How do you liven up your Holiday’s around your home? Do you hand lights and pine wreaths, or do you decorate the walls with snowflakes and create a winter wonderland?
Here are my top 14 ways that I set the mood in our home for a Fresh and Festive Holiday Season:
1- Decorate, Decorate, Decorate-I absolutely love the winter season and with it comes my decorations. I literally have a ton of holiday storage totes because I love to decorate this time of year. I hang garland wherever I can. I just love the look it creates of an outdoor wilderness right in our home.
2- Play Holiday Music- I love the sound of Christmas Bells and choirs singing. So any chance I have to play Holiday Music I take. I play it in the car, in the house, even on my mp3 player.
3- Candles! I love the smell of my Christmas Tree candle, and I always lite it up this time of year. It is my hubby’s favorite too. I love giving these candles as gifts for friends and neighbor’s.
4- Christmas Cookies- I absolutely LOVE sugar cookies. Decorating them with sprinkles and color of red and green is so much fun and has become a holiday tradition. We then take them to our friends and family and enjoy eating them with a big glass of milk.
5- A Christmas Carol DVD- This is such a classic and my mom introduced us to it when we were kids. We now watch it every year and it is such a great movie. We all gather in the family room as a family and watch it together right after Thanksgiving.
6- The night before Christmas Book- Christmas Eve is not the same if you don’t read this book to your kiddos. As soon as the kids are old enough we will let them each take a turn reading this classic.
7- Mrs. Claus- Every Christmas Eve around bedtime or the time the kids should start getting ready for bed there is a knock at the front door. Who could it be? The kids find a nicely wrapped package with a nice little note stating it is from Mrs. Clause. Inside they find a brand new pair of Christmas pajamas to hurry and put on in time for Santa’s visit. It is a tradition my mom started and we have carried on every year since!
8- Fresh Cut Christmas Tree- Every year we load up all the families in the trucks and head up to cut our very own Christmas tree. We search for hours until we find the perfect one. For me I like them big and bushy. Then the men cut them down and we haul them home. They smell so nice in the front room and the kids love going out to get them every year.
9- Stringing the Lights- I love holiday lights. Something about them creates such a fun atmosphere. We spend the evening putting the lights together as a family on our Christmas tree (the one we went up and cut ourselves!). We then decorate the tree with all the fun ornaments we have collected over the years.
10- Hot Cocoa- I love making hot cocoa. So we make a lot of it this time of year. Especially with mini marshmallows. Some of my favorites are peppermint and candy cane. Sometimes we even melt chocolate and roll it in peppermint on plastic spoons, then we use these to stir our yummy drinks!
11- I curl up on the couch under my blankets and snuggle in for a holiday movie. There are so many on TV this time of year……and I love them all! My favorite is the Hallmark Channel.
12– Giving Gifts- I just love to give gifts. Sometimes for no reason at all. From a simple handmade soap to a card. It’s fun to have a few on hand and give them out just because I feel like I want to brighten someone’s holiday season when they come to my door.
13- Building a snowman. First we have to have snow, then we all bundle up and go out and play and finish off the event by building Frosty right in the front yard. It’s fun to look out the window and see him there as he slowly melts away day by day. Snow angels are fun too!
14- Just taking time to spend with my kiddos and hubby. I seem to get so busy shopping and decorating that sometimes I forget what is most important. Whether is be reading a Holiday book or just cuddling up on the couch with the lights off and the tree lights on. Take time with your loved ones!
