I don’t know about you, but Christmas seems to have become a huge retail opportunity and December seems to have been overtaken by school plays, parties and shopping for endless presents, cards and food. Plus the hype starts so early these days, with shops & TV adverts advertising Christmas months in advance. Some years you can arrive at the big day itself totally exhausted, and glad it’s almost all over!
So, how can you counteract all this and rekindle the spirit of Christmas? Christmas means different things to different people, so first of all it’s worth just spending a little time reflecting on what makes it special to you, so that you can recapture that which lies at the heart of the celebration. Start, or reintroduce, some family traditions which will help you ‘signpost’ Christmas and help make the focus not the presents or the shopping, but the things you do with family & friends. Here are some of mine:-
Writing Christmas cards is one of the bigger tasks, but also one I find really enjoyable. There are many different categories of people who I send to – friends, family, colleagues etc, some of whom the annual Christmas card is our only contact of the year. However it is still important as it is a way of staying connected, of letting people know they are in your thoughts, and a chance to let them know all the important things which have happened in your life in the past year. Rather than avoid this ‘task’ or do it all in one go, why not pour yourself a drink and aim to do few each night. Think about why you are sending a card to that person and include a special personal message – so much nicer than a mass produced round robin or just your name. The added bonus is a short period of sitting will help you relax in what is a manic month. If you print your address labels this also makes the task shorter and easier.
I love Christmas trees, and decorating a real tree is one of my favourite jobs. Since having the children we have always done this one evening when they are in bed, and part of the excitement is to bring them down the next morning and show them the tree with its lights on in the still dark lounge. We also buy each of our children a new Christmas decoration each year, so they love trying to find the new decoration hidden in the branches. This is an idea I read about a few years ago, and the reasoning is when your children leave home you can present them with a box of decorations to have on their first tree.
Christmas Eve is a really key time for us, and we always go to church to watch the Sunday school nativity. It is something which I have pursuaded my friends to try doing with their families as well. You don’t have to be a church goer, and most churches are welcoming of everybody. It is a lovely way to spend an hour with candles and carols and hearing the story of the first Christmas.
For me Christmas spirit is also about great smells and tastes and an excuse to cook and bake even more than normal! Simply baking some gingerbread cookies, making a pan of mulled wine or warming some mince pies to have with a hot chocolate, all creates lovely rich flavours and aromas which help you feel Christmassy. Lighting a cinnamon spiced candle and putting on a Christmas CD all adds to the atmosphere.
It is very hard when you are so busy to find time just to stop and enjoy and feel, but even if you can find 5 minutes each day to do/smell/think/feel the Christmas Spirit it will make the whole experience more enjoyable and bring back some of the magic that came so naturally when we were children.
This is great stuff. I’ve really enjoyed making Christmas cakes and puddings, cards and candles these last couple of weeks. I usually do them anyway, but this year, with the loss of my Mum in May, Christmas is even more thought provoking.
With running my own business and with 2 boys at Junior school it’s really important to do what is important to you. Especially at this time of year when so many pressures are put on us. There’s no need to add to these pressures, but hubby has said I’ve had an air of calm about me when icing the 8 cakes for Church fair this last week! Must be something good in that preparation.
A bit of time out, doing things we enjoy is never better than at Christmas – a time Mum loved, and packed full of traditions and memories we want to keep and pass on.
Christmas is magic, whether you believe in the birth of Christ or not. It’s something to hold onto – peace and goodwill around the world – wouldn’t that be good?
Christmas eve afternoon we used to make mince pies, gingerbread and shortbread, and chose 5 local families to take some toand then put the goodies in a little basket or box. We would then go and sing a carol at each house and leave a basket of home made treats.
We always ended uo singing at the fish and chip shop and left them out last box taking supper home with us. I always felt this made my 2 think about something/someone else rather than just what they were getting, harnessed their energies and saved me cooking dinner !!
I’m one of those people that loves Christmas, I get excited by the cheesy music in shops, sparkly lights and parties! I know it’s commercial etc etc, but it’s so much fun.
I’ve got a 2 year old daughter who is beginning to show an interest in Christmas and we’re doing loads of fun things together. We went to a Christmas Fair on Sunday and joined in the Christmas Carols, which she loved. We’re off to Selfridges to see Santa next.
I’m doing e-cards this year, in a bid to save some time and be a bit more environmentally-friendly and donating the money saved to charity.