The holiday season is, without a doubt, my favourite time of the year.
The sights, the smells, the magical feeling in the air. Love.it.all. While I try and hold myself back from heading into full-blown Christmas mode until the first of December, I’m usually more than ready to go by around mid-November. What can I say? I’m a sucker for the Christmas spirit.
That being said, I know not everyone shares my enthusiasm. Heck, there are times where even I don’t share my enthusiasm. The holidays can be a lonely and stressful time, making the idea of holiday cheer nothing more than wishful thinking. Thankfully, there are things we can do to help ourselves get into a more festive mood, so I thought I’d share some of my favourite ways to foster up the Christmas spirit.
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1. Decorate your home/room/space…
Hang garlands, lights, and wreaths… bust out the snowmen and reindeer… put up the tree — fill your outer world with all things Christmas and your inner world will follow suit. Throw on some Christmas music, bake up a batch of cookies, and make it an event by involving family or friends. I dare you to not feel festive after that. Heck, I double dare you.
2. Listen to Christmas music… and sing along!
There’s nothing like a bit of music to help get you the mood (mind’s outta the gutter, people!). Toss in your favourite Christmas cd (Mr.Buble’s is mine) while you’re bumming around your house or driving in your car and you’ll have a hard time avoiding the Christmas cheer. Bonus points — sing along! Singing has been shown to help lift a bad mood, so while you may have to fake your way through Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls, you should be feeling a lot more cheery by the time All I Want For Christmas comes along.
3. Watch Christmas movies…
There’s nothing better than curling up on the couch on a dark snowy night with the tree lit up and a Christmas movie playing on TV. Some of my favourites include: Elf, Love Actually, A Christmas Carol, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone, The Holiday, and The Man Who Saved Christmas. And if you don’t have any movies in your collection, ABC will gladly help you out with its 25 Days of Christmas holiday movie marathon (how I wish I had cable!).
4. Bake!…
Christmas and cookies go hand in hand. Snickerdoodles, gingerbread, thumbprints, shortbread, snowballs, sugar cookies… the options are endless. Not only can the act of baking leave you feeling more festive, but a batch of homemade cookies makes a great gift as well! Make it an event by inviting your friends or family over for a cookie baking party, and take the treats in to work or school to share with coworkers and classmates.
5. Enjoy special seasonal treats…
‘Tis the season for candy canes, gingerbread, egg nog, and brightly packaged chocolate — take full advantage and enjoy it. There are certain treats that only come out around this time of the year (the jam-filled gingerbread hearts are among my favourites) so they automatically get associated with the holidays and evoke good memories of Christmases past.
6. Get crafty…
Whether you want to build a gingerbread house, make a wreath, or put together a store-bought craft set, the holidays are a great time to get creative. Not only do DIY projects make meaningful gifts, but DIY decorations add a lovely personal touch to your home. And if you don’t know what to make, check out Pinterest for some amazing inspiration or hit up Michael’s for some fun craft kits.
7. Send out Christmas cards…
Spreading the holiday cheer is a great way to start feeling more festive yourself, so take some time out of your day to sit down and write cards to your family and friends. We live in an age where technology allows us to instantly connect with people who are halfway around the world, but there’s just something more magical about good old-fashioned snail mail.
8. Give…
The holidays are a time of giving, not only to family and friends, but to those who are less fortunate as well. Whether you donate old coats, toys, food, or time, look for charities to support, either in your area or online. One of my favourites is Operation Christmas Child — a project that sends shoeboxes packed with essential items to children around the world that have been affected by war, poverty, disaster, and disease.
9. Head out to the malls…
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While this may not be for everyone, heading out to the malls can be a great way to feel more festive. The beautiful decorations, the gift sets, the Christmas music, and the busied excitement of others can help contribute to your own holiday spirit. Yes, it’s true that Christmas has become a little too commercial, but you don’t necessarily have to buy anything — just feed off the festive atmosphere.
10. Check out holiday events in your town…
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Most places begin hosting special holiday events in late November, and attending these is a great way to build up some holiday cheer. Light displays, festival of trees, plays, ballets, concerts, dinners, holiday parties — check out what your area has to offer and make the most of it!
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What are some ways that you get into the Christmas spirit?
