Ideas to make Christmas special without all the "stuff"

[Mermaid02]

Seems like it should be pretty simple.... but my kids are used to lots of "stuff". I'm an only child and my Mom really goes kind of nuts at Christmas. This year she has bought a new house and doesn't have the extra money and frankly, we don't need a lot more "stuff" anyway. I was thinking about having a Christmas party- nothing fancy just some friends with kids. Other than that I can't really think of anything. Do you have any traditions that make the holiday extra special??

 

[dianeschlicht]

Our favorite holiday tradition is something we call the "little tree". It is just a collection of silly little things wrapped up and opened on Christmas Day after dinner. We don't spend tons of money, and the things are really nothing more than stocking stuffers, but we do put some thought into it and taylor the gift to the person. Sometimes it is to poke fun at something that happened during the year. For example, once I dislocated a finger, and that year at Christmas I got all kinds of silly little reminders of that on the "little tree". Lots of fun and good for a lot of laughs after a CHristmas Dinner!

 

[Pop Daddy]

go to a Christmas eve service at a local Church

 

[mickeyfan2]

I love to decorate and see all the house lit up for the holidays.

 

[*BTMRR*]

We aren't into the *stuff* either. I like Pop Daddy's suggestion!

We do a gingerbread house together every year. You can make your own, or buy one of the kits. We usually buy a kit, and then "upgrade" by letting each kid pick out a small package of their favorite candy to decorate with. This is a lot of fun and kids of all ages seem to enjoy it.

 

[java]

To really get into the spirit(besides going to church) we like to make an advent calendar of sorts for the month of December. It is an activity a day type thing.
We all think up things we like to do during the holidays(simple things like taking a walk to look at the lights, to wrapping presents, to making ornaments, making cards, visiting older relatives, Decorating, picking out the tree, shopping, seeing a holiday movie, go into the city for a day of window shopping.) you get the idea. And each day we open one up to see what the "event of the day is" (now of course I stage the calendar so that our go into the city day falls on a weekend)

 

[kimmikayb]

We read a Christmas book every night. We bake together. We make a huge deal out of decorating the Christmas tree and putting out the nativity.

Pop Daddy had a great suggustion, go to a Christmas Eve service at church. Very beautiful.

 

[golfgal]

We have a tradition of driving around town after Christmas Eve Mass and looking at the lights.

We bake cookies together the weekend before Christmas

We spend Christmas Day in our pajamas and just lounge around the house, well I do mostly but we do have a big meal that day.

 

[Chattyaholic]

I like to do what Pop Daddy suggested. I work every Sunday so we don't get to attend church like we used to, but we do like to go with my parents to their church for the Christmas Eve service.

We also enjoy going for rides in the evenings as it gets closer to Christmas, to go to different towns and drive around looking at all the lights and holiday yard displays.

Another thing we like to do is have everyone over and we all buy small $5 gifts for a "grab bag." Then we draw numbers. #1 gets to choose a gift and open it. #2 can either choose a gift and open it, or steal #1's gift. And on down the line. It's fun, everyone enjoys it.

And we definitely watch "Christmas Vacation" at least once or twice during the holiday season.

 

[Kath2003]

We didn't have a lot of "stuff" when we were little - although we were a long way from going without. Every year, we got a board game or a family activity (LEGO BUCKET!!! ) and play with that after lunch at Christmas.

Turn off the TV, light some candles and spend some time together as a family. Play Christmas music, watch classic Christmas movies (not the new funny ones) - personally I like Lady and the Tramp (not exactly a Christmas Movie but it's a feel-good story and it's Christmas at the end!)!

Bake cookies, light a fire and have a nice time.

I hope my Christmas is like this this year

Oh and kids get excited about the most mundane of things. Bouncy balls, toothbrushes (we used to get those every year), hair ties, socks (still get the socks!), BUBBLES (I love bubbles) all add up to a huge pile of presents for very little cash.

"Make" an advent calendar out of old clothing/sheets. Just build something with 25 pockets in it and stuff them full of candy (way cheaper than actually buying an advent calendar year on year).

