When You Have To Celebrate Christmas Away From Home…

When You Have To Celebrate Christmas Away From Home…

Christmas is the time when we all want to be close to the people we love the most. Many of us travel hundreds or even thousands of miles to make that happen. But even with our best efforts, sometimes life happens and because of circumstances out of our control we simply cannot be where we want to be during the holiday season. This post offers tips to make your holiday better when you have to celebrate Christmas away from home.

 Make Christmas special - no matter where you are!

Keep The Spirit Alive

Regardless of where you are or who you are with, you can make the holiday more meaningful if you keep the spirit of giving alive. Make it a goal to make someone else’s day better in some way.

Get Close To Being There

Maybe you can’t be there to enjoy all the delicious foods or to rip open gifts during the early Christmas morning mayhem, but that shouldn’t stop you from making a connection via phone or Internet. At least you can see and feel the joy in some way through the miles – it’s not the same but it is better than nothing at all.

Volunteer

No matter where you are there is some agency or community that could use some help. Volunteer some of your time. You will be welcomed and you will feel like you are a part of a group or cause. Your options are varied; for instance, you could contact any local homeless shelters, soup kitchens or nursing homes or assisted living communities.

You might also be able to work with organizations that deliver food, gifts, or just spend time with shut-ins. Check with local community services for ideas.

Adopt Someone

You can adopt a child, a senior citizen, or an entire family to care about during the holiday season. This gives you someone (or a group of people) to get to know and love in a very special way. There’s a good chance that this person (these people) will become important to you for the long term!

Attend Church

Even if you don’t usually attend church, the holiday season is a great time to ‘visit’ a church – it gives you an opportunity to get to know others and Christmas church services are always special. Most churches have special services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Postpone Christmas Celebrations

Keeping yourself busy with these activities can ‘get you through’ the holidays – then you can celebrate Christmas in your traditional fashion when you get home. For some people, this is the best solution. There’s a good chance that your family and friends won’t mind celebrating again!

Remember Your Blessings

We all have dreams of what our ideal Christmas should be like – but the reality is that Christmas is Christmas no matter where you are, who you are with, or how it turns out to be. We have to learn to make the best of things – focus on the positives in life. Rather than having regrets about the way things turned out it is much better to find something productive to do with our time and to remember our blessings.

Debbie Allen writes about Christmas traditions, letters from Santa, and other topics related to the holiday season. You can find her work at many sites across the Internet.

Image courtesy of digitalart at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Cupcakes For A Party And Letters To Santa!

At my children’s school we always have a winter wonderland party for the children. I wanted to make something special for my kids to take to share with their classmates. In the past I had sent in store bought cookies or juice. When I asked the kids if they had any ideas I got the same answer from each of them. They all wanted cupcakes.

I knew that it would take awhile for me to get all of the cupcakes done so we set up an assembly line on the kitchen counter. All three of the kids were responsible for collecting and measuring an ingredient. While we all moved around the kitchen I asked them if they knew what they were going to ask Santa for in their Christmas letters. My daughter wanted a horse farm set and a basket for her bike. Both of the boys wanted new video games. We talked about the surprises they had found under the tree last year.

We had room in the oven to do two pans of cupcakes at a time. Sally said she was going to add in a picture of the cupcakes when she writes a letter to Santa. We started to divide the cupcakes into three different groups. I had let each one of the kids pick out the icing and toppings for the cupcakes they were going to take. The kids and I had made both chocolate and red velvet cupcakes and we wanted to be sure they all had equal amounts of each.

The kids all talked about how they couldn’t wait for Christmas morning when they would find gifts from Santa under the tree. I love to see the happiness on their faces when they dream about the magic of Christmas together. It’s obvious that they believe in the possibility that anything can happen – it’s as if the magic of Christmas is visible in their angelic little faces.

After the cupcakes had all cooled we started to put on the icing. They all take their time I was glad that they were taking so much pride in their work. Slowly all the cupcakes were covered in sugary sweetness. Next the kids put on the sprinkles they had chosen. Sally had picked tiny candy canes and red sugar crystals. Trenton liked the rainbow sprinkles mixed with small candy gingerbread men. And green sugar crystals sparkled on the top of the emerald frosting that Doyle chose.

The kids decided we should start leaving out cupcakes for Santa. Trenton said he was going to ask if Santa likes cupcakes in his Christmas letter to Santa. I told them we could make a special batch on Christmas Eve using the left over decorations from their class party.

The cupcakes were a big hit at the school. All my kids wanted to know if we could make cupcakes for all their class parties. I’m not sure about the all the parties idea but I think we have just started a new tradition this year with leaving them out for Santa. After the kids received a ‘thank you’ note from Santa last year that mentioned the great snack the kids are all convinced that the cupcakes earned them extra gifts from the old guy!

Helping Soldiers Overseas This Holiday Season

This Christmas while you are celebrating with your family there will be thousands of military families separated for the holiday season. Some of those families may have lost a family member to war. Shouldn't we do what we can to help these families in need?

They have given up their life as they knew it to fight for our country. Some of them overseas may not come back. Christmas without your mom or dad there would be hard; I could not imagine having a Christmas without them. We should all do what we can to show our support for everyone over there fighting so that you and I can live our life like normal.

While they can't spend time with their family you and I will be enjoying Christmas with ours. But there are lots of ways to help the soldiers and their families have a better Christmas even though both their parents may not be there.

Some things that you can send to the soldiers while they are serving for our country are phone cards and Christmas cards to send back to their families, puzzle books, cigarettes, books, magazines, fleece blankets, hats (black only), footballs, basketballs and DVDs, just about anything that you can think of you can send to them.

Some of the things that you can not send to the soldiers are alcoholic beverages, anything that depicts nudity, unauthorized political material and pork and pork by- products. If any contraband is found in the package what so ever your package may not be delivered so make sure you read what they can have and not have.

I myself am by no means rich but I can always manage to send them something, even if it is just candy canes. As you can see, you can get items from this list at almost any store. It just lets the soldiers know that we are thinking of them and appreciate what they are doing for us.

Christmas has always been a special time for my family and I am sure yours too. These families are separated for the holidays and we should do what we can to help them this holiday season. This year I plan to use Thanksgiving as a beginning day of collecting things on the list from family and friends and making a gift basket to send to the soldiers. So this year, as our kids write their Christmas letters to Santa, we plan on helping them make Christmas cards for soldiers and preparing care packages.

No matter how you celebrate Christmas just don't forget about our soldiers and all they do for us. Remember that while they are working for us we should all do our part to help them as much as possible.