Our little Awa making cookies
This time of year can be an incredible mix of heightened delight and intense exhaustion. With friends and family around, food and fun and parties to go to, we are kept well on our toes. If you put a ton of pressure on yourself to outdo last holiday season, or what the neighbors are doing, or what your own parents did for the holidays when you were a child, you might put a damper on it for yourself by adding to your own stress.
The best thing you can do for yourself and your family at holiday time is to keep it simple, to embrace the warmth of your loved ones, and to create special memories. This is not something that needs to involve large, expensive gifts. The fondest memories most people have of childhood holidays is time spent sitting by the fireplace drinking hot cocoa or eggnog, or playing card games with mom and dad, or making cookies or homemade greeting cards to send to loved ones.
When you are planning your family’s holiday season, take time to slow things down and to plan for moments when memories can be made that will last a lifetime. Here are some ideas:
- Practice the well-loved and age-old tradition of making cookies as a family. You can do this with your immediate family or invite friends or extended family and really make it a lively event. Invite your children to help out, most all children love to decorate with icing and sprinkles. Of course it’s messy, but that’s all part of the fun and your kids will remember it fondly. There are even some great online food and cooking classes you can try out together.
- Make gifts wherever possible. As a family, you can make gifts for each other. This will save you the pressure of spending tons of money, and it will help to encourage everyone to get creative. Your children can make artwork, cards (there are some unique wood and letterpress cards here) and crafts; they could even record a song as a gift.
- Help others and donate to your favorite charities. There are always ways to participate in food drives and other charitable activities around the holidays. This is a great opportunity to show your kids that it’s not only nice to help others, but it can be fun and is always rewarding.
- Tell/read holiday stories. Gather everyone together and read or tell stories that are a part of your holiday tradition. Purchase a storybook, for example, The Night Before Christmas, with wonderful illustrations and read it to your kids with real excitement. This is a great time to gather everyone for a cuddlefest. They’ll love it!
- Get festive with your decorating. Most people enjoy decorating at holiday time. You can make it a fun family event by playing holiday music, setting out some special cookies or treats and all taking part together. You can even let the kids have their own area to decorate – like the holiday tree, or the front entrance or the mantle. Remember to take photos! You can even create your own books to cherish your memories with.
When it’s all said and done, it isn’t the purchased gifts that are always remembered through the years. More often, it’s the time spent with family and friends, the laughter and the togetherness. The beautiful thing about this is that you don’t have to spend a ton of money to get great results. Children are thrilled with baking, cooking, singing, creating, decorating and hanging out with mom and dad.
Take them out and help them build a snowman – they’ll love it. Show them what a great feeling it is to help others, or to see someone’s smile when they open a handmade gift, made with love by your child. These are the things that make the holiday season so special. Take lots of photos and give lots of hugs. Your kids will remember family holidays as some of the very best times of their lives, and so will you.
I totally agree that this time of year should be fun rather than stressful. Whenever I feel myself getting overwhelmed and starting to snap at someone, I try to take a step back and remember what it’s all about. If it gets to the point where it’s not fun anymore, then why even participate?! What a great list of ideas for having a great time with your family and friends.
Great ideas! We like to put our emphasis on family during this time of the year, and not get caught up in all of the hustle and bustle. Some years go better than others. My daughter loves making Christmas cards, and that is always a special time for us to spend together.
That’s great Tracie! My oldest daughter loves to make everything also. At this point, she needs her own portfolio, ha ha!
I love the idea of doing an online cooking class together. I didn’t know there was such a thing, but that sounds really fun. Decorating together is a blast too! I used to let my kids paint the sliding glass doors to the backyard.
Hi Liz! My kids love to learn and create recipes together. Right now, I just wish there was more space in our kitchen for our impromptu ‘kitchen parties’ 😉
i will stay up until 230 in the morning so i’m able to do the FUN with my kids for holiday time. in 15 years they will remember how many snowmen i made with them
I agree, Brett. All the great memories are set solid now 😉
Great post! You’ve shared some great ideas!
I agree. Memories are the fun for the holidays…
You have some really great ideas! I really love Christmas and hope I can help my daughter to love Christmas as I do.
Agreed! Our Advent calendar has a different activity that we do together every day as a family and my kids love it! It’s one of their favorite parts of Christmas!
Those are great tips. It is so much more fun to do things with the kids than spend time stressing.
My daughter and I bake cookies together, it is a special time of the year for us!
My son always has enjoyed baking with me. When he was younger we made a gingerbread house together each Christmas. Those were fun times.
I totally agree about the importance of creating special holiday traditions and memories. That’s been one of my main objectives as a mom!
Im never stressed during the holidays, I love them!
trisha
Looking back at my childhood, I don’t remember the gifts but I do remember the family memories. Great post, happy holidays to you!
I think we all get wrapped up in the season and forget the true meaning. I love all of your tips and agree family is the most important.
I love your list here!
Keep it simple is such good advice. I’m struggling to make it happen, but I’m aware of it…and trying!
Good ideas on the holiday memories. I especially like the focus on charity.
The tips you listed here are good for creating memories all year long.
I think more than anything the holidays should be about friends, family and the memories you create together.
This is a great post to remind us that this is the time of year to slow down and enjoy our loved ones!
I love to bake cookies with the kids, or cupcakes, or really anything. The last time we made cupcakes, we ended up sitting in a circle on the kitchen floor licking the frosting spoons!
It really is easy to get caught up in the stresses of the holiday and miss the good stuff!
Great advice! It’s too easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holiday season and forget what is really important 🙂
Making cookies is so fun! Great memories!
Love your tips on how to create memories.. we have a lot of different traditions that we do every year and I try to keep our German Traditions alive as well.. it’s a MUST