Do you send out Christmas cards?
What food do you associate most with this time of the year?
Sooooooo true.
I’m with you. Christmas has always been one of my favorite times of year, although I’m not quite in the spirit yet. I should be come Friday night though because the Hubby comes home then and we plan to put up the decorations. We nabbed our tree last weekend, and while we managed to get the lights on, we didn’t do any of the decorations and we have tons for the inside of the house. We’ll make some hot chocolate and likely spike it with Bailey’s, put on the Christmas music and get festive. It’s one of my favorite Christmas traditions.
I’m hoping to get the cards started and done this weekend, but we send out almost a hundred so it’s a big job. We’ll also bake some kind of holiday dessert next weekend (either scones or a puff pastry) for the neighbors and distribute those, and I’m planning on handing out homemade granola to my coworkers. I just need to find something cute to put it in. Any ideas? I’m open to suggestions.
Don’t let the tree fall on you this time 😛 Those sound like some pretty lovely Christmas traditions, though. As for the granola, have you considered mason jars wrapped in a ribbon or bow? I know that’s the route most people tend to go… You could even frost them if you feel especially crafty.
Yes to all of these things. We just ordered our Christmas cards last night and I will make sure to share a picture on the blog as long as they turn out all right. Buble is one of my favorite Christmas CDs. Tied with Scotty McCreery and the Red WOW Christmas CD. All 3 are amazing.
I wish #10’s picture was a mall close to me. That is gorgeous and I feel like I would just stand there for hours staring at the pretty lights. 😯 << That would be me mesmerized 😉
Oh man I totally forgot about my WOW Christmas albums! I must have left them at my parents’ when I moved, so thanks for the reminder to go dig them back up 😀
It doesn’t get better than the Buble Christmas CD. He has the perfect Christmas voice. It doesn’t take me much to get in the holiday spirit. I love baking cookies, watching Elf or the Santa Clause, and walking around the city (I live in Toronto). As for Christmas cards, it’s something I tell myself I should do every year but I never end up getting to it. We’ll see if I can do it this year!
Elf and Operation Christmas Child??? YES PLEASE!! You and I could have some fun this holiday season!
I love this, I can’t wait to move into a bigger place and decorate every year! For now I will have to live vicariously through my parents’ house, I am helping my mom decorate their tree tomorrow. 🙂
Great tips girl! I love that Michael Buble x-mas album, it’s a good one. 😉
Such a great time of year! This is the time of year for all things peppermint. I like to put a little peppermint flavoring in my cocoa after long runs.
I love this list lady! Though I am not a fan of the christmas eve itself, I do love the season. I love to make my home a cosy christmas place with lights, cinnamon smell and Michael Bublé. One of the reasons I would never want to travel to a warm place around christmas – as much as I dislike winter, it is necessary for me to get into christmas mood. The cold, the snow – and then a hot spiced wine or a jam-filled gingerbread heart (PLEASE!! I never had those – they sound like heaven!!) 🙂
Love that you highlighted OCC! It truly is a wonderful cause!
Love your line “fill your outer world with all things Christmas and your inner world will follow suit” I couldn’t agree more!
Are those pictures of malls in your neck of the woods? They are gorgeous!
My Christmassy food would be cookies (I know they are my all season food) but round Chrsitsmas I amp up the mint and peppermint a tad bit…andthrow in some “season treats”.
Yes, most times I send out Christmas cards round Thanksgiving, but this year other than decorating, I took doing nothing seriously on T-day…aaaand, now I am a tad behind.
I don’t recall not getting into the Christmas spirit – I adore Christmas…but, one of the first things I do is sign up to help with my churches’ Christmas Initiative – they do Christmas in a big way – even making the news a couple years back for all kinds of traffic woes – good thing it was the weekend and not a weekday http://www.gwinnettdailypost.com/news/2011/dec/17/traffic-snarl-caused-by-goodwill-project/
That’s actually a picture of a mall in Berlin — we don’t have anything quite that fancy around here. And I love that you sign up to help with your church. Helping and giving is seriously what this time of the year is all about.
Great list although I would challenge you about getting out into the malls…it’s a zoo out there!!! Now let me go dig out my holiday tunes and movies 🙂 Hello from Sharefest
Christmas music and Christmas movies are definitely my top two! I love Elf, The Christmas Story, and The Santa Clause… classics!!
