Still a work in progress...
Trim the Tree We put together tree the weekend before Thanksgiving, undecorate for fall and "fluff" the tree. We put the ornaments on for Turkey Day.
Black Friday Christmas Movie Marathon doesn't need too much explaining. Usually I go to WM in search of $3 pajamas and DVDs. But, the biggest part of our shopping is usually done, so we watch Christmas movies and eat leftover turkey sandwiches.
Deck the Halls Danny Devito/Matthew Broderick movie. Watch this while continuing to decorate the house.
Nightmare Before Christmas I think we will watch this one between Halloween and Turkey Day this year. Maybe the weekend we put the tree together. Last year I made a Jack Skellington cake. Not sure what we will do this year.
Paper Ornaments I spent Christmas in July searching for and making ornaments out of scrapbook paper. I have about a dozen, with some links, pictures and youtubes to follow later.
Charlie Brown & Snoopy Christmas used Swagbucks to replace my VHS to DVDs this year. We have A Charlie Brown Christmas and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown to watch along with Great Pumpkin and Thanksgiving. I picked up some Peanuts related small stocking stuffer type gifts for the kids.
Elementary Schcool Christmas Program not planning anything else for this day other than the program, dinner, homework, and some quick pictures.
Family Game Night I picked up the Scrabble Turbo Flash with the coupon and a refill score sheet for Yahtzee for this night.
Birthday Party for Jesus We have birthday cake, party food and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Last year, we got Nativity ornaments to make.
Christmas Card Games Found a bunch of the UNO type card games on clearance @ Target this year. They were $1-2. Each kid will get one on this night and another in their stocking. We will play the games.
Wii Family Game Night planning to get Just Dance 3. We will play it and some of the action games like bowling, boxing, Wii Sports Resort erc.
Polar Express Pajama Party watch the movie, have homemade hot cocoa and everybody gets a new pair of pajamas. We will sleep under the lights of the Christmas tree.
Christmas Ca$h we will play the LRC game with poker chips, candy, pennies and or quarters in the pot. Last year the kids got piggy banks. This year I am thinking wallets or change purse type things.
Blue Christmas (Smurfs) I am guessing the DVD will be out before Christmas. If so, we will get it, plus some Smurf and blue party favors for a family movie night.
Winter Wonderland go downtown to see the lights and the BIG tree. I am thinking of a sled, igloo maker, saucer, snowman kit, etc. for gifts this year. We have done coats, scarves, hats, mittens etc. in years past.
A Christmas Story We eat Chinese for dinner and I make fudge. We watch the movie.
Family Movie Night Pizza, popcorn, movie theater candy, kids get DVDs for presents. We watch a movie.
Christmas Collage using last year's holiday photos. I have a bunch of 16x20 frames from the portrait studio where I worked that closed down.
Christmas in Candyland we make ornaments made from melted hard candy and gumdrops. This year I also have some other candy related gifts that came Block Busters when they went out of business. (Like super sized lollipops and some other things.)
Grinchmas We will watch both the Grinch movies and have roast beast dinner. (momof2ohio) I save back our grinch ornaments to put on the tree on this night, too.
Silly Sock Hop we did this last year. Girls got holiday socks and guys ended up with boxers because I never found any good socks for the guys. We played Rock Band and Christmas music.
Holiday Hat Party I would love to find those awesome holiday hats that they wear to Christmas Festivals. Like trees that light up, etc. If not, I would like to use my knifty knitter to make some Christmas hats, like a Snowman, Elf, Santa, Christmas Tree and Rudolph hat. I have seen them around online, not sure if this is in the plans for this year or another year.
Christmas Cookies pretty simple...we make Christmas Cookies
Christmas Cartoon Classics we watch the holiday classics from way back when...last year, we DVRd some good ones from Cartoon Network.
Christmas Vacation We watch the movie, and the kids usually get gifts to keep them busy on our road trip to my parents. Magazines, puzzle books, snacks, etc.
Ice Skating I like to do this between Christmas and New Year's while the kids are out of school.
Feliz Navidad we make Mexican food, usually have a Christmas pinata, and a fiesta.
HS Band Christmas Concert go to the kids' band concert. Again, this year we aren't planning anything else because it is busy enough trying to fit in dinner, homework, getting ready, pictures and the concert.
Christmas Ham Dinner We will have ham and all the fixings. Cheesy potatoes, salad, appetizers, and a Christmassy dessert, listen to Christmas music.
Christmas Turkey Dinner like the above except with turkey, stuffing, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, etc. We used to only have these meals at my parent's or inlaw's house. It is nice to have in a quieter setting without so many people and usually no drama.
White Christmas white decorations, party favors, everybody wears white, white foods for dinner, etc.
