It’s Almost Christmas

Ever heard of the line “we can celebrate Christmas everyday”? Yes. We can celebrate Christmas even if at the middle of the year, even during the summer season or even during the ordinary boring day. Aside from spreading the joy and love to one another, we can celebrate Christmas all year long by collecting Christmas plates and other Christmas decorations all throughout the year. Read the rest of this entry »

In the late 1970s Minnesota Public Radio began relaying the BBC Christmas Eve broadcast of A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Chapel in Cambridge. I have loved this beautiful service since the first time I heard it almost 30 years ago.

This year’s Christmas Eve service will be broadcast from Cambridge, England at 3PM GMT but listeners here in Minnesota will have to tune in at 9AM to hear the live broadcast on MPR’s classical stations. It is a wonderful way to begin Christmas Eve. The traditional music and scripture readings focus on the real meaning of Christmas and bring a bit of quiet meditation into a our somewhat frazzled lives. The program will be rebroadcast on MPR at 5PM Christmas Day. The BBC World Service and public radio stations around the world will broadcast the service a number of times, so check your local or online schedules. Read the rest of this entry »

The wreath is one of the most popular decorations used during Christmas. Wreaths are circular arrangements of flowers or greenery that are hung up as decorations. While you can buy your Christmas wreath making your own is much more personalized and fun especially if  you’re creating the wreaths with your loved ones.

The following is a step-by-step guide to making basic wreathes that you can use at home or present as a gift to your family and friends.

1. Make a base using wire coat hangers or pipes that are sturdy but can easily shaped into circles. Make sure that each end is connected to another end.
2. To make the wreath base stronger and prettier, wrap floral or festive wrappers to the coat hangers. If you want to make the base thicker and durable, wrap several covering and packaging to the circular base.
3. Gather all the branches and ornaments that you like to attach on your circular base. Before adding to the base make sure that you have a plan on what design or theme you like to make. If you like to have a flowery wreath then fill the base with flower ornaments. If you want to create a balls and candy ornaments then fill the wreath with shiny Christmas balls and colorful candies. If you are making a wreath of Christmas tree branches, you won’t need as many additional elements.
4. Secure all the decorations with hot glue, colorless adhesive, or colorful ribbons.
5. When everything’s done, make sure to let the wreath decoration rest for a while so the glue will set. After a few minutes or so, you can now hang your very own Christmas wreath decorations.

That’s it - now you have a unique Christmas decoration of your own design.

Of course the spirit of Christmas is the most important aspect of the holiday, but despite was most people say, everyone, young and old, loves to get presents. This can present a problem for those that have a long gift list and a limited budget because you still want to give everyone something special. However, despite the budget cuts in Santa’s workshop you can give everyone on your list a great gift. This is where inexpensive homemade Christmas gifts can help you out.

Begin by jotting down each name on your gift list and note some personal detail as to what they like or dislike.

Personalized Recipe Books
Do you have a friend who is a vegetarian or one who just loves to cook? Consider putting together a personalized recipe book. You can use a regular small note book and print recipes from the Internet to paste onto the pages or get a small metal box from the dollar store, decorate it with paint, or shelf paper. Then use index cards to hand print (if there is time) the recipes onto them, or if you are short on time you can put several of them together on the computer, then print them out and attach them to the note cards. This is one inexpensive homemade Christmas gift that still shows you cared enough to personalize it.

DIY Spa Packages
Is one of your recipients a sucker for nice, long hot baths? Consider making your own Honey Bath Oil. You need about a cup of baby oil to mix with about a fourth of cup of honey and a ½ cup of liquid soap. You can add a drop or two from an essential oil (these are very inexpensive in any craft store and a little goes a long way), mix it all together and pour it into a pretty squirt bottle, add a little Christmas bow and you have an inexpensive homemade Christmas gift that anyone would love.

Tasty Morsels
Home baked goodies are always great for inexpensive Christmas gifts and they can be personalized in many different ways. For instance, goodies do not necessarily have to have a Christmas theme, is there a group of people that you play bridge or poker with on a regular basis? If so why not use your imagination to make sugar cookies and decorate them like a deck of cards, plus you can always include the recipe for the cookies as an added touch.

All Sorts of Gift Baskets
Gift baskets are very versatile and you can stock up on them by visiting dollar stores, they always have several different kinds baskets. What you put inside the baskets should be something that reminds you of the recipient or something that you know they enjoy. If you have an avid gardener on your list you can always add several packets of seeds (these are very inexpensive), perhaps some gardening gloves or shears. Or, how about something soft to kneel on when they are weeding the garden?

For the Coffee or Tea Drinker
Another idea is to include several different types of flavored coffees, yes they can be a little pricey, but if you buy several and just take enough for a cup or two out of each one and put the coffee in a little decorated container you will have enough to make several presents. Or consider getting different flavored tea bags and putting several together in a tea cup and wrapping it up. This can also be fairly cheap if you buy a few boxes of tea bags but just put a couple of different flavored ones together for each gift, giving yourself enough tea bags for several gifts.

