This year is a tough year to celebrate any holidays with family. With COVID-19 and the elections, it has made it difficult to get together. I know many of us have been putting up our Christmas decorations early to keep our spirits up. I thought I might like to help you out a little with something planned every day to do. Nothing too huge.
Here is a sample list of holiday activities every day until Christmas.
December 1st: Put up and decorate Christmas Tree. If you have not already done this, it is a great place to start. Don’t wait until the last minute. This will bring your spirit up faster than any other decoration. String popcorn and cranberries to put on your tree.
December 2nd: Make a new Christmas ornament for your tree. Or a bunch of them. for example cinnamon ornaments.
3/4 cup applesauce
4oz. cinnamon
Mix the applesauce and cinnamon together to make it the consistency of cookie dough. Roll out the dough to about 1/4″ thick. Cut out the ornaments with cookie cutters and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Don’t forget to use a straw to cut out a circle at the top of the ornament so you can hang them. Allow ornaments to dry for several days turning them over twice a day so they will dry completely.
December 3rd: Decorate the rest of the house with Christmas decorations. Take your time. Enjoy the process. Get the whole family involved in every decoration.
December 4th: For the kids write a letter to Santa and send it to the North Pole. For adults, why not fill out a wish list and put them in a jar. Open and share them on Christmas eve.
December 5th: Attend a local Christmas festival or tree lighting, observing the social distance when you can, and wear a mask. Check your paper for local events throughout December.
December 6th: Make a Christmas Craft. Or create a Christmas traditions board that the family can share and go through the list to make sure you do everything you put on the list. No matter how small. December 6th: Nikolaus Day. Santa Claus, called Nikolaus or Weihnachtsmann (“Christmas Man”) in Germany, visits this evening to fill your shoes with sweets, oranges, walnuts, cookies, and small Santa Claus figurines made out of chocolate. German children are not only on their best behavior to impress Santa Claus, they are also trying to avoid Krampus. This half-goat half-demon character is said to punish naughty children and is the counterpart of Santa. You will often see them depicted together, however, while Santa’s day is December 6, Krampus Night is December 5. You could even craft a felt shoe to put out.
December 7th: Take a family Christmas photo. Turn your photo into an ornament for the tree. Take a bunch, all wearing matching pajamas or all wearing ugly sweaters. Be creative.
December 8th: Visit Santa and take pictures. Even as adults. If there is a place to visit Santa this year. If not get creative and take pictures in front of as many Christmas trees as you can find around town.
December 9th: Go Ice Skating, or if you don’t have ice, go hiking.
December 10th: Watch a Christmas Movie. Since many of us have been staying home have a Christmas movie marathon. Create theme refreshments to go along with the movies. Wear your matching pajamas. Take a bunch of pictures of you together watching movies, and share on Facebook.
December 11th: Do something Charitable. Help cook a meal for the homeless. Send a care package to a soldier. Donate your old coats in good condition to those in need. Help a neighbor shovel snow, or help around their house where needed.
December 12th: Build and decorate a gingerbread house. Instead of buying the kits to build one, make the gingerbread house yourself, and decorate it. Or build one out of cardboard and paint or color it with crayons. Decoupage paper on it if you can’t draw. Cut up old magazines.
December 13th: If you live in New York visit Rockefeller Center, Macy’s Santaland, and the windows on 5th Ave. If that is not possible go and see all the Christmas lights downtown. Be there for the Christmas tree lighting. Take tons of pictures.
December 14th: Send Christmas Cards. Yes, people still do this. Have the kids make them and send them to the grandparents or close relatives. If you do not have kids then make the cards yourself and hand write on all the cards, and mail them this time. This year would be a great year to start if you have not been doing this. It will help everyone’s spirits.
December 15th: Go Christmas shopping with the kids, let them help you pick out gifts for loved ones. No kids? Take a friend along and suggest presents for people in each other’s lives. Better yet agree on a dollar value to not go above and see how creative you can get.
December 16th: Have a family sing-a-long and sing your favorite Christmas songs while having some hot cocoa. If you can’t sing create a hot cocoa bar with all different kinds of things to add to hot cocoa and play Christmas music in the background.
December 17th: Pick out matching Christmas socks for the whole family. Don’t forget to get matching Santa hats to wear also. Again take a ton of pictures. (there is a reason at the end of this list)
December 18th: Drive around and look at Christmas lights. Everyone wear their Santa hats while driving around looking at lights. Take pictures! Of each other and the lights etc.
December 19th: Wrap gifts. Get creative with the wrapping paper and ribbons. Design your own wrapping paper.
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December 20th: Decorate Christmas stockings. If you have not already hung them with care. But if you have already hung them, make some new ones, and hang them in a different room of the house.
December 21st: Make and decorate Christmas Cookies. Everyone enjoys receiving cookies. In Norway, they give seven different kinds of cookies to their guests. Also given as gifts. Why not start a new tradition.
December 22nd: Make and play with pretend snow. You can make fabric balls and fill with polyfill and have a snowball fight in the house.
December 23rd: Make reindeer food.
December 24th: Open Christmas Eve box, Make up a box of all things needed on the night before Christmas or for Christmas morning. You can put pajamas, a mug with a bag of hot chocolate and marshmallows or a chocolate bomb, a Christmas movie with movie tickets, slippers, a family game in the box. Be creative, have things that are special to your family. Leave cookies for Santa, spread out Reindeer food on the lawn, read “T’was the Night Before Christmas…” Search for a pickle ornament in your tree and have a prize for who finds it.
December 25th: Enjoy the day. Take all the pictures you took through December and put them together in a book as a gift to the family about this special gathering of family and all the fun things you did together.
Have a wonderful holiday! Be safe!
Roxanne