Do the holidays come and go with you feeling more stressed than anything else? Or do you enjoy some holidays through the year but find yourself just glad that the Christmas holidays are over? You should be able to enjoy all of the holidays with your kids and avoid the burnout and Grinch-ism that can occur at Christmas time, thanks to the retail industry pushing the idea of holiday cheer (and holiday spending) down our throats a full 4 months before Christmas. Keep a few basic ideas in mind to better enjoy any holiday, including those at the end of the year.
Don’t focus on spending. Overspending is a main reason that Christmas is less than joyful for many of us. The kids have wish lists as long as their arms and it seems each item costs more than the last. Make a budget and stick to it to avoid those January regrets. Christmas shouldn’t be about the next greatest gadget or how much you spend, it should be about family time and memories.
To make those memories, plan ahead. Pencil on the calendar times for doing simple and inexpensive (but fun) things together, like spending an evening listening to Christmas carols or watching those old family holiday favorites on DVD while drinking hot chocolate and stringing popcorn garland for the tree. Ask each family member what kinds of things are important to them during the season and work each of these things in. But don’t overschedule, with every free moment filled with some sort of holiday activity. Having fun can become little more than a chore if you overdo it.
Find something everyone likes, or thinks they’ll like, and start a new tradition. Look at your local library or online for holiday fun ideas and incorporation something new into your holiday rituals. You could decide to have one new ethnic dish each year along with your traditional Thanksgiving feast. Or find a Christmas ritual from another country that looks interesting and decide to do that each year, as well.
When kids are little, a tiny bag of oats mixed with colored glitter makes a fun little bag of reindeer bait. Sprinkling this on the lawn each Christmas eve can be a fun tradition for little ones, designed to make sure Santa doesn’t miss the house. Other traditions include a small present placed in the child’s shoe, Christmas crackers (not food, but small gifts that are traditional in the UK) and real sugar plums. No matter what it is, the point is to find something inexpensive that you all find interesting and fun, and plan it in each year.
Any holiday can be made more memorable, without a bunch of expense, using these ideas. Pumpkin carving or navigating a corn maze at Halloween, or making a red, white and blue gelatin dessert over July 4th, for instance, are things that can be done together inexpensively, but can be a lot of fun for the whole family.
