12 Days of Christmas or Other Ideas

I was born on the 12th Day of christmas, so my great-grandmother used to make a really big deal of it every year with small gifts. She may do a bottle of nail polish, some homemade cookies wrapped in muslin, a small doll, new crayons, that sort of thing. She would place them by my bed each night while I slept when she lived with us, so that I would get the surprise in the morning. Then she would do a book that had some sort of sentimental reasoning, and a game (the gift that would keep on giving) on Christmas morning. We would play the game all day, and then she would read me the book that night. The gifts themselves didn't amount to much, but the notes she put with them (many of which I still have : ex: w the doll she wrote "A princess for my princess") meant the world to me. After she went into the nursing home, she still did the 12 Days of Christmas for me with the help of the people there. It meant the WORLD to me.

Thank you so much for reminding me of that memory. She passed away when I was 13 and I haven't thought about it in years.

We have the kids each pick a family to do the 12 days of Christmas for. We then go to each house for the 12 days preceding Christmas and doorbell ditch them while leaving the item on the porch. My kids go giddy over this! We change up the song a little bit...here are a few. Turtle Dove is a package of Chocolate Turtles or Dove candies, Maids a Milking is a 1/2 gallon of milk,Golden Rings is Ring Pops, Pipers Piping is a few cazoos you can find in the party isle at Target or WalMart, Drummers Drumming is a package of Drumstick ice creams, Swans a Swimming is a beach towel ...some of the others include non food items. We just look for anything that has somewhat to do with the "verse" for the day and tie it in. THen we print out the verse of the song and attach it to the item each day.

It is a ton of fun...you could really scale it down so it isn't costly or doesn't involve a lot of sweets. It does take a bit of time so I make a folder and have all the copies of the daily handout ready to go. I buy a lot of stuff at after Christmas sales for the next year.

You could even just leave a small gift with a little note telling the family what you love about them on each day.

On the last day we go and knock on the door and stand there so they can see it is us and we sing a carol.

Have fun with it. It makes for great family memories for you and the receiving family. It makes your kids think of others' happiness and joy and not so much of what is Santa bringing me. We do Santa...we love Santa but we are always trying to find ways to teach our kids empathy,charity and selflessness.

Good luck and best wishes at pulling off the best and most memorable Christmas ever this year!!

Take your time to decorate your house, don't do it all in one evening or weekend, and spread it out over the first two weeks of December.

Get your children involved in your card stuffing, addressing and mailing - even the little one can place stamps and address labels.

Bake holiday goodies and give them to neighbores - that way you're still doing it without having to *eat* them!

Take them to volunteer. Or get them to help you gather donations from your house, specifically their toys and clothes.

Make one afternoon or evening a week "Christmas movie night"....pop some corn and cuddle up and watch your fav family Christmas movies together.

Hi, Sunny D.

One of the things we do is we put up the tree with nothing on it. Then one night we add the lights, now we have a tree and lights. Then we take one week and make ornaments. We do a different ornament each night (like bead candy canes, applesauce/cinnamon dough ornaments, pomander balls with oranges and cloves, and so on and so forth. We make as many of each kind as they are content making. Each night when we are done we add those to the tree, one kind per night. At the end of the week, we get our ornaments from the previous years and add them as well. Then the last night we put the Angel on top. It makes a 9 day celebration out of decorating the tree and keeps us all involved. We spend the time as a family and make lots of memories.

Make this Christmas about others. Call up a local nursing home and ask them if they'll take arts and crafts projects to decorate the residents' rooms. Deliver a different craft each week, taking all week to make them. It will give the kids something Christmasy to do and something to look forward to giving. I'm sure there will be plenty of volunteer ops in your area.

There are tons of Christmas games people are asking about here regarding class parties. I asked something along those lines and got alot of fun ideas back. I'm sure your family would have fun playing "Candy cane relay" or "Pin the hat on the snowman" on Christmas Day.

I heard about this last year and didnt have time to do it but thought it was great. I planned on starting Dec 1 and ending on xmas but you wrap 25 (or 12) xmas story books and have a child pick one of the books each night and read it. Its pretty simple but I think my kids would love not knowing what story they are choosing and then being able to cuddle and read the book together!