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Paring down the holiday season
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What wonderful ideas Sheraz, lots to keep us interested there…thank you so much. I is gratifying to know so many have such great and wholesome ideas for this special time of year…Linda
Sheraz, growing up I always recieved an ornament every Christmas from my grandmother. I still do, even though I am married! I LOVED this tradition, and it is one that we carry on with our own kids, and that my mom does for them, too. It was such a blessing on our first Christmas to have a big box of ornaments (I had 21 ornaments from my grandmother over the years, pluse the 21 that my parents gave us) for our tree. It was especially sweet for me because the ornaments that my husband had were from his previous marriage and I was able to get rid of a lot of them 🙂 We’ve been married for f ive years now, and this year will be the first year that our ornaments are 100 % OURS, since we still get new ornaments from my mom and grandmother, our kids get them from us and my mom. It’s a nice feeling!
Our kids love this tradition, too. We buy our ornaments from Halmark, which is expensive but part of the tradition that my grandmother started for us. They anticipate going to the store to look at them and see which they like and can’t wait on Christmas morning to find out what they got.
We also make handmade ornaments every year, too. Each kid makes an ornament for each set of grandparents and one or two to put on our tree at home. It is a really neat tradition that they love as well.
We did the ornament thing as well, while living in Europe we collected German ornaments and traditonal English ones and now the girls have their very own box each or ornaments and memories from Europe for their future trees. I love the German ornaments best, because so many are nativity scenes in pewter, glass or wood and beautifully made. I inherited with my sister all my mum’s familes antique German ornaments – this year they won’t be out because of the puppy, I would hate to see them broken – next year we will get them out when he has calmed down a bit. When we moved here we started with a few Hallmark ornaments, so we now have a small tree in the hallway with Hallmark and our big tree is all German and English – we also follow the German way of Christmas Eve gift giving and not putting the tree up until then as well…that is our biggest tradition and one we have all grown up with. With a real tree, putting it up on Christmas Eve was the safest because a lot of Germans still use real candles and you cannot have a tree that easily burns – we keep the tradition alive because it has good memories for us. Linda
We have done the ornament tradition with our kids as well. Each year they get to decorate the tree with their ornaments, then any other ones (like mine or bulbs, etc.), then they put on their newest one. They love it…they love the idea that they are theirs and that they will take them with them to start their own ornament collection when they live on their own. Each one brings so many memories…I love that part. And, each year they take turns putting the star on top….boy is that a biggie!
Would some of you ladies mind sharing what type of handmade ornaments you’ve done in the past?? I may make mine for the boys this year (well, if I can with them out of the house). But even if I can’t, I’d love for the boys to have some new ideas for their Sunday School teachers and those that provide lessons for them.
Maybe we could share our favorite recipes as well?? I love to bake at this time of year but it’s fun to try something else that has been a favorite of family/friends of others. I think there was a thread last year that had Bookworms fudge recipe and some cookies…maybe I’ll check that out, too.
I love talking Christmas 🙂
I am loving this thread as well, so many wonderful ideas! We ask our children what they want and they know they are allowed to ask for one thing they have wanted all year. We do put a money limit on the gift. We do three gifts, just as the wise men did. We don’t do Santa at our house either, instead we try to really celebrate the birth of our Saviour. We bake him a birthday cake for Christmas day and we have made a cloth nativity scene that sets out for them to play with at all times. We also drive around and look at Christmas lights. One year we made up a bunch of cookies, truffles, and other treats and put in tins then we took them around to elderly neighbors. We would let one of the children ring the door bell then we would start singing and when we finished we would hand them the tin of goodies. It was so rewarding! It was the highlight of the Christmas season in our home and for months afterward. We are hopefully Lord willing going to do the same thing this year. We tried to talk to others we knew that knew of elderly people that didn’t have any family or recent loss. We also want to this year find those that are just in need and bless them with a goodie basket. They weren’t expensive either. We did big batches of soft cookies, and then we did breads and oreo truffles. I am sure it could be done with just cookies and homemade breads, and those can be made fairly cheap.
I have a big family so instead of giving everyone a gift we have started the tradition to bring one board, or card game wrapped. Then we let the youngest of each family pick a package and open for our families. Our children have enjoyed this so much! They are getting a new game to play with momma and daddy. So everyone wins, its fairly cheap but at the same time you are getting something that requires time spent from all members in the family. Then as a big family we all separate up and play our new games! All of this is followed by a wonderful meal prepared by my mother. Its such a wonderful tradition and I am thankful for it!
We also make homemade gifts for grandparents, its usually a calendar with pictures from the past year! Its such a treat to them that we try and do something like it or the same every year!
Christmas is so much better when its spent with family and friends and not about just getting, getting, getting. We have never had lots of money to spend on presents, however we have always been so blessed and had more than enough. God is so good to us, and we are just too blessed to be upset over money being tight for the holidays. I feel just like most of you do, its the years that money is tightest that the best memories are made!
