makes the purchases much more meaningful. I actually enjoy all the hub-bub of the Christmas season…I love the lights, music, smell, feel of the holiday (and the shopping, even if I don’t have much to spend), I actually enjoy the busyness of it. But, I have found that my kids really want to bake, craft, read, Christmas carol, etc. so I am minimizing our academics through the holiday. Whatever we do accomplish will have a holiday spin on it…that’s the plan anyway.
We always spend an evening driving through town listening to Christmas music, drinking hot cocoa, of course.
Can’t wait to hear what others are doing this coming season that are inexpensive and meaningful!
I am looking forward to reading the ideas that will be shared here, but wanted to say how much fun my kids had a few years ago when we did a homemade Christmas. They had more fun making gifts for relatives and it was fantastic. We don’t have a big extended family, however last year we decided with my in-laws to not exchange gifts and do a “family” event. Each year one family would be responsible for planning the event and paying for it. Last year we went to a beautiful Christmas musical and out to dinner at the Olive Garden, this year we are going to an indoor water park for the day. Our turn is next year, so I’m not sure what we’ll do for our event. Also, we decided since we weren’t exchanging gifts that it would be fun for each person to bring a $5 gift and then we’d have a drawing and swap. It was amazing what we could get for $5 when we shopped drugstore ads.
A good friend of mine started the 25 days of giving with her family. Starting Dec. 1 they do something for somebody else everyday until the 25th. It could be as simple as writing a letter to shut ins or making cookies for the mail man. I can’t wait to do it this year with my kids. I think it will help them grasp the true meaning of Christmas instead of what we want for 25 days of Dec. On the same note our kids know that this year Christmas is very light as we are in the process of adopting internationally. So we are having to really watch where out money is going right now.
We read Stories of the Pilgrims by Margaret Pumphrey in November (it’s free online here if you don’t have it: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=pumphrey&book=pilgrims&story=_about&PHPSESSID=4f1743048637d9b0820a798278c98001 and is only $2.99 from Yesterday’s Classics in ebook/Kindle format)
We’ve done many different things for December, from reading A Christmas Carol to other titles like Christmas with the Prophets or A Christ-Centered Christmas. We usually read through the gospels in December to cover all of Christ’s life, then come back around to read his birth again on Christmas Eve.
We do an advent calendar counting down to Christ’s birth. We’ve done a thankful tree in the past. We spend time visiting family. We also like to visit somewhere we already have a membership to – like a science center or zoo – for some fun. For example, the large science center we go to has different classic games/toys each weekend in December for children to play with (trains, legos, yoyos, hula hoops, lincoln logs, old games) and some science challenges to go along.
I think that the 25 days of giving is a great idea! If I’m right, I think the Jessie Tree devo has some outreach ideas too. We may do that as well, we’ll see.
Great ideas.
Wow, great ideas from all – I love these ideas, we try to do something for the local military here – and for those overseas. As a retired military family we have a real heart for serving the servicemen and women – having a member over for Thanksgiving, sending cookies and items overseas to the troops – whether I always agree with the reasons they are overseas does not matter, they as people do matter and they need to know we care for them. Michelle giving time is a priceless gift, and one we often all overlook. Lately we have had some wonderful family evenings crafting and talking – we are looking forward to cooking and baking. We also like to make stars made out of straw a traditional German craft and use them to decorate or add to a homemade gift. I love the 25 days of giving as well – I think we might do that this year. I am so looking forward to what others have to say…great ideas spring from this forum. Linda
I have looked at it and love the premise, but have not had time to dig deeply into the site yet…I plan to though. I am so not into the consumption thing anymore, I am so into the give, serve and be a decent human being type – that is what the world needs now. Linda
I am really enjoying this discussion. Thankfully, our girls love homemade gifts and they truly want to focus on what is important — Christ, His love for us and others, and giving to others. I have tried to focus on simple homemade gifts for for the girls grandparents, aunts and uncle the past few years (as well as making gifts for our girls); BUT I’m out of ideas this year! What are some of your homemade gift ideas? My 9 and 6 year old daughters will be helping me make them.
Ideas we’ve used the past few years: loom potholders, painting suncatchers, homemade jams and jellies (this year some will be getting homemade pear preserves), homemade rolls, breads and cookies, crocheted dishcloths and potholders, pencil holders (glued craft sticks to a can, put a really nice ribbon around it and filled it with candy canes — these turned out great and everyone is actually using them for pen/pencil holders today!), photo gifts (pics of the girls, as well as nature photos we have taken and enlarged, matted and framed them).
I would love to hear your ideas!
I also love the 25 days of giving idea and want to try that as well.
