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Monday, December 15, 2008

Fun Christmas Activities for the Family


Family is at the core of the Christmas season, so creating fun memories with your family is always at the top of the must-do list this time of year. What fun activities can you incorporate into your family that make Christmas memorable and fun? There are quite a few traditional activities and some that are a little bit out of the box.

Think back to your childhood and Christmas time in your house. Are there particular memories that are clearer than others? Those are likely the traditions your parents created for you and your siblings. Trying to create traditions with your own children is one way of making Christmas fun and memorable. Perhaps your family enjoyed decorating cookies or making gingerbread houses. Maybe your mom always had something yummy coming from the kitchen. You can create the same kind of traditions by simply keeping potpourri warmed and smelling nice, if you don't have the time to bake frequently.

If you want to do a fun family activity in the kitchen, but baking isn’t your thing, you can make a variety of other gift items in your kitchen. Kids love making chocolate and candy covered pretzel sticks and you can pair those with homemade hot cocoa mix to give as gifts.

It’s great to incorporate music into your family's traditions. How about some family fun singing Christmas carols or creating your own family music CD? Record your family singing Christmas carols and use that CD as your music CD for the holidays. If you are particularly talented, you could make these look pretty and give them as gifts.

Many families like to cut down their own Christmas tree. This can be a really fun family activity. You can find Christmas tree farms located just about everywhere. Check into a local grower's group for locations. You simply show up, grab a saw (this is mom or dad's job), and go hunting. Depending on the location of the tree farm, you might walk only a short distance, or you might have to hike up and down hills and far into the farm's reaches to find just the right tree.

To add even more fun to this activity, you can create another family tradition to go along with the tree cutting. It can be as simple as also having lunch (at the same place each year) and picking up candy to eat in the car on the way home. You might also add a shopping excursion to the day. After the tree is safe at home, you might all go shopping as a family for some new ornaments.

Other fun family activities may include annual visits to certain places in your community. Does your town have an annual "Christmas tree lane" where all the homes on one street decorate for the holidays? You can make a tradition of driving down that street each year, or walking the entire street, if the weather allows. Walking gives the kids a chance to see some of the details of the various decorations.

Many children think hot cocoa is an essential part of the Christmas season. If that's the case with yours, you could start a fun family activity each year where you make a big batch of hot cocoa mix at the start of the season. Let the kids have a small cup each night before bed during the month of December. Closer to Christmas, add special items to the hot cocoa, like mini marshmallows one night and whipped cream another. Be sure to leave this family-made hot cocoa for Santa on Christmas Eve!

At a certain age, children enjoy decorating their room for the holidays. One fun family Christmas activity is to encourage this decoration by letting the kids shop for items to put in their rooms and letting them do the decorating. Be sure to take a picture of them in their decorated room each year. They'll enjoy looking at the pictures year after year.

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