 

[CEDmom]

We make a gingerbread house every year and DD8 decorates it. Actually I buy a kit from Costco with everything in it so it's fun and easy. On Christmas Eve we make a birthday cake for baby Jesus which DD gets to decorate and then we have it for dessert that night (we even sing happy birthday). There's also the Christmas pageant at our church that DD is in and I help with as well as our Christmas bazaar.

We always go out a few times during the season to look at lights. We also go to a few close by towns to walk around the downtown area and look at the decorations. Sometimes we get into NYC but not every year.

 

[Mermaid02]

Lots of good ideas here! We don't do the Christmas Eve service because of Jack's ADHD and PDD evening is a really bad time for him but we do participate in the pageant.... he's been Gabriel for the past 2 years

Another thing I thought of was cutting our own tree.... there's this really neat tree farm and if there's snow (fingers crossed) you can have a sleigh ride through the farm. And they have a big showroom with ornaments etc.

The last few years I've cut back on the decorating (just because of time really) but I think I'll get back at it this year and start Thanksgiving weekend (it's early this year).

I love the gingerbread house idea and taking a ride to look at lights. Advent calendars are a good idea too. Maybe I'll surprise them with one of those "little trees" after we have dinner at my inlaws.

 

[Kath2003]

We don't decorate much for Christmas but we have a "random" tree - i.e. we take 30 years worth of tree decorations and throw them on. We only tend to buy them one at a time so they each have a story as to where we got them. Last year we had lots of new ones, though, because I went to the world's largest Christmas store in Frankenmuth, Michigan!

 

[mickeyboat]

How about adopting a family through a local social services organization, or if you can't do a whole family, choose an angel from the mall's angel tree, and have your family really involved in choosing something for that child?

We also cut down our own tree and do a gingerbread house. There is a local religious light display at a shrine near our town that we see every year. They let the kids make birthday cards for Jesus.

I think a Christmas party is also a great idea! You could do a Yankee Swap.

Happy Holidays!

Denae

 

[piratesmate]

We do most of the things suggested here. Christmas is a big deal at our house, but it's not about "the stuff".

We cut our own tree also. They last much, much longer than the pre-cut type! So you can get & decorate it Thanksgiving weekend and then leave it up through New Years easily - as long as you keep it well watered.

If you can't do Christmas Eve service, do any of the churches in your area have a "Living Nativity"? Those are usually held outside & it might be easier for you your son than being expected to sit in a pew. These can be very meaningful - especially to kids.

Even though my kids are older (26 & 16 now) I still like to get some sort of game or activity that they/we can do after all the unwrapping is done...things like Disney Scene-It or Muppet Party Cruise for the PS2 that's a 4-player game.

In the past couple years I've also gotten some sort of "kit" at the craft store & we've made those in the evening. One year it was those little S'Mores (snowmen, Santas, penguins) and another it was ornaments...each one gets a new ornament in the stocking every year but this was additional.

 

[Saphire]

I have always said Christmas would be my favorite holiday if it weren't for all the gifts, lol. Really, I find it to be so excessive, time-consuming and expensive. I like doing everything else...the parties, the food, seeing the lights, the special church services, the tree, the decorating, the music, etc. We live close to Boston, so when our kids were little we took them into the city to see the lights on the common and then go to dinner, also got all dressed up and saw the Nutcracker. There are horse drawn carriage rides in there too. We head to the country right after Thanksgiving and have made it a tradition to chop down our own tree. You have gotten some good ideas here, and your idea of a party sounds great!

 

[aces_babydoll]

We are big on the family dinner and dressing up. we love to decorate and we have to have the kids set out the cookies and milk on Chrristmas eve.

 

[lillygator]

such great ideas....we are trying to get our extended family onboard with this as well.

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I love our new tradition we have been doing for the last 3 years. After all my grandparents passed away, we decided to start a new tradition. We have a big family party on Christmas Eve, then on Christmas my immediate family members get together and open each other's presents, have breakfast and lounge in our pj's. My sister and her family go to her inlaws after breakfast while my parents, my fiancee and I get ready for the movie theatre and watch 2 movies. Our Christmas dinner usually consists of either popcorn from the movie theatre or a hot dog from the gas station!!!!!

 

[MzDiz]

Get some cocoa, put on some Christmas music and make pomander oranges. http://www.organic.org/articles/showarticle/article-161
I've been doing this since I was a kid.