Christmas Part Deux: Getting in the Spirit (not Spirits, that's next week)

Raise your hand if your holiday calendar gets crazier by the minute and some how increases exponentially each year. That was a trick and you fell for it- you can't raise your hand as you are most likely too busy juggling all of your side projects. I know the feeling. This week I made a good old fashioned "to do" list (on a fancy app on my smart phone.... the old fashioned way). I went out shopping intending to tick off the items on my list, but inexplicably the list kept multiplying and became much longer by the end of the night. The point is, the craziness of my holiday schedule is a beast of my own making. Do I have to find the right sized gift to save my wallet and still not leave anyone out on my kids' sketchy list of 25 school staffers that they "see every day?" Should I put a personal touch on my Christmas cards by attaching an end of year family news letter to send hand addressed to 50 people? Do I really need to rummage through my craft cupboard for new inspiration every year to stay on budget and still have the kids participate in gifting? The simple answer is no. But some of the things that add to the chaos of it are part of what make the season so cheery for me and mine- in fact, these are some of the things that make it a season at all.  So here are some of the crafty projects the goon squad and I have enjoyed in recent years and the sound track I torture them with as we paint, glue, hammer and cry.

Decorations

It's hard to get in the holiday mindset without the right environment. This is where I get super old school. The tree goes up the weekend after Thanksgiving and stays up until the weekend after New Years. Every tree needs frosting- you might be one of those people who like a traditional, schemed or themed tree.... and there is nothing wrong with that. Some of those looks can be very elegant.

There are a variety of colors, both tree and ornament to do something new every year. To my way of thinking, though, this seems very cookie-cutter and Better Homes & Gardens. I come from the hodge-podge school of tree decorating. Nothing matches, no mass produced box sets, sticky kid finger prints on everything. The goons and I have been collecting a few ornaments a year since they were but a gleam in my eye. We now have a few hundred. Combine that with the 200 family ornaments from my own childhood I just "inherited" from my father (who no longer wants to store them), and the only color we don't see on the tree anymore is green. From the ones collected on our world travels, the Harry Potter characters I hand painted, the Christmas armadillo found in a country store, Henrietta the tree chicken, the art glass from my mother, my daughter's Christmas pickles or my son's blown glass Batman, this tree has a multitude of personality... or multiple personalities.

 

We also  recently acquired my childhood Santa collection from my father... and with not much surface space decided to create a Game of Thrones Night's Watch diorama. A new tradition in the making. It's great having the throwback decorations, but we've found a way to enjoy them while making them our own.



"Taking the [red]."

When I was a kid, we got Steinbach nutcrackers on a trip to Germany- mine was a chimney  sweep. I bought one for each of us as I had my own family at Target of all places. Steinbachs may be mass produced now, but they still have charm and nostalgia. And it just isn't Christmas without our knitted personalized stockings hanging with care... 



 

 

Crafts







One of our favorite Christmas ( or anytime) project

Who doesn't love gnomes? This time of year they prefer to be called elves, fyi. So simple to make- felt, wooden pegs and glue. If you really want to get fancy googly eyes, buttons, beards and razzle dazzle... but gnomes are a simple folk. These little guys are great for ornaments, little Christmas towns, home made gift sets, stocking stuffers- their charm never wears off.

 

 

Refrigerator Jewels

These are super easy and cute gifts the goon squad made and gave out last year. We spray painted old jar lids we saved up and applied self adhesive magnets to the backs. The kids decorated the front with bright and colorful jewels, but there are a ton of other things like seashells, sequins, buttons, glow-in-the-dark stars, etc. that would work for this project. Et viola- Refrigerator Jewels!

Face prints are creepy, but pretty much every other kind of print is keepsake material.

 There is a treasure trove of online inspiration for every kind of print craft under the sun. In my humble opinion, these kinds of crafts are only really cute up to  a certain age- no one wants a card with your ten year old's foot print on it. Age two is probably a good age to stop wiggling those adorable little tooties in paint- but hand prints and finger prints have a much longer shelf life.

 

                                                                                 

Buttons are something we haven't worked with much, but like the finger/foot/hand prints, they have so many creative applications and aren't just for kids. Buttons have the hallmarks of a great holiday craft: fancy or whimsical, available in mass quantities, fun, appropriate for all ages and easy to replicate:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                              Music

The  debate: Christmas music-  yay or nay? You may be a heartless, Scrooge of a bah- humbug and detest the songs that make the Season bright, or you may be a festive-holic, waiting all year for that minute, three weeks before Thanksgiving, when the dulcet tones hit the airwaves again- the earlier the better, you say. Or you may be like me- festive and joyous for one month a year, throwing in whole-heartedly until the week after New Year’s. One thing I feel is woefully missing from my monthly festivities is Adult Christmas caroling- and by that I mean Bridget Jones style drunken belting out and butchering of the best holiday songs in a crowded dive bar with a circle of your equally drunk and fearless friends. It’s only  once a year- tis the season not to judge.

