Making Christmas Memorable

[threecrazykids]

I posted this over on the Community Board, but I think my Budget Board friends have great budget minded ideas!

I'm need some ideas to help make this Christmas just as memorable if not MORE than ones in the past and I'm looking to all my Dis friends for help.

My DH lost his job last November and has just now found a part time job and we simply don't have the money to have the "Big Christmas" we typically do. And ya know what? I'm really ok with that! I know it's not about the gifts, but in our past we've made it seem that way.

My kids don't get presents throughout the year. They really only get them for their Birthday's and Christmas, that's it...so we've always really "done it up" during Christmas, and I've never once felt guilty about it.

Well, this year will be very different. The kids know money is extremely tight, and they will be getting only a few gifts this year. One "big" thing, and maybe a smaller "want" and then probably a new outfit. Kids are DS17,DS12,and DD10. The youngest still believes!

My parents always give generously so they will still get more than a lot of children in this world, but I think this is a wonderful opportunity to reinforce the REAL meaning of Christmas.

If all my DIS friends could maybe give me ideas of traditions they have, or inexpensive or free things they share with their families, I would greatly appreciate it.

I want them to grow up and tell their families about the year that even though they didn't get a lot of gifts, the memories of that year are worth more.

I know plenty of others are in the same boat we are, so I'm hoping we can share great ideas!

 

[happygirl]

If you want really want to do the real meaning of Christmas, you can take your kids to a soup kitchen and let them give back to people who have nothing.

A lot of people I know do three gifts to represent the three gifts, that Jesus received when he wss born.

You can adopt a family from an angel tree.

I hope this help

 

[lovesmurfs]

I replied on the community board as well -- mostly about the family's Christmas and food-related for Christmas morning.

You may wish to sit down and talk to the kids about a service project you want to do with them and get their input on suggestions -- maybe volunteer work in December and January, or playing secret Santa to a family you know. We bring cinnamon rolls to a number of families on Christmas eve morning (most are home from work) -- and different families each year.

 

[StephMK]

One year when the kids were young, we made homemade holiday cards with scrapbook paper & glitter on blank cards. Sales at Michael's & coupons made the supplies cheap and it took a fair amount of time. Let them make homemade gifts for family members, homemade ornaments for the tree, and look through recipe books for special treats to make.

We always take a night & drive around looking at everyone's lights. The kids bring their fleece blankets to bundle up in the car & we bring snacks. You could make special hot cocoa in travel mugs & play holiday music. Make one night a holiday movie marathon - Elf, Grinch, and Christmas Story are the family favs.

There are lots of churches that put on holiday shows for no charge unless you choose to donate. Check your city for free & cheap holiday events that you can make into a new family tradition.

 

[aladams2]

We make a bday cake for J. and they help from baking to decorating. Then we sing happy birthday.

 

[amberdburke]

We always get new pjs (all of us) to open on Christmas Eve. We read "The Night Before Christmas," watch "It's a Wonderful Life" and drink Coke out of the Santa bottles.

The morning of Christmas, I made homemade cinnamon rolls that we eat before presents (we do the stocking first thing so the kids have something to hold them off before presents).

We only get our daughter a stocking and one big present. This year we are getting our daughter her first nice baby doll. She's only 3, so she doesn't understand she's "supposed" to get more

 

[luvmy3]

Ever year we pick out a tree and decorate it together. I get my kids ornaments every year so when they take their's out they usually have a story about the Christmas they received it. Me and the kids hang all the decorations and dh video tapes it the whole time. We make hot cocoa and put on the Christmas CDs. After the tree is finished we turn off all the house lights and sit and talk by the light of the Christmas tree. It is such a peaceful part of an otherwise hectic day, I hope my kids never outgrow wanting to do it.

We do a Christmas movie marathon day on Christmas Eve (after dh finishes his shopping ) That night the kid's get to open a couple gifts. They are the same every year, a new pair of PJ's and their new ornament.

 

[Nevergrow'nup]

Do you have something special from your childhood that you can pass on as gifts? It is extra special and makes them feel grown up.
A family that I know, wraps an empty box to represent God' love for them. Another way is your love for them
How about "coupons for activites during the year? I try and give memories to my kids for Christmas instead of loading up the gifts. Whether it is trips to the zoo, picnics or bike rides? A pass to get out of chores, etc.

