Create Memories of Fun and a Cherished Christmas

Christmas has always been a celebration with a lot of fun and a magical touch. We can celebrate Christmas in such a way that it turns out to be a festive occasion that brings the whole family together. This gives the whole family a chance to enjoy the Christmas festivities and spend time together by interacting and creating warm and lasting memories.

With the start of the holiday season you can spend time with all your friends and family members and enjoy watching Christmas movies, pleasant conversation and great food that we save for holidays and other special occasions. This time of year gives you a chance to interact with your family free from the worries of your stressful work life.

Simply enjoying time with your family is truly the best part of any holiday. It helps to create memories and strengthen the bonds that hold us close. This helps us capture the magic of an old fashioned Christmas. Old and new traditions alike can be shared and enjoyed by all. A perfect example is that of decorating the Christmas tree. In the old traditional way the Christmas ornaments were traditionally made from hard cookies. The cookies can be baked, decorated and hung by the entire family. This is an extremely inexpensive way to adorn a tree but it is also one of the most enjoyable ways to spend time with your family and loved ones.

Hanging your Christmas stockings under the fireplace on Christmas Eve waiting for Santa to drop by and fill them up with Christmas gifts is another part of the Christmas festivity that kids especially love. You can also involve children in simple Christmas crafts that will not only be fun but educational too.

You can start to buy Christmas gifts from discount stores or directly from manufacturers and also use discount vouchers and credit card reward points to buy the gifts as this will help you to spend less and still get good gifts. There are lots of ways to save money during the holiday season while still enjoying all the fun that goes along with Christmas. The truth is that some of the least expensive gifts and activities are the most fun and memorable. Create an exciting fun time in a cost effective way by adding new traditions to your family activities and making things by yourself.

Writing letters to Santa Claus is one activity that kids love to do. It’s thought provoking and fun, and it doesn’t cost anything to do. This helps parents out by providing them with a list of the things that the kids want for Christmas. In turn, some parents even write letters to their children and grand children from Santa. While this is a nice idea you can also send customized Christmas letters from Santa to your kids during the holiday season. These packages always bring a twinkle to children’s eyes and these become moments that you both end up cherishing for life.

Christmas Festivity Brings Love and Respect

This article post was written after a discussion I had with one of my neighbors. Fran, my neighbor, wanted to know how to bring up the subject of writing letters to Santa Claus – according to Fran her nieces and nephews do not traditionally write letters to Santa. At first I thought she was joking but after a serious expression I could tell that she was indeed sincere.

It turns out that my friend will soon have her nieces and nephews living with her. This will be her first Christmas to design the holiday for children. Obviously I did what I could to come up with some quick ideas – but I will be available to help Fran when the holiday season approaches. Anyway, in case you may be in the same or similar situation as my friend Fran, here you go – if you want a simple way of bringing up the idea of Santa letters and other things related to Santa Claus just read this post.

Start by making an announcement to the kids, “Come on children it’s time to write a letter to Santa Claus for all the gifts you want for Christmas. Santa Claus will work hard to see that his elves make the gifts in their workshop so each and every child around the world can get his Christmas present."

Santa’s elves are ready to make the Christmas occasion a magical one and Santa is eagerly waiting to hear from you so make a list of all the Christmas presents you dream of and Santa will surely try to send you those presents on Christmas Eve.

You can share your likes and dislikes with Santa as everything is kept confidential and you can start off with the most important items first and then continue on with a sequential order of importance so that you may get the things that you need more urgently first. It is important that you start to behave yourself as Santa knows the good and the bad that you do.

Santa Claus lives in his own secret world and also has a secret workshop. The strange thing is that Santa can hear the good all the bad that you end up doing and the elves jot all your deeds down in their gigantic notebooks. They keep a close watch on the children who lend a helping hand and try to help others in need.

Santa Claus chooses gifts for the children according to the good deeds that they do and if the child is good enough Santa personally visits him and presents him the most precious gifts that he longs for. Start off by giving a little bit during this joyous season from your heart – always remember that it is the thought that counts.

Send Christmas Holiday Cards to your family and friends because these Christmas cards show that you care and think of them and they experience a feeling of being loved and they respect this little gift of happiness with joy. With all the joy of the Christmas festivity that is spread around you need to hug your loved ones and show them that love and respect that is in the air.

Actually Christmas is not only about gifts, it is the season of loving and caring for each other as it is the thought that counts and these valuable gifts are worthless in front of the love and respect that you have for each other during the Christmas festivity. So stay positive and be good all the year round and you will surely have many moments of love that you can cherish for your life.

All of these suggestions can be improvised to meet your own ideas and needs.

