Here are our activities, in no particular order, mostly. I still have to print them out and package them with chocolate and a Bible verse for each day (thank you Daily Thread Katie for that one!).

The importance here is not on rushing to complete an activity or to tick something off a list (remember this, me, please, and don’t make yourself crazy). The importance is to spend time celebrating the season with the people in your life who matter most. If you don’t need to entertain and delight children, entertain yourself and decorate (or don’t!) to your heart’s content.

1. celebrate the season with friends (we have friends with kids coming over tomorrow night to play and create and just enjoy each other’s company)

2. bring in the tree and put lights on that sucker

3. paint fingernails and toenails red and green (we like to alternate and add white dots for decoration–this is a swell nightly activity for when we have a sitter and are out for a holiday party)

4. make it snow in the house (my husband hates this. He thinks it looks creepy. The kids adore it, and so do I.)

5. sew ornaments (if you know me already, you’ll recall that I’m very partial to doves and birds–all of our Christmas decorations are in storage right now as we attempt to sell our house, so we may just make all our ornaments this year)

6. make a paper chain

7. make a wreath (I’m thinking paper)

8. make the house smell like Christmas (we simmer cinnamon sticks and spices in water on the stove–honestly, this one doesn’t much impress the kids anymore)

9. make salt dough ornaments (if you have small children, salt dough hand and footprints make the best grandparent gift tags ever; if you have bigger children, be prepared to cut out dinosaur shapes with exacto knives!)

10. hot chocolate stirred with candy canes (we like Williams Sonoma peppermint hot chocolate)

11. family pictures with antlers and elf hats (or some such silliness)

12. watch Christmas movies (another good babysitter activity)

13. write a letter to Santa

14. stitch a hankie (or a set of ‘em) for a gift (I am thinking pima gingham homemade hankies for manpeople we like)

15. make our own wrapping paper (we have a never-ending roll of white butcher paper from the school supply store; potato stamps, etc., are great, but so is just scribble scrabble or fine art from kids–everyone loves this)

16. make and mail cards for our friends (cards specifically from the kids, not our main cards)

17. make and decorate sugar cookies (will link you to a great-looking recipe when the internet is not so incredibly slow)

18. Callaway Gardens for the lights! (a weekend activity, I suppose, and the only one we might not be able to squeeze in)

19. Local lights tour (we love this)

20. wrap/label/deliver teacher gifts (my children LOVE handing out their teacher gifts)

21. decorate our doors (we use the big roll of white butcher paper to make huge Christmas trees and add cut out ornaments)

22. call grandparents and sing Christmas songs (a big hit)

23. put out gifts for our wonderful mail lady (she prefers chocolate)

24. Christmas Eve services, read the Christmas story

For comparison, here’s my Advent post from long ago. I am too lazy to figure out how to convert the pictures right now. Some of the old activities are better than the ones here, especially if you have really small kids.

Honestly, keeping up with some of this drives me nuts. I make sure to carefully consult the calendar to work around obligatory parties–the last 10 weeks of the calendar year sort themselves into madness starting in about September and I resent the intrusion on my family time. At the same time, I like people to visit us when we ask them, so I try to do the same when they ask for my time and sparkling, witty company (hah).

Happy holidays. Be well. All that matters is that you spend time with those you love (or can tolerate).