To make less look like more under the tree, get creative in the wrapping. One year we all got new pillows, boy! did the tree look full that year!! We all got special pillow cases made especially for each of us.

Times are tough for alot of us this year. But time with our families is the most important gift.

 

[MomToOne]

My daughter and I love Christmas, and have a whole host of traditions that we love more than the actual present time. Most of them are very low cost.

1. The day before Thanksgiving, we used to go see Santa at the mall (because I refuse to step foot in a mall after Thanksgiving - the crowds drive me nuts, not to mention the parking). But since she's now too old for that, we go to the bookstore to get a new Christmas book of some kind, then out for a Mom-Daughter lunch. (She is off of school that day) After lunch, we go buy a new Nutcracker for the year - we get a new one every year and use these in our decorating - see #3.
2. Thanksgiving Day we spend all day watching our rather large collection of Christmas movies.
3. The day after Thanksgiving, instead of fighting Black Friday sales, we get up bright and early and start decorating the house. First, we get out all of our non-tree decorations and put those out, then we head out to the Christmas tree lot. Doesn't matter what the weather is, rain or shine we are out there getting our tree. We come home and put the tree up. The rest of the weekend we will finish all of the decorating.
4. One weekend before Christmas we spend decorating a gingerbread house (I just get one of the kits). The same day we also usually make apple/orange "ornaments" for our trees in the back yard for the squirrels and birds to enjoy. The ornaments are really a big hit with my daughter - she loves the idea of giving a Christmas present to the animals LOL
5. Another weekend we find a Christmas movie to go see at a theater.
6. We usually go for a drive one night to look at Christmas lights. We listen to Christmas music in the car and take cookies and hot chocolate with us. If the weather is nice, we park the car and walk; if it's awful, we just drive.
6. If the weather is good enough, we spend an evening at the Six Flags Christmas party. I usually manage to get tickets cheap from MyCokeRewards at some point during the summer, and I save them for this.
7. I usually pick a name from the giving tree at work, and my daughter and I go shopping together for gifts for that person. I try to get someone close in age to her, so she can feel more involved in the gift selection.
8. We bake lots of cookies and other Christmas treats together. It's not Christmas without the smell of cookies in the air

We used to go see the Nutcracker production by the local ballet, but we've seen that so many times now we are sort of over it, and have not gone the last few years. It also started getting a bit expensive to do that, the ticket prices kept going up.

 

[mjbaby]

Depending upon your faith (if any) and how your family is comfortable in expressing it, you might want to broaden your idea of "Christmas" to include the entire Advent season. All kinds of service projects, Saint's days, opportunities for hospitality, home-based project and more can fall under this idea of "watchful waiting".

I try to have all my shopping done before Advent begins (I use the liturgical Advent starting on the fourth Sunday before Christmas but if your family has a more secular celebration then using the December 1 start would work too) so that I can focus on the anticipation and pageantry of the season. Once you have your start date determined, you might check the listings in your area for free events or service opportunities that would fill in those weeks. Add in maybe some home-based things like craft afternoons (with tea and cake, maybe) or gingerbread house decorating and you've got yourself a really nice Christmas season as opposed to a single day.

 

[mom2t]

My child is in a play with a character of a Dad that lost his job. His "children" write gratitudes slips to their Dad and wrap them in a box to give their Dad on Christmas. Ex. Thank you for helping me with homework. Thank you for watching ___ with me each Friday night.

 

[MaleficentRN]

When I remember Christmas, it's never a toy or other gift that I got. It's things like spending all day baking cookies with my mom, sister and grandmother. It's a big family dinner with the adults in the dining room and the cousins goofing off at the kid's table. And your kids may be too old, but we would leave out any broken toys on Christmas Eve for Santa to fix when he stopped by. It was usually a doll or teddy bear. In the morning the doll would have a clean dress with her arm sewn back and the teddy's eye would be replaced.
These are my memories. You are probably making your own and you don't realise it yet.