Making Your Own Christmas Cake As The Kids Write Letters To Santa

As children reflect on whether what they wrote in their letters to Santa was accurate, you can go ahead and create a fantastic Christmas cake. A Christmas cake usually consists of fragrant spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Not only does it fill the house with a delicious Christmas smell, you can bake as you listen to your children talk to each other regarding what each one included in their letters to Santa Claus. That is always a big part of my fun during the holiday. One grandson is very secretive about everything and another grandchild will tell you everything and more than you would ever want to know. Take my word for, including this tradition is as much fun for the adults as it is for the kids. After all, children are only young once, and to fill it with fun filled traditions just like this one will make Christmas an extra special occasion for them, as well as sharpen their letter-writing skills.

Okay – back to the cake! Undeniably, it is quite tempting to just go ahead and buy a Christmas cake at the neighborhood bakeshop. After all, they do it best right? No matter how tempting it is to buy a Christmas cake, it is much better to make your own Christmas cake. The delicious smell coming from your oven will be something that will stay in your children’s minds when they think of Christmas all their lives. Making your own Christmas cake will give them a dimension of Christmas they will remember forever.

Here is an easy Christmas cake recipe which will put a smile on everyone’s faces each Christmas. Ingredients include raisins, chopped prunes and an equal amount for pitted dates that you have chopped, sultanas and currants, glazed cherries and an equal amount for dark chocolate, a cup of brandy or rum according to your preference, a cup and a half of dark brown sugar, a teaspoon vanilla, four eggs, half a cup of apricot jam and another half a cup of apricot nectar, a couple of cups of plain flour and half a cup of self-rising flour. You will also need a tablespoon cinnamon and another one of tablespoon of icing sugar.

The first thing you need to do is mix all the fruit in the list in a large mixing bowl and add the rum or the brandy. You need to let this soak overnight for best results. Next, preheat your oven to about three hundred and twenty five degrees Fahrenheit. Line a nine-inch round cake pan with two layers of parchment or baking paper on the bottom and on each side.

Next, you need to mix the vanilla, butter and sugar until the entire mixture is creamy. Add in each egg individually and beat well until the entire thing is combined. Stir the fruit into the mixture and make sure that you have mixed it thoroughly. Melt the chocolate in the microwave for about half a minute. Take it out of the microwave and stir in the apricot nectar and jam. Pour this over the fruit mix and stir it well. Add in all the cinnamon and the flour and fold.

Pour this into the prepared cake tin and spread it very evenly. In order to settle the contents, tap it a couple of times on the table. You can then bake the tin in the middle of the oven right in the center for three hours. Test the center with a toothpick to see if it is done. Remove the cake from the oven, cover it with a towel and let it sit in your counter overnight. The next day, unmold the cake and sprinkle with sugar.

Trust me – you will love this cake and you can adjust the amounts of the ingredients to suit yourself.

Christmas Safety Tips While You Write Personalized Santa Claus Letters For Every Home

In this day and age, Christmas safety is a huge consideration. There are many products on the market that are not safe for little children – the truth is, kids are curious and most things have to be touched and tasted. That of course poses a significant danger. Christmas is a wonderful holiday and the last thing in the world you want to happen is to rush to the hospital because your child swallowed a small Christmas ball or other item. In order to be safe this and every Christmas, here are some tips to get you through the holidays safe and sound.

In general, it is important to practice good safety measures not only on Christmas but throughout the year. As your children stay up late creating their personalized Santa Claus letters, you need to ensure that the front door is locked. It’s easy to get caught up in festivities as you teach your children good letter-writing skills and forget about your security as you write the letters to Santa. For this reason, making safety a habit is advisable not just for Christmas but the whole year through.

1. Child proof your house
Remember that children put small things in their mouth and tend to swallow them. For this reason, don’t leave bowls of peanuts, walnuts or chestnuts lying around where children can easily reach them and put them in their mouth. Nuts with hard shells as well as tiny Christmas décor are choking hazards. Avoid hanging small trimmings on the tree where tiny hands can reach up and grab them. Avoid using glass bowls that you used to use when you were not a parent yet, now that you have children, these will undoubtedly fall and crash to the floor.

2. Fire-proof your house
As a matter of fact, something as seemingly safe as letter to Santa can become a fire hazard if you are not careful. For Christmas lights need to pass safety accreditation. There are many different varieties of Christmas lights you can decorate your tree with. Not all of these Christmas lights come from legitimate companies. In other words, you need to make sure that the Christmas lights you end up purchasing comes from a recommended or a trustworthy manufacturer rather than from a company which is just out to make a quick buck. Many cases of trees getting burned from bad wiring that the Christmas lights are made with can be avoided by purchasing lights made by a well-recommended Christmas light company that has a good reputation. This is especially true if you decide to purchase your lights online through online stores or auctions.

