Christmas Birthday Celebration

Your family can make a new tradition for your Christmas celebration.

The night before Christmas bake a birthday cake and let the kids decorate it for Jesus.

In the morning after everyone is up, unwrap your presents as normal. After all the Christmas presents are opened, place one candle on the cake and light it.

Everyone can now sing happy birthday to Jesus and thank him for the wonderful presets and for the day to celebrate his birth.

Christmas Cookie Party

Don't have time for a full holiday party this year? For a fun holiday get together invite all your friends and neighbors over for a Christmas Cookie exchange.

Count the number of guests that you are inviting, have each guest bring twice that many cookies plus a dozen and one recipe for the cookie for each family that will be attending.

Once everyone gets there, make up a plate of cookies for each family in attendance that has 2 cookies and 1 recipe for each person.

Take the additional dozen and set out for everyone to snack on.

To add a bit more fun, create a contest for the best tasting, most original, etc.

Pick up a bottle of wine or a small gift for the prizes.

The best part is that no one goes home empty handed either because each family has a plate of different cookies to enjoy when they leave!

Wrapping Contest

The Holidays can be quite hectic. Why not enlist the kids help in wrapping presents.

Bring out all the paper and supplies. Make up some categories and create a contest.

Categories include: Prettiest, Most Original, Most Colorful, etc.

Let the kids loose and a few hours later you will see all of their lovely creations.

Prizes can be money or treats.

The best part is that there really isn’t any loosers on this one as everyone gets to enjoy the creativity.

Holiday Heirlooms

When decorating for Christmas, we can almost begin to take decorating for Christmas for granted. We have lot’s of beautiful ornaments and decorations that we proudly display. But think back to when you were a kid and what your favorite Christmas holiday decorations were.

When my daughter was born I started a Christmas box for her. It is a family tradition that each year I buy her a new ornament in whatever character happens to be her fancy at the time.

With a fine point permanent marker I indicate the year that it was given and whom it was given by. After trees went on sale after her first year I purchased a small Christmas tree that I also placed in her box.

Now each year as her ornaments multiply she has her own tree for her own ornaments.

Each year as my tastes change, I try to make a mental note about ornaments that she may have been extra fond of. I place these ornaments into her box and each year we talk about why they are her favorites.

The upside is that when she is old enough to have a house of her own, she will have a tree full of ornaments as well as all of the memories of Christmas' past.

Choosing a Christmas Tree 2

OK, you are ready for Christmas, but now you need a tree. How are you supposed to pick out a good one? Here are a few helpful hints to help you find the perfect tree.

First, pick the location where you want to place the tree. This will help you pick the right one. If you are going to place it in a corner or against a wall, it does not need to be perfect on every side. If it is going in the center of the room you will want to make sure you check the whole tree thoroughly for any bad spots.

Second, before you leave the house, measure the height of the ceiling in the room where you want to place the tree and the width of the area. It can be very deceptive when you are out looking at tree’s. What does not seem like a very big tree when you are outside, will be a monster when you get it in the house.

Make sure that you measure the tree before you buy it both in height and width to make sure that it will fit. You can allow for about a 6” difference by the time that you trim the bottom and top for placing in a tree stand and setting up for your tree topper.

Don't forget that when you get it home it is OK to trim it a bit to make it look it's best in the location that you choose. Just don't forget to put the trimmings into a trash bag or on newspaper so that any extra sap doesn't leak into carpeting or furnature.

You can use the trimmings for decorations around the house, or if you have enough you can make a wreath.

Choosing a Christmas Tree

OK, you are ready for Christmas, but now you need a tree. How are you supposed to pick out a good one? Here are a few helpful hints to help you find the perfect tree. First things first, what do all those names mean? Here is a quick list of the most popular to help you get on your way.

Douglas Fir – Most popular by far. They are usually dark green to almost a bluish green. They have wonderful branching and hold their needles well. The Douglas Fir will have a very predominant smell.

Norway Spruce – These trees are dark green with what can be considered a pendulous branch. They will tend to loose their needles a bit more than a Douglas Fir.

Scotch Pine – These trees can be a bluish green to a grayish green. The needles can be up to 3 inches long, and they will hold their needles about as well as a Douglas Fir.

Colorado Blue Spruce – These trees range from a bluish green to a silvery green. They have needles that are about an inch long and they also hold their needles well.

White Pine – These trees can range from Green to bluish green. They have very flexible branches and hold their needles as well as a Douglas Fir.

Creative Christmas Cards

Let your family make your Christmas cards extra special this your. Pick out your favorite family picture of your family from that year.

Buy a ream of cardstock paper and fold in half. Get some extra prints of your pictures made.

Now set the kids loose with glue, markers, stickers and embellishments.

