Celebrate the season with these ideas to simplify holiday traditions. Includes teaching children to give and low-cost, low-stress ways to celebrate Christmas.
Cutting costs at Christmas doesn't mean celebrating like Scrooge. It's not about what you buy--it's about what you do!
Putting "celebration" at the center of the season--and taking the focus off of gifts and giving--can be the key to happy holidays that don't break the bank.
Better, when it comes to kids and Christmas, cheap is good! Simple, inexpensive family activities can be as meaningful as pricey Nutcracker tickets--and no need for scratchy dresses or dress-up suits.
Try these no-cost, low-cost ways to celebrate the holiday season with kids:
Christmas is coming, holiday cards and letters fill the mailbox--and it's time to write your family's entry.
Want your letter to stand out from the crowd? Try these seven tips for a sparkling holiday letter:
1. Start off on a positive note.
It's a trend you can count on! Roughly 95% of holiday letters begin with a sentence like this: "I can't believe the year has come and gone so quickly!" While we all feel this sentiment, it's not the happiest way to begin a holiday letter.
Start holiday letters with a cheerful bang, not a whimper about the passage of time. Try openers like, "One of the blessings of this time of year is the chance it gives me to connect with you, my friends and family." or "We've had a happy, busy year here in the Adams household!" Even a stock "Holiday greetings from the Young family!" is a better opener than the traditional plaintive cry about the passage of time.
New Year's Eve ... a festive beginning to a new year. For most of us, it's a time to take stock and decide to move toward a happier, more organized, thinner New Year. But what looks so easy as the minute hand approaches midnight falls away in the cold light of January days.
Recently, I eavesdropped on an online discussion about teaching children to give. The original writer was a concerned, conscientious parent of a preschooler. This father shared his plan to teach his daughter about holiday giving. They would, he wrote, sort through the child's toys and set aside several toys "to give to needy children."
An admirable effort, I thought--until he set forth the rest. He hoped to locate a charitable agency that would permit his daughter to hand her toys directly to the child who would receive them. This way, he felt, his child would learn what giving meant in a direct and unambiguous manner.
I stared at the computer terminal and asked "What is wrong with this picture?"
"Tradition" is a powerful force that sometimes pulls an unsuspecting family along in its wake. Do your holiday traditions serve your family, your values and your spiritual beliefs--or are you running a tired and joyless circle each holiday season in the name of tradition?
It's time to give your family's holiday traditions a stiff scrutiny. Give some thought to holiday traditions before the season is full upon you.
Be objective! Re-run last December through your mental computer, and try to discern which activities were most enjoyed, most meaningful--and which might be scheduled for revision or elimination.
New Year's Eve ... a festive beginning to a new year. For most of us, it's a time to take stock and decide to move toward a happier, more organized, thinner New Year. But what looks so easy as the minute hand approaches midnight falls away in the cold light of January days.
Recently, I eavesdropped on an online discussion about teaching children to give. The original writer was a concerned, conscientious parent of a preschooler. This father shared his plan to teach his daughter about holiday giving. They would, he wrote, sort through the child's toys and set aside several toys "to give to needy children."
"Tradition" is a powerful force that sometimes pulls an unsuspecting family along in its wake. Do your holiday traditions serve your family, your values and your spiritual beliefs--or are you running a tired and joyless circle each holiday season in the name of tradition?