Frame It
A photo basket is always a big hit, you can make your own frames by decorating the cheap ones from the store in some type of motif that suits the recipient. Add pictures of them, their family or their family and yours doing something together. Even a small scrapbook would be a great gift and they will love the fact that you thought enough of them to think of their whole family and personalized the gift.

There is nothing wrong with creating your own inexpensive handmade Christmas gifts for the people on your Christmas list. As a matter of fact, they will love the fact that you took the time to personalize something just for them and what that says about your relationship. Making your own gifts is actually a lot more fun than running around the local stores and really shows the true spirit of Christmas.

There’s no denying it, the economic status of the world is in turmoil. But if there’s one occasion or one event that can turn all the negative feelings around, then that would be Christmas. This season of joy and love has the ability to gather everyone, even enemies, to celebrate this festive event. It doesn’t matter what religion you are, during the Christmas season there are valuable traditions that are observed with family and friends.

If you want to be in a Christmas mode in an instant, all you need to do is to turn on your music player and listen to your favorite Christmas songs. You’ll find yourself in better spirits just by listening to the powerful voices of great artists singing funny or sentimental Christmas songs. Aside from the usual Christmas carols and religious holiday hymns, there are a lot Christmas songs that will surely touch your heart and will make you feel the true essence of the holiday season.

Every year, various artists and singers compile and release singles and albums with original and remake Christmas songs. Take Elvis Presley for instance. The King of Rock and Roll may have passed away a few decades ago but his Christmas songs are still being played in the air. Just this year, Sony Music Incorporated, release an album entitled “Elvis Presley Christmas Duets.” The album consists of different well known and crowd favorite Christmas songs that various artists and the voice of the King recorded using special high-tech musical instruments. This album also gives fans the chance to sing with Elvis Presley.

Sony put a great short video about making this album on YouTube. The following video gives a glimpse behind the scenes as the album was made.

This kind of Christmas album make the season more festive and enjoyable even during the current economic crisis.

Here’s a wonderful Christmas tradition that you might have missed: the annual Christmas Bird Count or CBC. It is the oldest Citizen Science event in the world and wonderful holiday tradition.

The main goal of the Christmas Bird Count is to literally count the birds in the Northern-hemisphere in early winter for scientific purposes. However, the count is so much fun that most birders (and even some non-birders) make the CBC a traditional holiday activity.

Some interesting facts about the CBC:

• Annual event: Each year the birds of the North America are count during the Christmas holidays. This year annual bird count will begin December 14, 2008 and end January 5, 2009.
• Citizen science: The data collected will update what we know about how birds are doing in our region. Volunteers have collected the data for over a century.
• Open to anyone: Anyone can participate in this annual activity. You can be with your family or group of friends, you can be a student or a working individual, and you can have a medical degree or have a blue color job, it doesn’t matter what your status in life. You just need to have compassion for birds and the humor to count them at dawn and you’re good to go.
• Helps preserve birds: The census will help organizations preserve the birds in the community. Through this bird count they’ll have ideas on which birds are nearing the endangered species category and which are over-populating a region.

The original Christmas birding tradition in the 19th century involved killing birds and not counting them. This practice was observed for the long time until ornithologist Frank Chapman suggested that instead of killing birds, why not make a practice of preserving them. Thus the annual bird counting started.

Exchanging gifts with family and friends can be traced back to the 15th century where Father Christmas brought gifts. While children make lists of gifts they would like to receive from Santa, adults make lists of gifts they would like to give family and friends. Some families simplify Christmas gift giving by drawing names. Instead of buying gifts for every family member, each person is responsible for just one gift for one relative.

In these tough economic times, everyone wants to continue the Christmas gift giving tradition without putting a strain on family finances. While some family members may still be able to afford the expensive presents of the past, some may not be able to keep up. It makes sense to set a limit on the number and value of gifts this season. Read the rest of this entry »

This weekend I’m going to a holiday party and everyone is supposed to bring a wrapped Christmas candle for the gift exchange. The organizers made life a lot easier for everyone when they picked a holiday candle as the gift. Christmas candles are affordable and easy to find. You can find them in all sizes and colors and many of them have a lovely fragrance.

Everyone appreciate how a simple Christmas candle can light up a room and create a festive atmosphere. Christmas candles have been a beloved holiday tradition for centuries. Read the rest of this entry »

So where are you off to this Christmas season? Most people are going to be heading to grandma’s house or another relative’s to enjoy the eggnog and Christmas songs. But what about those who want to spend this time relaxing in the sun or skiing on fresh powder?

Many people take a week or so off during the holidays and that’s more than enough time take advantage of one of the great Christmas vacation packages that are still available. Read the rest of this entry »

Gumdrops, hard candies, peppermints? What is Christmas without candy and what tastes better than homemade candy? Here is how you can store your Christmas candy properly.

Art and science come together in candy making. As you know sugar will dissolve in water. When the water is heated the sugar molecules break down and then reform as they are cooled. This is the basis of making candy. That is the science of making candy. Read the rest of this entry »