18

Family Fun

Look ahead twenty years. You’re gathered around the table with your children, grandchildren—perhaps even some great-grandchildren.

Conversation turns to Christmases past. What will your children tell their kids they loved most about that long-ago Christmas? Seeing Mom spend days on end cleaning the house so Grandma would be impressed? Will they even remember how many gifts they received or even those they gave?

Probably not.

Your children will remember the fun family times. It is sobering to think that every day you are participating in the creation of your children’s childhood memories. If you still have time to do something about those memories, don’t miss the opportunity.

Feeling a little blue because your nest is empty this year? Invite a family with young children to a tree-trimming party.

If the onslaught of relatives and activities leaves you taking care of everyone but yourself, it may be time to change your holiday habits. Instead of accepting every invitation, take a day—or a few hours—and do something special with your family. Watch a movie, bake a batch of cookies—anything you want to do for a change.

“So . . . that means if I buy four, it won’t cost anything?”

Start a new tradition. Even though Santa fills all the stockings on Christmas Eve, leave them hanging full and untouched until New Year’s Day. This helps to relieve the feeling of overdose on Christmas morning and is a nice way to celebrate the New Year.

Let your kids turn one of your windows into a holiday canvas. Mix powdered tempera paints (available at an art supply store or craft store) with clear dishwashing liquid until you have the creamy consistency of house paint. If you have premixed tempera paint, stir in a bit of the dish soap. Use individual plastic containers (margarine tubs are perfect) to mix the colors. Cover the window sash with masking tape, and spread newspaper around the surrounding area. Then let the window artists take it away. If you’re using a large picture window, help the kids design a mural. Dad and Mom can get into the act by painting the hard-to-reach areas. Windows with individual panes offer a great opportunity for a Christmas montage of a snowflake, a bell, a candy cane, a Christmas tree—one design per pane. When it’s completely dry, the paint will come off easily—just wipe with a dry paper towel.

While sitting around the fire one cold winter evening, take turns writing down past events you’d like to forget, then toss them into the fireplace.

Take extra time off work while the kids are out of school for the holidays.

Make special holiday place mats with your kids. All you need is a box of crayons and light-colored vinyl place mats. Help the kids draw holiday designs and write their name. After the holidays, simply wipe the mats clean with a good all-purpose liquid cleaner. Some traces of color may remain, so make sure you don’t use your very best place mats.

Take an evening for the whole family to prepare and decorate luminaries (see chapter 16).

Take the family to see a small-town Christmas parade.

Prior to Thanksgiving Day, deliver a ticket to each family member and instruct them to write their current interests, hobbies, and Christmas gift requests. As you sit around the table, have each person read what’s on his or her list. Or have everyone put their list into a hat so that drawing names now comes with an instant gift idea list.

Adopt a needy family for the holidays. Make a special shopping trip or have a gift-making session when each member of your family buys or creates a present for the person in the adopted family who is closest to their age.

Volunteer as a family to work in a soup kitchen or homeless shelter.

Take a basket of holiday goodies to your local fire or police station.

Attach a wreath and big red bow to the front grill of the family car. Hang a fun ornament from the rearview mirror.

Tie jingle bells to everyone’s sneakers and go caroling to your neighbors’ homes. Or just take a walk through the mall. Oh, what fun.

Before going to bed on Christmas Eve, turn out all the lights and light lots of candles. Read the second chapter of Luke from the Bible and sing “Silent Night.”

Instead of reading the usual bedtime stories during the month of December, read to your children about Christmas customs in other countries, as well as other wonderful holiday stories available at your local library or online. Find stories that come from the countries that represent your children’s heritage.

One night a week during the holiday season, eat dinner by the light of the Christmas tree. Teach the family to say “Merry Christmas” in the language of the family’s origin.

If you have relatives living far away, make a video of your family decorating the house and trimming the tree. Send it to them to enjoy on Christmas Day.

Get out the board games and have an ongoing family tournament during December.

If you take your kids to see Santa, save time and aggravation waiting in long lines by staying away from overcrowded malls. Instead, check smaller department stores or neighborhood centers.

If Santa’s booth allows you to take your own photographs (most do, but be sure to inquire ahead of time), take your own camera when your kids visit with the old gent. Instead of ordering duplicates of the photo, copy it yourself on your home computer or drop into a quick-print place and have colored photocopy enlargements made for about one dollar each.

Caroling spreads cheer throughout your neighborhood. Bring a thermos of hot cocoa to keep everyone warm.

Make a wreath from greenery you find in your own backyard and let the children decorate it.

Bake Christmas cookies for your child’s class at school. To save time, make the slice-and-bake variety and decorate them with ready-made frosting.

On the last day of school before Christmas vacation, tie red and green balloons to the mailbox to welcome your children home.

Buy a large white candle (3 x 8 inches is ideal). Starting at the top, carefully carve twenty-five evenly spaced horizontal stripes around the candle with the point of a knife. At a designated time each day (dinnertime or bedtime), starting on December 1, light the candle and decide on something you’re thankful for as a family. Allow the advent candle to burn down one stripe each night until Christmas.

Start a giant jigsaw puzzle at the beginning of the season. The goal is to be finished by Christmas Day. Keep it out on a table in a well-lit area so anyone can work on it whenever they want.