3. Protect your home this Christmas from theft
Any time of the year, some neighborhoods are vulnerable to thefts. Christmas is an emotional time for many people, provoking some to commit attempted burglaries in neighborhood homes. For this reason, you need to identify which parts of your house need more security measures in order to protect your belongings as well as your family. Be sure that the lighted Christmas décor on your lawn has a chain attached to it that bolts to your porch. These days, something as seemingly safe from theft such as Christmas décor are also targets thieves may become attracted to. Check the locks on your door and make sure your house is secure before you sleep. Christmas is a time where people relax and drink more than the usual amounts of alcohol. Thus, you need to be extra alert for doors that have been left unlocked by one family member or guests who stay over in your house who mistakenly leave your front door or back door unlocked.

Planning ahead will help with improving the safety of your home during the holiday season and all year round. Although it may seem bothersome at times the safety of your family is certainly a worthwhile effort.

Christmas Dinner—A Good Time to Think About Your Letters To The Santa Claus

Christmas dinner is a traditional annual celebration which almost every Christian and some non-Christian families enjoy preparing. Christmas dinner around the world usually consists of the same well-prepared menu. Usually, Christmas dinner preparations is something children also enjoy doing as they ponder upon the thought of whether Santa Claus will answer their Santa Claus letter.

Every year, alongside dinner preparations, what occupies the minds of children as their parents prepare dinner is whether their own personalized letter from Santa Claus was answered or not. Parents smile as they listen to children talk among themselves regarding their Santa Claus letter.

Christmas dinner usually consists of the traditional turkey or ham, mashed potatoes, a Christmas pie recipe that has been in the family for generations and chestnuts, which visitors roast in the fire place. Nowadays, chestnuts can also be roasted in the microwave for half a minute, but the traditional way of roasting does fill the air with a smell that is just priceless. Another Christmas dinner staple is egg nog. Every family has a different recipe for egg nog. Families that have small children usually make a separate egg nog for the kids which is non-alcoholic, while the grown ups enjoy the more alcoholic version. Fruit cake is another Christmas favorite which the family usually enjoys after dinner with a warm cup of hot chocolate.

The first thing you need to do for Christmas dinner celebrations is count how many guests are arriving about two weeks beforehand. Next, in the early morning of Christmas Eve (or the day before depending on when you plan to have your special meal), start preparing your Christmas table. You need to make a centerpiece which usually consists of red and green candles, holly, Christmas balls and angels. Depending on the number of guests you plan to have, you need to put bowls around the house filled with red and green or peppermint candy, preferably. If you put up a Christmas tree, children can gather around it and sing Christmas carols as Uncle Harry plays the piano, or plays his iPod on the speakers, whichever option applies.
Now that table is set, the house is neatly decorated and the centerpiece is intact, you need to begin preparing dinner around five in the afternoon. Dress and roast the turkey, bake the pie and create the egg nog. For delicious Christmas egg nog, you might want to use the following recipe.

You will need twelve yolks of egg, five whole cloves, four whole cups of milk, four cups cream, three cups of rum—you can also use light rum, two cups of sugar, which you can lessen if you think this might be too sweet and two teaspoons vanilla. You also need a teaspoon of ground cinnamon and one teaspoon of ground nutmeg.

Blend the cinnamon, cloves, milk and half a teaspoon of vanilla in a saucepan and stir until hot. In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar with the egg yolks. Transfer this to the saucepan and heat but do not boil. Strain the mixture into a bowl and keep it in the fridge for two hours. Stir in the cream, rum and nutmeg, and put it back in the fridge overnight. Serve in a Christmas cup and sprinkle with cocoa for the perfect Christmas drink.

Christmas Celebrations Around the World –Letter From Santa, Recipes and More!

Christmas is celebrated differently around the world. No two countries celebrate Christmas the same way. For example, non-Christian countries such as North Korea do not have Christmas trees, snow men or Celebrations regarding Santa Claus for Christmas. Instead, they practice their own Christmas traditions. In Hungary, Christmas is celebrated on December six rather then on the twenty-fifth.

Santa Claus is called Father Christmas and children put their shoes out before going to bed in the hopes that Father Christmas puts their gifts in the shoes, instead of under the tree. In tropical countries that don’t experience winter, there are not real Christmas trees. Rather, people who celebrate Christmas need to purchase an artificial Christmas tree to put their gifts underneath. Many cultures celebrate Christmas exactly the same way as the United States, but with certain variations.

For one thing, Christmas dinner varies. In the United States, a turkey is the usual main dish each Christmas. In Japan, however, their main fare is usually made up of fish. European countries make certain dishes such as Shepherd’s pie, minced meat pie or a variation for the holiday season. Christmas carols are sung in their own respective languages. One example is the way Silent Night is sung in France is:

Douce nuit, sainte nuit !
Dans les cieux !
L’astre luit. Le mystère annoncé s’accomplit.
Cet enfant sur la paille endormit,
C’est l’amour infini,
C’est l’amour infini!

