That means it is only 5 or so weeks until our household launches into the fun of our annual Countdown to Christmas.
I can get quite frantic around the Christmas period as I seem to insist on hand making a whole lot of stuff for every man and his dog, so this tradition started from a need to ensure that I take time out for my kids each day during the silly season. It is now quite a fixture and we really enjoy it.
In the past, I have blogged some of the activities but I have found that trying to take photos to impress people on the interweb actually creates a ridiculous amount of stress and friction whilst performing the activity.
At the end of the day, while it is fun to share what we have done with all of you, it is more important that we get our family bonding (which is not a public thing). So, this year, instead of keeping an eye out for an expose of our exploits, why not try it yourself. I have compiled a list of many of the activities that we have used to get you kick started:
Seasonal Awareness
* Charitable Donation
* Learn about Christmas in Another Country
* Go to local Carols By Candle Light
Family Fun
* Dress up and Have Photos with Santa
* Family Movie Night
* Go and See the Christmas Lights
* Play Board Game
* Read a Christmas Story
* Make a Christmas Video
* Have a Toy Christmas Picnic
* Try a Christmas Themed Science Experiment
Decorating
* Put Up the Tree
* Decorate the Hall Table/Mantle
* Buy Your New Christmas Ornament and put on the Tree These ornaments will leave home when the children do.
* Make Paper Chains and other Decorations
Food
* Choose a Recipe and make a Christmas Treat
* Decorate Biscuits
* Decorate the Gingerbread House
* Make Reindeer Food
Physical
* Dance to some Christmas Music
* Decorate the Bikes with tinsel and bells and go cycling
* Go to the Playground
* Have a Bubble Blowing Extravaganza
Craft
* Colour in Christmas Cones I have also seen packs of these at my local craft superstore this year.
* Christmas Craft Kit, e.g. door hangers, photo frames etc There are loads of things to choose from at your local craft and variety stores
* Glitter Animals
* Christmas Snow Globe
* Clothes Peg Santas
* Cardboard Gingerbread Decorations We actually did a variation on this theme where we threaded kraft gingerbread man cutouts.
* Make Cards and Gifts for Teachers I like to keep this simple as it can get time consuming if you have lots of teachers. One year we gave jars of M&Ms. Last year it was home made bookmarks.
* Make Cards for Friends That could be as simple as writing in store bought cards, or you can go the whole hog with glitter and markers
* Christmas T-Shirts Buy some cheap Tees and decorate them using whatever medium you are happy with (fabric paint, applique, iron on transfers etc)
* Hand Print Christmas Tree Canvas
* Make Toilet Roll Christmas characters Just Google this one - there are lots of ideas out there
* Salt dough fingerprint trees (there are two links here)
* Learn how to make Danish paper hearts