I don't particularly find Justin Beiber to be super festive, but that is just my taste. There is probably some teenager reading this list thinking "Who is Frank Sinatra?"  There is however, a lot of interesting new Christmas music worth taking a listen to. Obviously everyone’s list is going to be different, but one of the benefits to having parents with a large age gap is the broad range of music I was subjected- I mean, exposed- to. These would be the top 20 songs on my Christmas Karaoke wish list/Festive Playlist.

Pop Christmas

 Mariah Carey- All I Want for Christmas is You

Darlene Love- Christmas (Baby Please come Home)

Wham or Taylor Swift- Last Christmas

 

John Lennon- Happy Christmas

Leann Rhymes- All I want For Christmas- completely different song than Mariah Carey

Adam Sandler- The Chanukah Song- including updated versions

Sarah McLachlan- River (pretty much any song on her holiday album)

Classic Christmas

 

Bing Crosby- Do You Hear What I Wear?

Transsiberian Orchestra- Carol of the Bells

Andy Williams- O Holy Night

Manheim Steamroller- pretty much anything

 Golden Christmas Oldies

 

Nat King Cole- The Christmas Song

 

Frank Sinatra- Christmas Waltz  (best song of Christmas). She & Him also have a great rendition

The Carpenters- I’ll Be Home for Christmas

Nat King Cole- O Tannenbaum

Perry Como- Home for the Holidays

Songs the inner Child in me still giggles at:

 Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer

 We Three Kings

Jingle Bells, Batman Smells

Dominic the Donkey

It may be masochistic and nutty to try to DIY the holidays, but also cathartic and slightly productive- made more enjoyable accompanied by the right tunes.

 

 

Christmas Part 1: Plan, budget, gift

It's that time of year that we all look forward to from about July on... until it arrives and we remember

all of the stress, panicking and planning that goes into pulling it off.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the holiday season isn't magical. I still share the excitement my children have on Christmas morning- in fact, last year I had to wake them up as I could no longer contain it and the hour was rounding on 8 am. Seriously, what kind of kid sleeps in on Christmas?!? (The ridiculous kind.)

It's just that now, I'm also kind of a grown up. I've seen behind the curtain, if you will. I know every support beam and scaffold that goes into holding up that holiday magic.

Unless you have a mint in your basement or  multiplatinum album sales, you're probably somewhat like me in that the holidays take some forethought.

First step: Budget

 Magic number. Plan ahead for how much you want to spend in total on presents. Make sure to fluff that a little bit- you may get invited to a party or two and it's poor form to show up empty-handed.  The tricky part is when you might receive a nicer present than you gave. Resist the guilt or the urge to run out and buy something better. Remember, it's the thought that counts, so as long as you put a good amount of care into gift selection, don't feel badly. Knowing your number well ahead of time gives you plenty of time to get creative and be thoughtful. Budgets are made for a reason- and in this case bear in mind that presents are only one part of the spending smorgasbord.

Make a list and check it twice. When planning your holiday gift list it's a good idea to write down everyone you plan to spend on, arraigned from highest to lowest. Relax- this isn't a Sophie's Choice moment. Said plainly, ranking your friends/family/acquaintances sounds mercenary. But I obvi plan to spend more on my kids than on their teachers, for example, and I still need to figure that into my magic number. Check that list twice to see if it can reasonably be whittled down at all.

Plan of attack. You may be a Black Friday shopper, or you may be like me and space your shopping out over the year. If you are one of those ambitious dark day shoppers, I can only suggest shopping with  a clear purpose and planned route. Ironically, despite what my soccer league and Trivial Pursuit friends might tell you, I am neither aggressive enough, nor competitive enough for Black Friday.

I find that it's easier for me to shop in increments when I may have an abundance. This tactic really only works for the people I know best, my family and besties, but if you are out and see a great sale on something that would make a great teacher/neighbor gift grab it and clear out some closet space to store it. Actually, I keep a big Rubbermaid tub in my closet to keep things away from prying eyes.

Catalogue. I use my fancy camera phone to take pictures of the things I see my kids noticing during the year, as well as a fun post-it note app to keep a running list I can refer back to. This method and of course Pinterest are  great ways to store fantastic DIY gift ideas. DIY still requires dough.

Phase Two: Gift Etiquette



Use full disclosure. This applies to a few scenarios.

                 - Your loved ones usually give you something but this year might be tight for you.

It is perfectly acceptable to let them know early on that you wish you could reciprocate, but as you cannot a card (not gift card) is plenty. If they give you a gift anyway, simply accept it graciously and say thank you.

