With a personalized letter from Santa, you can help Santa win the 20 Questions game!

There are several ways we can celebrate Christmas.  Here are a few that I have carried over from when I was a child.

Probably my favorite Christmas memory is decorating the Christmas tree.  My mom would turn on the Christmas music; I’ll be home for Christmas is a song I can remember always playing.  We would make some hot chocolate and decorate the tree together.     My mother still decorates her tree with ornaments my sisters and I made in grade school.  They may be cheesy but each one holds a special memory.

Christmas Eve is one of the most special times of the season.  Every year we would all gather at my grandparents house for dinner.  My aunts, uncles, cousins and friends of family would all be there together.  I was the one always sneaking the chocolate peanut butter balls – some things never change!

One of the things I remember as a child is always getting one present on Christmas Eve, they were always our Christmas Pajamas and we knew it…  I started to do the same when I started to have children of my own and have been doing it ever since.  My oldest at seventeen still gets excited when opening that one present on Christmas Eve.

A few years ago I started to let the children help with wrapping presents.  They may not all have been perfectly wrapped but they have so much fun doing it, and that’s what counts.

Make an effort this Christmas to create special memories as a family.  Plan some activities together that will create meaningful memories for a lifetime.

In Denmark, advent wreaths and Christmas luncheons are the norm during this holiday season. Most extended families celebrate together on Christmas Eve with a large feast, while Christmas day is spent at home with children opening gifts.

Many Chinese people do celebrate Christmas, but most not for the same religious reasons as we do in America. Most Chinese do not practice Christianity; however, in today’s modern China, large cities do have Christmas displays and people decorate their houses with trees and festive lights.

In Australia, Christmas comes in the middle of summer. Many families decorate with trees and flowers outside their homes. Many of the holiday’s events occur outside, such as the Carols by Candlelight where friends and families gather at night to sing Christmas carols outdoors.

• Visit a Christmas tree farm and let each family member have a say in which tree becomes your special Christmas tree for that year.
• Volunteer at a food bank, homeless shelter, Meals on Wheels, the Salvation Army, the Ronald McDonald House, or a hospital. You can bring a lot of holiday cheer to those who really need it, and it teaches your children an important lesson about being thankful for all of their own blessings.
• Adopt an elderly person at a retirement or nursing home and ask the nurses which residents don’t receive many holiday visitors. Then adopt one (or more) of those individuals and make sure they have a great Christmas.
• Read a Christmas story before the kids go to bed, every night between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Or, if you don’t have time to read every night, set aside a special night to enjoy several holiday stories together.
• Put your own spin on some old family recipes by cooking with your loved ones. Make some homemade Christmas candy or cookies to share or give as gifts.
• Attend your church’s midnight Christmas Eve service, if you don’t already. It’s a little late for the young set, but it’s only one night, and it’s truly magical to sing all of those traditional carols by candlelight, go home, and go straight to bed to wait for Santa.