 

[McKelly]

How about making up a board game? Buy a large piece of poster board and take some colored pencils out and draw a pathway, similar to Candyland. Make different spaces that say, "You ate too many Xmas cookies, move back two spaces" or "the lights went out on the Xmas tree", move back four spaces or "you found the Christmas pickle ornament", move ahead three squares, roll again, skip a turn, some squares could just be Christmas trivia or Christmas pictures, the options are endless. You would really have to use your imagination and when your family is finished, you could play the game, and then bring it out every Christmas to play. We have done this, it may sound dorky, but creating the game was more fun than playing it! And it took quite awhile!

 

[NYEmomma]

While we're not believers in any faith so I'm not able to suggest anything pertaining to the religious aspect of the holiday, my family & I LOVE Christmas. Here's a few traditions that we do every year that wouldn't feel like Christmas without them:

- Decorate the tree as a family while listening to Bing Crosby on my record player the day after Thanksgiving

- Get hot chocolate from Starbucks and drive around town looking at all the Christmas lights

- Have a cookie & candy baking day with my mom & DD

- Go to the Tuba Christmas concert. It's absolutely free and a GREAT time. DH is a tuba player so he's gone & played in them for almost 20 years now. The one around us is HUGE.... a few hundred tuba players all playing Christmas carols.

- My dad always read the Night Before Christmas to my brother & I when we were little on Christmas Eve... all the way up until I was 21 and got married and moved out. Now that we have DD, he bought one of those recordable Hallmark books last year so now he reads the Night Before Christmas to me & my DD too.

- Watch 24 hours of a Christmas Carol on TBS

- Make monkey bread with DD Christmas morning so that it's ready when we're finished opening presents

- When my brother & I were little we always exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. Your children could always make gifts for each other & exchange them... if they're not crafty, there's always "coupon books" for favors throughout the year.

 

[21yankees]

How about making up a board game? Buy a large piece of poster board and take some colored pencils out and draw a pathway, similar to Candyland. Make different spaces that say, "You ate too many Xmas cookies, move back two spaces" or "the lights went out on the Xmas tree", move back four spaces or "you found the Christmas pickle ornament", move ahead three squares, roll again, skip a turn, some squares could just be Christmas trivia or Christmas pictures, the options are endless. You would really have to use your imagination and when your family is finished, you could play the game, and then bring it out every Christmas to play. We have done this, it may sound dorky, but creating the game was more fun than playing it! And it took quite awhile!

While we're not believers in any faith so I'm not able to suggest anything pertaining to the religious aspect of the holiday, my family & I LOVE Christmas. Here's a few traditions that we do every year that wouldn't feel like Christmas without them:

- Decorate the tree as a family while listening to Bing Crosby on my record player the day after Thanksgiving

- Get hot chocolate from Starbucks and drive around town looking at all the Christmas lights

- Have a cookie & candy baking day with my mom & DD

- Go to the Tuba Christmas concert. It's absolutely free and a GREAT time. DH is a tuba player so he's gone & played in them for almost 20 years now. The one around us is HUGE.... a few hundred tuba players all playing Christmas carols.

- My dad always read the Night Before Christmas to my brother & I when we were little on Christmas Eve... all the way up until I was 21 and got married and moved out. Now that we have DD, he bought one of those recordable Hallmark books last year so now he reads the Night Before Christmas to me & my DD too.

- Watch 24 hours of a Christmas Carol on TBS

- Make monkey bread with DD Christmas morning so that it's ready when we're finished opening presents

- When my brother & I were little we always exchanged gifts on Christmas Eve. Your children could always make gifts for each other & exchange them... if they're not crafty, there's always "coupon books" for favors throughout the year.

Love these ideas.

We live on a military installation and every Christmas we make pies, cookies and candy for the single military members. My kids love doing this and enjoy delivering it all to the meal location.

Also we're in a warm weather area and have only had snow 2 times in the past 8 years. Our kids make snowflakes and decorate all of the windows with them.

 

[cberhorst]

Just to add on to what others have said about Advent..... I have an awesome tradition that I do every year with my kids. Starting Dec. 1 and up until Christmas day I have an activity or craft for my kids to do. You can make it as simple or elaborate as you want. I usually give them a couple Christmas books, baking days, tree decorating, gingerbread house, movie night, etc. There are some adorable ideas out there to make it special.