Your kids can give the cards their own personal touch and your friends and relatives will love to receive them.

All you have to do is addres the envelopes while they are creating their masterpieces, and next thing that you know they are ready for the mail!

Setting up the Christmas Tree II

The tree is up and watered, now you are going to have to decorate it. You are not really sure where to begin.

My decorating pattern is this:

First - Christmas Lights, when placing the lights I start by wrapping the stalk of the tree from the bottom to the top. Once that is done, I will place the lights around the outer branches. I try doing this part in the evening when I can turn off the lights in the room and really look to see what the lights look like on the tree and I can fill in any "dark" spots.

Second - If you are going to use garland, I put this on next. It is a lot easier to reposition the garland if you are not worried about knocking ornaments off.

Third - Time for ornaments! I will usually place fragile ornaments toward the top and sturdier ornaments toward the bottom or the back of the tree.

If you have kids, make sure to use age appropriate ornaments at the level that the kids can reach. You don't want the kids to accidentally break a heirloom ornament, so keep it in mind when decorating.

Have some one standing back and watching you decorate, they can point out "empty" spots.

Fourth - Almost done! If you want to add a bit of sparkle now is the time to add tinsel. Please remember if you use tinsel on a fake tree, it will take forever to remove it all. If you use tinsel on a real tree, you may not be able to recycle it until all of the tinsel is removed.

Here are some guidelines for about how many lights and decorations that you may need for your tree.

Tree Height – 4 foot / Lights – about 120 / Garland – about 48 feet / Ornaments – about 40

Tree Height – 6 foot / Lights – about 240 / Garland – about 72 feet / Ornaments – about 60

Tree Height – 7 foot [ Lights – about 360 / Garland – about 84 feet / Ornaments – about 75

Tree Height – 8 foot / Lights – about 480 / Garland – about 96 feet / Ornaments – about 100

Setting up the Christmas Tree

You got the tree, and you got it home with out loosing it off the top of your car. Now what do you do?

Trim the bottom off your tree and place it in a large bucket of water. Leave the tree outside until you are ready to trim it. Once you are ready to trim it, set up the tree stand inside the house. This is NOT a one person job, ask for some help from family of friends.

Place the tree in the tree stand and tighten the stand around the tree once it is vertical. Step back and check it several times before you do the final tightening to make sure that it is vertical from all angles.

Now that you have the tree trimmed, remember that it needs LOTS of water. A 6-7 foot tree will absorb between 1 to 2 quarts of water each day depending on your climate.

Christmas Giving

Christmas can really be a hectic time of year. All the kids can say is “I want”.

Change their “I want” to “I give”.

A few weeks before Christmas, my daughter and I go through her room and clean out any toys that she does not play with anymore.

These toys, we will put under the tree at Christmas. Santa will pick up the toys and give them to kids who need them when he leaves the presents for her.

After Christmas, I drop the toys off at a thrift store for donation.

Decorating the Tree

Ah Yes! It is that time of year again to decorate the tree! Every year it seems like a battle, but here are a few handy hints that may make it easier!

1. Set up the tree - Place the tree in the desired location. Now step back and look at it from ALL angles. Do you need to turn it to hide a bad spot? Easier to do it now than when all the decorations are on.

2. Light the show - String the lights on the tree starting from the top and working your way down. I have been slowly replacing my old stock of lights with the new LED lights which use less energy and do not heat up as much as the traditional light bulbs.

Do not tie in too many strands, try to keep it to 2 or 3 strands to prevent overloading a circuit. For ease of operation I will plug into a power strip that I place at the base of the tree. Then I can just flip the switch to turn the lights on or off.

I have also been known to plug them into a timer so that I don't have to worry about turning them on and off when I have the artificial tree up. I will also tend to put the lights on in the evening when I can turn off all the lights in the room so I can see if I have any "dark" spots.

3. Garnish with garland - Next I will place the garland on the tree if I am using it that year. By doing this first it makes it easier to reposition with out knocking off any ornaments.

4. The finishing touches - Lastly I place on the ornaments. I typically will place larger ornaments toward the bottom and smaller ornaments more toward eye level so that they can be seen. If you have kids or animals, it wouldn't hurt to put anything breakable toward the top so that they are not accidentally knocked off when playing or if someone brushes against the tree.

Advent Envelopes?

Advent calendars are really fun, but some times it is hard to find one that is age appropriate.

This year, have a little fun and create your own.

Start looking for little treats that will fit into envelopes.

Buy 25 envelopes of any size that matches your treats that you found.

Number your envelopes 1 - 25.

Stuff your treasures into the envelopes and seal.

Place all the envelopes in a holiday basket.

If you want on the day that one is to be opened, you can let your child find the correct envelope, or you can hide the envelope and let your child hunt for it.