Thanks!
Ok, I admit to just skimming so far….
any suggestions for young kids that believe in Santa Clause?
Every year my kids end up fairly disappointed… and every year they get their hopes up… My son is pointing out various kits. He knows they are expensive and so that is why we don’t buy them very often, and never the big kits…. He was saying today something like “I hope I get this for Christmas from Santa because you wouldn’t have to buy it.” um… yeah…. I already know it isn’t happening….
We like making soft toys and dolls as gifts for friends little girls, and for older people we like to make scented mug mats, lavender and spice drawer sachets, and microwaveable neck and body warmers/soothers which we scent with lavender. Small lavender sachets are always welcome it seems as are the heatable items. We make washable soft toys, and the children always seem to like them. We make gifts in a jar, cookie/bread mix and also like to give seeds away as gifts in homemade and decorated seed packets. There are lots of things you can come up with that are not really difficult to make and just take a little time. I make drawer sachets for men that are scented with cedar or more exotic spices. I also make aromatheraphy items for people I know. Hope that helps.
Suzukimom, I don’t know what to tell you on your dilemma, we always told the children that Santa was a mythical person based on St Nicolas, and that it was us who bought the presents, and we always limited our gifts to 3, which represented the 3 wise men. By doing that we could enjoy the Santa story but the children always knew that he did not really bring gifts, and so it was easy to tell them some years that we had to tighten our belts and the gifts would be just one. It can be a difficult time for families, when Santa is supposed to bring gifts – I remember a girl in my school who was heartbroken each year when Santa did not visit her – it made me understand at a young age, that it was not the best idea to fill heads with Santa…her family were very poor and they never got presents. My parents were the same with us, they explained that it was a myth and based on a tradition that was fun but that was all. I don’t think we missed out on not thinking Santa was real……just like I don’t think the girls missed out on being cheerleaders or baton twirlers, or going to the prom lol. Linda
Homeschooling is so amazing. Last year, we were able to take the time to appreciate the season. We didn’t do a lot of formal school stuff during December last year. We did a bunch of unit studies about Christmas, the traditions. etc. We spent a lot of time learning new skills so we could make each other gifts, and then we spent a some time figuring out service to others, including the gifts. Here are things we did, do, or want to try:
- This year so far we have determined one store present per child (something needed, like socks) and the rest are (hopefully) going to be home-made or talent-oriented like watercolor lessons.
- We are going to do the 12 Days of Christmas (annonymously) and that is always exciting.
- We are going to make ornaments – one tradition that I have heard of is to give an ornament every year to a child and that is the start of their own tree – and I thought it might be fun to make one each year for that tradition.
- We always bake and share the goodies.
- We do an advent calendar and countdown to Christmas eve, when we have a nice extended family dinner, sing carols, and read the story of Christ’sbirth -sometimes we act it out, and for some reason have lots of Mary’s with babies (- we have 4 girls who don’t want to be BOYS – LOL).
- We have a birthday cake with a tiny Nativity on it and 1 candle and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus.
- We do socks, and this year to make the day last longer with less, we are going to hide them and no one can open a present until all of them are found.
- we make all our Christmas cards by hand, so that takes some time
- we have a night when we drive around and enjoy the Christmas lights
- we listen to lots of beautiful Christmas music
- we get on musuem websites and enjoy the beautiful Christmas oriented works (There is usually a feature button) I think it was the NY Metro Museum of Art had a very beautiful nativity story complete with music and narration, featuring the story in the artwork last year (the link isn’t working yet, but here is another: http://www.artbible.info/
- we have a Christmas story for every night leading up to Christmas, and we read them when we do our advent calendar
- we have friends over for dinner (yes, even large families, lol)
- who can miss the Christmas movies??? I love to watch several, and we plan a party around one of them and have people over and eat munchies
- We do not do gifts for any one in the extended family unless we see them – our family is too large for that – but if we do see them we generally enchange family gifts. Those kinds of things included:
- gifts in a jar (dry ingredients layered in a canning jar with a pretty ribbon and the recipe to make the cookies or whatever was in it),
- handmade holiday decorations,
- items for 72-hour emergency kits like emergency blankets, candles, etc,
- a movie with some popcorn,
- family history stories typed up and put in page protectors for our binders
- Memories written and drawn by all family members for a grandparent, complete with a stamped handprint of a child with the date and age listed
- Coupon books for things like free babysitting for a date night, dinner, cleaning a house, etc.
I guess I need to stop, but I want to make this a special time for my family and something that they will always remember. =) I enjoy reading about others ideas and traditions because we can always use new ideas to try!
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