 

[southern_redhead]

Pull out all your Christmas DVD"s (or que some on Netflix streaming if you have it) and have a movie day/night. As a bonus, have some themed treats.

Play Christmas music and decorate your tree and living room.

Get some good smelling Christmas-y candles and burn them between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Do you have a community tree lighting anywhere near you? We went to one in Cincinnati last year that was so neat. I wish we could go to one every year.

Many churches in our area used to do a "candlelight" service. I think only one or two still do, but they are really nice. I always enjoyed them as a kid.

Make ornaments - get a salt dough recipe and do your ornaments, then paint them. We did this years ago. We had moved and I left behind ALL of our ornaments (yup, our wedding one and ODS's "first Christmas" ornaments included ), we had no money to spend on a ton of ornaments so I did this. The kids really enjoyed it and we used those ornaments for several years.

 

[stitchlovestink]

When I remember Christmas, it's never a toy or other gift that I got. It's things like spending all day baking cookies with my mom, sister and grandmother. It's a big family dinner with the adults in the dining room and the cousins goofing off at the kid's table. And your kids may be too old, but we would leave out any broken toys on Christmas Eve for Santa to fix when he stopped by. It was usually a doll or teddy bear. In the morning the doll would have a clean dress with her arm sewn back and the teddy's eye would be replaced.
These are my memories. You are probably making your own and you don't realise it yet.

Bolding is mine...
This is the absolutely best idea!!!!!
My girls are Too old as they are 19 and almost 16. But when they have children (hopefully years from now!) I am going to suggest this. It is an awesome idea!!!

 

[crusoe2]

OP, be sure to check what's going on at your public library during the Christmas season. Ours usually has an evening with Santa - he reads a Christmas story and poses for pictures and the kids get goodies of some kind. I think they've also done seasonal crafts. And if you don't have lots of Christmas movies, books, and music around the house, check your public library and see what they have available. You might be able to load up on lots of Christmas entertainment there for free. We love to do a Christmas themed movie marathon at home complete with popcorn and movie candy (bought at Walmart for about $1 a box). This is so much cheaper than going to the theater - especially if you get the movies from the library.

Another project that your kids might enjoy is making a big countdown calendar on poster board. They can fill in all the special events that they have to look forward to - school and church programs, parades, movie nights, cookie baking day, etc. - and decorate it to their heart's content. Then they have a way to keep up with how many days are left till Christmas and a visual reminder of all the wonderful things about the season (that don't necessarily involve gifts). We did a countdown calendar before our last Disney trip to not only help us keep up with how much time we had left but also to remind DD of all the fun stuff we had going on BEFORE the trip. She loved it.

Whatever you do, good luck. In the last 5 years, my DH has been laid off twice - both times right before the holidays. Not a good feeling but it is what you make it.

 

[skip323]

Though we also love the gift part of Xmas, our favorite things are like what many have mentioned.

We drive around and look at lights. We have a wonderful opportunity to do that both where we live and where we spend the holidays in the South. I have never done it with the snacks and hot chocolate but think I will add that in!

We do a holiday movie every week...along with the 25 day of Christmas on ABC Family. We (and I alone for the more adult ones) always watch: Elf, Home Alone 1, A Christmas Story (though I must be the only person in the world who doesn't love it), The Grinch, Last Holiday (Queen Latifah), The Holiday (Diaz, Winslet etc), and a few others...sometimes the Little Princess with Shirley Temple.

We always try to see the Polar Express on the IMAX (if someone is showing it).

I usually treat the girls to a new movie that has just come out right around the holidays as well.

We typically adopt a child or give to toys for tots..something. And we also clear out toys that the kids no longer play with and get them to goodwill in November with the understanding that many families will be able to use them as holiday gifts for their kids.

We sometimes, though not always, will do some type of production: Disney on Ice, The Nutcracker, the Symphony ...but those things can get really expensive so we don't do it as much.

We also get together with a good friend and her kids and bake. Then we give the baked goods to friends in the neighborhood and bus drivers.