Some African towns teach their children to cut out snowflakes and hang on the windows each Christmas, even if most children from Africa have never seen snow.
One common factor during Christmas involves writing letters and expecting letters from Santa Claus to arrive back in the mail. Christian children around the world write letters to Santa Claus telling Santa that they’ve been good all year and the list of gifts they would like to receive. They then expect letters from Santa Claus to be in the mail the morning after. Many times, letters from Santa Claus do not arrive and instead, they get all the gifts they have listed on their wish list.

The way Christmas is celebrated around the world has one universal theme. It all involves making children happy as well as celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. During midnight mass around the world, the scene of Jesus being born in a manger is a frequent occurrence. Singing Christmas carols as well as eating a Christmas dinner is also an international tradition for Christian countries. On the other hand, non-Christian countries do not celebrate Christmas at all. Instead, they celebrate their own pagan holidays with just as much festivities usually involving fireworks, street dancing and dragon dances. Christmas celebrations around the world usually involve a Christmas tree, Christmas stockings, hymns, recipes and a gathering of families around a well-prepared dinner. Midnight Mass is also practiced where children get to hear Christmas carols sung by the church choir as well as Christmas plays performed.

Knowing how other cultures celebrate Christmas will enable you to enhance your own experience of this holiday season. You can borrow other cultural practices and recipes that you find in other websites and incorporate it into your own Christmas dinner for the whole family to enjoy. This allows you a way to create your own unique family traditions.

A Personalized Santa Claus Letter About Christmas Trees—Real Or Artificial?

Let’s face it, there has been a lot of debate over the years about which is better, an artificial Christmas tree or a real one. Many of the discussions focus on what is better for the environment. Believe it or not, because this was a topic in my grandson’s classroom last year, he actually included that in his letter to Santa. That’s right, he wrote to Santa Claus asking him which tree was better. It seems that there are pros and cons for both types of trees – but to be honest – Santa Claus did not help much – he just suggested that my grandson choose a nice tree and decorate it in his own way. Very diplomatic of Santa! Lol

But the reality is that we all use Christmas trees and we probably should give some thought to which is really better for the environment. And of course, we do have to consider the actual dollar cost to us – however, when we consider that we need to think long term as well as the single season.

For city-dwellers who live in a high rise away from all the Christmas tree farms, an artificial tree might be the only choice available for them. Aside from its availability, some pros about having an artificial Christmas tree also includes the fact that it is practical, since you won’t need to keep buying one every year. You can, instead, just use last year’s well-packed tree and not need to spend a single cent on buying yet another tree each and every year. Studies show that most artificial trees last 3 – 7 or more years.

An artificial tree also does not shed its needles, adding to your household chores. Aside from this, an artificial tree does not have the bacteria or fungus that live trees sometimes have. You can also get an artificial tree that lights up on its own without having to buy any additional Christmas lights, an added expense. Artificial trees look perfect each and every time, with no maintenance, no needles to clean up and built-in lights. They help you save money because you only need to spend for one tree which will last for years depending on the way you take care of it.

On the other hand, real Christmas trees do have that wonderful fir or pine smell which is what Christmas is all about, for some. Imagine having an allspice fruit cake baking in the oven with a fabulous smell mixing with the smell of pine, as you tell your children Christmas Stories such as “The Night Before Christmas” beside the fireplace. A real tree is also a fun thing to purchase with the whole family. You can go to a Christmas tree farm, let the kids help you in selecting which tree is perfect, load it on your van or have them deliver it and enjoy setting it up in the living room together with the whole family.

You can also trim the real tree with traditional trimmings like strung popcorn or Christmas angels, as well as cut out snowflakes the kids can help you make. A real tree is sometimes cheaper than an artificial tree, since it does not have the artificial lights and other technology that artificial trees come with.
Furthermore, you can get a real tree at a discounted price the week right before Christmas. The smell of pine will fill your memories of Christmas with the scent of Christmas pine, which your kids will remember forever.

But perhaps more importantly is the fact that real trees can be more environmentally friendly because they can be recycled for bird and other animal refuge, beach fencing, used in lakes for fish habitats, and mulched for use as mulching, plus other uses. Additionally, Christmas tree farms add beauty to the countryside, the trees themselves are grown in soil that cannot be used for other crops, the trees provide habitats for birds and other wildlife, and the live trees give off oxygen.

The choice is up to you. If you decide to get an artificial tree but miss the smell of pine, then you can go ahead and purchase a pine scented air freshener to spray on your artificial tree. On the other hand, if you want your children to grow up with a real Christmas tree in the living room, that is just as understandable.