Marshmallow World in the Winter we will make marshmallow snowmen using a regular size marshmallow, the giant size roasters, rainbow airhead sours for a scarf, large and mini sized oreo for hat, etc. I am making rice crispy treat wreaths using cornflakes and green food coloring and red M&Ms. Hubby is making marshmallow shooter guns out of PVC pipes that shoot mini marshmallows. ( youtube video instuctions)
Christmas Photo Mosaic Puzzle The photo mosaic puzzle I ended up buying is Snoopy/Joe cool. Snoopy's pic is made up of comic stips. I also got a Christmas themed Thomas Kincaide puzzle and a roll up mat that lets you roll up the jigsaw puzzle while you are working on it...it keeps the pieces in place.
Homemade Wreath I think we will make a hard candy wreath on a hanger this year. (link coming)
Paper Chain Advent Calendar red, green and white paper chains, one for each of the 25 days. You can make it so that the activity for the day is written on the back and December xx is written on the front. Each day you tear off one chain and it will tell them the day's theme, plan, or activity.
Invite (friend/family) over for dinner this one needs little explaining. Invite someone over. Have food, fun, festivities.
Ugly Christmas Sweater Party well, ugly is in the eye of the beholder...but the idea is to find the blingiest, craziest, over the top sweater at Goodwill or on Ebay and wear them to dinner, a party, the mall, school, etc.
November Christmas not sure if we will be able to see it this year. But, I LOVED this Hallmark Hall of Fame movie from last year. If you didn't see it, it was about a little girl with leukemia who's parents were celebrating Halloween in the summer and Christmas in the fall because they feared she wouldn't make it until the holidays. Would love to watch it again this November. But, probably not going to pay the $30 for the DVD. I wish I wouldn't have deleted it from my DVR.
Graham Cracker Gingerbread Houses make and decorate the easier version of gingerbread houses.
Cosmic Bowling last year after our 25 Days I asked the kids what they would like to do for one of our days. They picked going bowling.
Jingle Bells...volunteer bell ringers. This would be our charity/giving back/ good deed thing this year. I think it would be fun to be a bell ringer for a day.
Watch Elf: make snowflakes and paper chains like he does in the movie. Eat jelly beans and spaghetti. But. not. together. My daughter wants to try syrup on hers, though. :::blech:::
Christmas Around the World St Nick Day December 6.. celebrate like other cultures, learn about St Nicholas, leave shoes outside our bedroom doors for a special treat, etc.
Christmas Calendar I bought some simple frame calendars for my mom and MIL at JoAnns. I will have the kid's put the pictures in and we will decorate them.
Gremlins I picked up this movie at the used DVD store. We will probably just watch it between Halloween and Thanksgiving. It is kind of a Halloween meets Christmas movie like Nightmare Before Christmas.
Mistletoe (Murder Mystery)Party in my own garage sale stuff, I found a book of short stories that were Christmas murder mysteries. I am going to adapt one sort of like a Clue game where each of us gets a part to play.
Reindeer Games carnival type games like Toss the Ring around Rudolph's ears, pin the tail on Rudolph etc.
Mele Kalikimaka Hawaiian Luah Hawaiian shirts, leis, grass skirts, hula dancing, etc.
Holiday Ducktivitites duct tape arts and crafts. Make ornaments, stockings or gift bags out of patterend duct tape.
Polish Star Ornaments handmade paper ornaments. Polish Star: Christmas Ornaments | Christmas Display Ideas | FamilyFun
Boxing Day European/Canadian holiday on December 26th. We will combine our normal tradions of returns and clearance shopping but try to incorporate some of the European and Canadian boxing day traditions.
New Years Eve/Day just the traditional N Y eve and day celebrations and foods. Resolutions? maybe. Watch When Harry Met Sally. Try to plan something fun for the kids. Sort of a way of winding down, transitioning from all the activities back into the normal activities.
Jan 2 or 3 before the kids go back to school. UN-Christmas. Undoing the decorations and plan something FUN for that UNdoing. Still working on this one.
Epiphany January 6 is a traditional holiday, (Catholic/European, I believe.) Basically, it is the end of the 12 days of Christmas and it is a day of reflection on the holiday season. For me, it will be for taking a look at what went well, the activiites that were hits/flops...keepers and tossers. It is a great time to look over my Christmas planner and take notes about what happened and what could work better for next year while it is still fresh in my mind. Also a great time to weed out ornaments that need tossed and set aside any that need repaired.
Hibernate that's the only other thing I have planned for January until Super Bowl Sunday (which is in Indy this year) and/or Valentines.


Home
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
You might recognize the top of the list from last year. Scroll down for the new stuff.
momof2ohio)
Reply With Quote
momof2ohio) I save back our grinch ornaments to put on the tree on this night, too.
) and/or Valentines. 
, 10 y.o. DD
and a furbaby


I hate it when I go to look for a specific smilie guy and he isn't on our list anymore, lol. I wanted the nah guy who just shakes his head no. lol oh well.