 
                - Your values have changed as you've matured.

Maybe this is a good time to suggest everyone going in on some shared experience rather than a gift giving extravaganza. A family vacation perhaps. This one I have personally experienced as I watched my kids give unused toys to Good Will year after year. I politely asked my friends and family to stop buying them things and instead either purchase tickets to something or put money in their personal accounts to be used for activities like soccer or Cub Scouts- which I make sure to have the kids thank them for. The added bonus is that it really cut down on some of the clutter in my house too.



Your list has gotten out of hand. It happens. My former husband was one of eight kids and had fifteen nieces and nephews. Also, your friends keep getting married and spawning. It's great. Your kids now have built in playmates while you're gossiping and sipping cocktails, but then Christmas rolls in and suddenly 12 new names have been added. And you started a new job in a fantastically close knit office... of 30 people.

Unless everyone is okay with their choice of Top Ramen with a bow on top, it becomes too big to accommodate. Enter Secret Santa or White Elephant. It depends on if the group prefers to be more thoughtful or cheeky, but either way it's a fun way to set a limit. I once received a great set of lawn aerating shoes via White Elephant, which I promptly re-gifted to someone who loved them. Killed two birds with one stone. Sorry I'm not sorry.

 For your closer circle, a family gift may be the way to go- still doing something above noodles, but keeping within reason.

If you still want to check everyone off the list do something token that you can get in bulk
(journals and calendars are great for this) or something homemade. I am a maven of DIY gifts. Personalized fleece blankets, Christmas ornaments, decorative cookie plates and so on. You can spend on effort and save on cash. Win, win.

Article Three: Kids and Gifts

I mentioned the grotesque ritual of watching the goon squad bag up gifts they'd barely played with to make room for the new. It actually used to fill me with a sense of dread, on Christmas, seeing the various things they'd receive and envisioning the bag, because along with the bag came a careless attitude about a conveyor belt world that constantly brings new things.

For the life of me I cannot figure out where the lack of values has come from. My kids have chores, hear the word "no" so often they can sing along, write "thank you'' and apology notes. I have been described as an old school parent- you know that old adage about fearing your Irish mother. But still this is a particularly ugly problem in my house.

So I devised some steps to build up their value system:

1. I asked my circle to stop feeding the beast, as mentioned above. I found that my kids and I love having their seasonal extracurriculars sponsored. I think we all appreciate it more and it makes it fun for my kids to update their benefactors with professional reports. Everyone feels included and valued.

2. I have a formula for giving gifts to my kids: one thing to play with, one thing to read, one thing to wear. This goes for wrapped presents on Christmas and birthdays now too. They still get a stocking of token items on Christmas morning (usually a Toblerone and jar of Nutella- see Christmas Part 3) and a movie on Christmas Eve per our ritual (tune back in for Christmas Part 4).

3. Scale back Santa. The big gift comes from Mom, the back up singers come from Santa. My kids go to a richly diverse school- quite a few of their friends are lower income. It is hard to explain to little kids why Santa gave one kid an Xbox and their classmate a ball and paddle. Giving your kids a nice gift is fine- but it should come from you. Additionally, Santa's gift figures in with rule #2.

4. Giving is more important than receiving. When I was in second grade I remember being invited to my friend's birthday party and I didn't know what to get for her... and my parents wouldn't help me pick. I whined and complained for a while and my mom finally told me to pick out something I'd want to receive. Back then it was Treasure Trolls.

I was so excited to buy one, but then I had to give it away. That was a new kind of masochistic torture in my formative years, but my friend loved the gift. I never forgot that lesson. And I still love trolls.

The point is my kids have to give presents to other people, not simply receive. In that vein they:

     - pick out a toy each for Toys for Tots, that comes with a long discussion about how fortunate we are to be able to give to others.

     - pick from a preapproved/prepurchased selection for something to give to each other and me- it helps them get excited about seeing someone else receiving the fruit of their efforts

     - hand-make bookmarks or ornaments or something of that nature for their own Christmas gift giving list. They receive a lot of presents from our circle and it is important that they reciprocate. If they don't make a craft, they at least decorate a handmade, personal thank you note for the items they've been given.



With enough planning and patience it's easy to walk the delicate line between excitement and order. Now that  I have seen Oz and become the wizard, knowing where the magic comes from  doesn't make it any less magical.

As the big day gets closer I thought this was the most practical foot to start on. But for the rest of the month I will be dissecting the components of an epic Christmas.

Please keep an eye out for:
Christmas Part 2: Getting in the Spirit. I will go through crafts, decorations and playlist.
Christmas Part 3: The Flavor of Christmas. I will share some of my favorite holiday meals and recipes
Christmas Part 4: Traditions and Rituals- pretty self explanatory.