It’s funny I’m an Australian so I associate different foods with Christmas, although mostly just the Christmas lunch – cake chocolates and candy still reign even in the summer heat during the festive season :)! We eat a lot of seafood and ice cream/parfait type desserts in addition to the usual lunch. So prawns, oysters etc are all Christmassy here. But I love Christmas/fruit cake- my mum makes one with cream cheese icing and rum in the base- very good! It’s very common to serve it with a spread of butter here! It sounds weird but its is so good! By the way- would you please do a vlog :)! I just saw heather (the amazing kiss my broccoli :)) speak on her blog and now I am so curious to hear more of all the cute accents from your side of the world! Please, I’ll send you some vegemite lol (I know that might not sound like a good thing- but it is, trust me :)!) Glad you had a lovely time with J- I hope you can see him again very soon ;). Happy Saturday lovely Amanda.
I’ve heard some amazing things about vegemite, so you may have just convinced me 😉 Actually, I’ve been meaning to do a vlog for a little while now… just have to work up the nerve!
Ahhh, Christmas movies on ABC or the Lifetime channel is one of the ONLY things I miss about having cable!! I’ve been going back and forth on the holiday spirit for the last few weeks. I was going to put up my tree last weekend, but I was feeing a bit down in the dumps…then, I was going to put it up yesterday, but after being sick for 24 hours before, I barely had the energy to make something to eat! So yeah, hauling a 7 ft tree up from the garage was NOT going to happen! I’m going over to my parent’s house tomorrow for birthday brunch (yes, I TOTALLY requested that…pray that my appetite miraculously appears in full force by tomorrow at 11am!) and I’m looking forward to seeing my mom’s new tree! It’s always been a family tradition to have the Christmas tree up and decorated by my birthday each year, so even though I didn’t make it in time myself, at least I’ll have something purdy to look at at my parent’s!
Oh and I just want you to know that you’ve officially created a MONSTER! Just before hopping on over here, I finished up my SECOND purchase for the week from Sephora online! When I was shopping for my sister earlier this week (and bought myself some stuff too OF COURSE), they sent me a $15 giftcard. Then I got an email today about Naked 3 being available. It was FRIGGIN’ FATE!! Right? Right! 😉
Fingers crossed that your birthday brunch turned out exactly how you wanted it to! And girl… I was on IG at 6 AM yesterday and saw Sephora post that Naked3 was available. You better believe I was on my computer at 6:01 making my purchase 😛
For me, something that helps is finding something that I can do for someone else. It can be something like volunteering or even just doing something for a family member or friend. Helps me to remember all of the really good feelings of love, compassion, and giving that go with the Christmas spirit.
That’s really beautiful, Amy, and I couldn’t agree with you more. That’s what Christmas is all about.
I love all these ideas! I need to start listening to Christmas music right now… it just feels so wrong sometimes because it’s not the holiday season 10.5 months a year so it feels weird to bring out the Christmas movies and music.
Definitely LOVE holiday baking. And seasonal treats 🙂
Thus is my favorite list!! I’m happy to report that it almost accomplished all of this.
Hi! I recently came across your blog and I think it is awesome!! I loved reading this because I am one of those people who get reallyreallyreally excited about Christmas 🙂 I’m relatively new to the running/health blogging community but I’ve been reading these types of blogs for a while and this one is one of my favorites to read. I think your story is extremely inspiring and is a great example for anyone recovering from eating disorders or other mental disorders.
Aww thanks so much Andrea! That was really sweet of you to say.
I love baking for others (and myself) 😉 during the holidays. So rewarding!
This pretty much sums it up! I love making my Christmas decorations, and actually worked on a few today! I plan on getting a gingerbread house Joseph can ‘help’ with. 25 days of Christmas is my favorite and just another reason I love ABC family. 🙂
Love this post! I’ve missed reading your posts 🙂
Christmas music! A hundred percent yes! And driving around the hood looking at cool decorated houses and fairy lights.. While listening to Christmas songs. If only it snows in Sydney!
I’ve be more than happy to send you some! We have plenty up here in Canada 🙄