One thing I have wanted to do, but it hasn’t worked yet (maybe this year?) . . . is to have a Birthday Party for Jesus. I would want to do it early enough in December that people wouldn’t be too busy to come. We’d then have a regular Birthday Party with cake and games and the gift that everyone brings would be some thing that could be donated, like maybe specify to bring gloves and/or hats for the homeless.
Great idea Pangit, I like the idea of giving the gift to the homeless or maybe canned goods to the food pantry – smashing idea….
We give our kids ornaments each year, too, but they are always a surprise. We try to match them to something meaningful to the kids that year. DS7 loves baseball and the Redsox, so last year was a mini Redsox hat for him. DD10 loves horses and got a western saddle ornament. I’ve forgotten what the two littles were last year, but we love this tradition.
We read 1 of the Batholomew trilogy books each year, too. Love Jotham’s Journey most. We always have a basket of Christmas books (sometimes wrapped) to be enjoyed one day at a time. We’ve so many favorites!
We always eat the same breakfast – Breakfast Cake (coffee cake) and Sausage and Egg casserole – after stockings, before gifts.
With extended family, we often skip gifts and give to missions instead.
Christie
Christie, we eat “Breakfast Cake” around here too, fun to know that someone else calls it that too. I’d forgotten to mention that we always have the same special thing for breakfast as well. We call it “Christmas Morning Casserole” – which just happens to be egg and sausage. LOL
I like the idea of the Birthday Party – you could also do it for older lonely folks in a nursing home. When I worked in one, there are people whose clothes, socks, shoes etc are either worn-out or non-existant and they only get “new” ones when someone else dies. I remember reading a story not too long ago about a little girl who decided that she wanted to help the girls in Haiti who had lost everything. so she held her Princess party, but asked the guests to bring dresses for the girls. I think she called it 100 Dresses for Princesses or something. Anyway, even that got me thinking… the party thing could be for lots of causes. =)
The board game idea is really fun too. We always play games like that, especially during the holidays.
Wow, I suddenly feel lazy when I read all the things you all do during the holidays!! We are not big spenders around here, and I do not like “stuff,” so when I think about keeping holidays simple, it means doing less and enjoying more.
My mother in law is a gift giver, and my children are her only grandchildren, so we get an ABUNDANCE of Christmas gifts from her. I try to tell her not to give so much, but giving is her love language, I believe, so telling her not to give is probably just as offensive to her as the multitude of gifts is to me! By the way, I think she likes to give lots because she grew up very poor. Does anyone else have this experience?
Suzukimom – We do not necessarily “believe” in Santa, but it is a fun tradition in our home. Our emphasis during the Christmas season is Jesus. Actually, that is all year long. But, the children enjoy waking up on Christmas morning to find a special gift. We don’t necessarily spend a lot, but we do pay attention to our children’s wants and get them something special. We like to do Christmas stockings too, but anyone can put gifts in the stockings. In fact, my daughter loves to put special little items in each person’s stocking. We never know what we will receive!!! (Last year, she put her favorite dress up jewelry in mine!)
We also enjoy baking, but last year I cut back, realizing, we didn’t need 10 different cookies/candies. We baked once each week between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and really enjoyed it! We ate some and shared some. We participate in several activities at church that minister to others during this season.
Ulitimately, I find that trying to “do” too much at anytime of year just wears me down. I enjoy my children and my life more when we do a few things that are meaningful to us.
All this to say, I really like this post. It is fun to see what others do for the holidays and glean some ideas!
Oh – Books we enjoy at Christmas time: One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell Graham and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.
Jennifer
One other “tradition” in our home: We recite John 8:12 each time we plug in the Christmas tree lights!
I love all these ideas and seeing how others celebrate this wonderful time of year – I should add to my posts that our crafting gifts is a year long thing, we start in January and work on things through the whole year – so it is just part of our life and homeschool crafts. We collect the seeds at the end of the year, and have the envelopes already made to pop them into for gifts. We only bake weekly as well, our waistlines don’t need more than that, but we ramp up a bit over the holidays so we have food goodies to share. So my point is it is not adding lots of work to the holiday season, we have worked all year in a relaxed way to get things made and ready – we actually end up with a very quiet and lovely season. Linda
I should mention that as well…we do several of these types of things year long, but I do add 2-3 small things during each week. This allows me to enjoy them and the children’s excitement. As for the food, well, I have so mnay food allergies here that I am ALWAYS baking and cooking so it really doesn’t add any extra time to my life. LOL It’s the sharing of it that takes my time. haha I also plan to do Christmas things as a part of school, so it really isn’t as tiring as it sounds. I do agree with Jennifer that if you are doing too much and not enjoying it, then it is time to scale back and pick just a couple of meaningful traditions to savor and enjoy.
My SIL told me that someone she knows does different things with the Christmas things every year to help the children have fun and make the day last longer. One year the Grinch visited this family, and they had to rescue Christmas, another year they had a scavenger hunt to find their gifts. I think this sounds more fun the older my kids get… =)
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