Reserve opening the day’s Christmas cards until dinnertime. Read the messages aloud and remind the kids how the family knows these people.

Attend a Christmas pageant at your elementary school, even if you do not have children in the school.

If you are single, getting together with a group of friends who are also single is a great way to celebrate Christmas. How about hosting a work party where everyone bakes cookies, prepares their cards, and wraps gifts? Some activities are a lot more fun when done in a group. The evening could end with an ornament swap.

If you find it nearly impossible to gather together all of your married children and their families on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, consider a new tradition of spending the day after Christmas together. This will give you one more day to prepare, and because this is a day typically free from other intrusions, you’ll be able to spend a more relaxed time together.

Take a nighttime walk in your neighborhood to enjoy the holiday lights. It’s fun to see decorations up close and personal.

Go to a recital at a local church. Many choirs perform Handel’s Messiah and other seasonal favorites.

Plan a cookie-decorating event with your kids. Bake the cookies early in the day. At party time, set out various toppings and icings. If you’ve invited friends, let each child take home a batch of goodies.

If you have so many in attendance at your Christmas dinner that you must have two tables or more, have everyone get up and exchange places between dinner and dessert to mix things up and to give everyone a chance to be together.

On New Year’s Eve, ask each family member to light a candle and think about the things that happened in the past year for which they are most thankful.

Save a piece of the Christmas tree’s trunk to burn as next year’s Yule log. Tell the family the legend behind the Yule log. Long ago, people brought home the largest log they could find, usually ash in England or birch in Scotland. They decorated it with a sprig of holly, placed it in the fireplace, and lit it with a piece of the log saved from the previous year. It was hoped that it would burn throughout the twelve days of Christmas. In many households, the lady of the house kept the kindling piece under her pillow. It was thought that this provided year-round protection against fire. If you don’t have a fireplace, bring home a festive cake in the shape of a Yule log for Christmas Eve to share with the whole family—or take on a challenge and make a Bûche de Noël yourself.

Give your family a post-Christmas treat by celebrating Twelfth Night on January 6. Also known as the Feast of Epiphany, this Victorian tradition celebrates the day the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem with their gifts for the Christ child. Children are given three gifts from the magi before a gala dinner. Afterward, a Twelfth Night cake decorated with figures of kings is served. The child who receives the piece containing the silver coin baked into it becomes “king” or “queen” of the family for the whole year!

Make a “Pin the Red Nose on Rudolph” game board. Draw Rudolph’s head on a big sheet of poster board and cut red noses out of construction paper. Use loops of tape to attach the nose.

Instead of sending holiday cards to your neighbors, start a new tradition. Organize “The Bentley Street Christmas Book” (or whatever the name of your street or neighborhood). Begin a story (fictional) in a notebook, attach a routing slip with the name of each family on your street, and then send it around the neighborhood with directions for each family to add a sentence or paragraph. When the story comes back to your family, add an appropriate ending. Edit as necessary, print out the story on your computer, and assemble it into a simple book, one for each family that contributed. Have a neighborhood get-together and read the crazy tale. This will bond your neighbors and promote goodwill all through the year.

Call your local post office to see if they collect letters kids have written to Santa. If they do, have your children pick some out. Then select gifts, wrap them, and send them off anonymously. This experience helps teach kids the joy of giving without expecting something in return.

Carve out a quiet hour or two for a storytelling party with the entire family. Read classic Christmas stories aloud.

Every Christmas Eve, have your children leave some of their gently used toys near the fireplace for Santa to take to children who don’t have any toys. Once the kids are asleep, hide the toys so you can deliver them to a worthy charity later.

Get the family together during the week after Christmas. Review your holiday plan and the goals you met. Ask everyone what they liked best and least about the holidays and what they’d like to do differently next year. Take notes.

Each year my sisters, cousins, and friends get together for a “wrap party.” We all bring the gifts we need wrapped, our supplies, and a potluck dish. We gather the weekend before Christmas and have a ball! Those who are “wrapping challenged” have others there who enjoy wrapping to help them out. We all get a chance to catch up, it encourages all of us to get the shopping done on time, and it saves us all from last-minute wrapping.

Madge H., email

Our children never let us forget their favorite family tradition. We allow them to open their Christmas presents before Christmas. This way they have time to enjoy our gifts before receiving their other Christmas gifts from extended family. It works like this. After school on the Friday before Christmas, we have our usual pizza-night dinner. Then we slip into pajamas and head to the living room. We read the Christmas story from the Bible, open presents, stay up late watching Christmas movies, and then (their favorite part) sleep by the Christmas tree. In the morning, we have breakfast in our pajamas, and the kids play with their new things. The kids love it.

Jennifer K., email

After lunch on Christmas day, we go to a nearby nursing home to bring homemade cards from my daughter’s class, some cookies, and small gifts to the elderly who may not have family to bring them home or visit them. It is a wonderful tradition, and we get as much, if not more, out of it as the residents. My favorite memory was passing by the pay phone and seeing a lady with her card telling the person on the other end of the line how this sweet child came in to wish her a Merry Christmas and gave her a gift. It warmed my heart.

Anne S., email