Three Clever Christmas Ideas

One of the most difficult parts of blogging, for me, is striking a balance between sharing ideas I think are ingenious and not sounding like a pompous know-it-all.  So I hope you know I don’t think I’m all that and a bag of chips, but I do have lightbulb moments on occasion!

That said, today I think I have three really clever things we do around here that make Christmas all the more fun, while keeping it easy and frugal.

Idea #1:  Annual Memories Ornament

The hubs and I exchange ornaments each year, usually from wherever we go on vacation, but I like to make this one, instead.  I simply find an inexpensive ornament with a large writing surface, and use a silver Sharpie (one of my favorite things EVER) to write a memory from each month of the year. I found this flattened circle ornament at Target for $3.

Memory-Ornament-ChaosServed  Memory-Ornament

Idea #2: Color-coded Gift Wrap and Initials

For the hooligans, I buy a roll of gift wrap for each of them, in the same color each year. Princess Thundercloud gets pink, of course, and the boys get blue and green. I can’t stand gift bags under the tree, by the way, and put everything in a box to wrap. That’s just my opinion, gift bag makers…don’t hate me. If something is too large for a box (like a bicycle or doll high chair), it comes from Santa and doesn’t get wrapped.

Wrapping-ChaosServedDaily

Anyway, I wrap each kid’s gifts in his color, and put his initial, just to have a place to write the “From” info (I do all the shopping from relatives for them, usually).  This year, I’m excited that I could cut out a whole sheet of big initials on my Silhouette instead of stamping them or cutting them out by hand.

This makes it super simple to hand out gifts on Christmas morning, and the wrapping instead of gift bags means it takes longer to open things.  Then the hooligans can anticipate as they unwrap, and we avoid a lot of chaos.

Idea #3: 25 Gift-Wrapped Books for 25 Days

We have a whole plastic tote full of Christmas books that we only read during December (the kids get to keep a few out all year). I wrap them individually and put a number on them, then we unwrap one each night in December and read it. books-ChaosServedDaily

Before you roll your eyes at the amount of time and effort to wrap those books, let me tell you…it took less than an hour, while watching a Hallmark Christmas movie, and less than a roll of giftwrap (on sale at Target this week for $2.50).  I cut the numbers on my Silhouette, but you could easily buy a sheet of number stickers. The hooligans love getting to open things before the big day, and it’s as though they have all new books each year!

So there you have it…my three ideas on making your holiday simpler and more fun. And now I’m spending the morning hauling all the decorations up from the basement…the hooligans get out of school at noon today, and have been counting down all week to decorating.  I’m sure to be overwhelmed with assistance!

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About Megan

My various hats: mom to three crazy teens and one quirky dog, wife of 27 years to my retired GI Joe, and high school math teacher. After my husband's retirement from the Army, we've settled in the Pacific Northwest. Crafting, cooking, photography, and reading keep me sane (that's a relative term!) and I hope you'll enjoy following along as I navigate the chaos of life!
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7 Responses to Three Clever Christmas Ideas

  1. Marilyn Ueno says:

    Mahalo for sharing your great ideas. How special all those Christmas stories are now. And with their own families in the future! Great traditions!

  2. Amy Bateman says:

    Great ideas. I need to break out the books and wrapping paper tonight!

  3. Kathy V. says:

    What wonderful traditions, Megan! Your ornament idea is fabulous–have you done that your whole marriage? I love wrapped gifts too, although I confess I do use a bag when life gets stupid (which has been most of the time lately, LOL). Besides, bags seems to invite “peeking,” don’t you think?

    But the book idea–know that’s absolutely over the top! I love to read and in fact my library and Mr. Wonderful’s shop are the reason we built our house. And what a fabulous way to give a little gift without it being candy or junk.

    I’d say your ideas qualify you as the “best wife & mom” of the year!

    • Megan says:

      No, unfortunately I didn’t think of it until just a few years ago. That would have been fabulous, wouldn’t it? Maybe I can recreate by looking at scrapbooks…would that be cheating? I didn’t know you were a fellow bookaholic, either. Once I had to giveup buying books for Lent, my addiction was so out of control! Everytime we move, my goal is to read and donate all the books in the house before our next move. Yep, you guessed it…we’re still hauling around books I bought in the 20th century!

  4. dixiendottie says:

    Great post! Would love if you’d join our Countdown to Christmas link party! Hope to see you there! Have a great week! 🙂
    http://dixie-n-dottie.blogspot.com/2012_12_04_archive.html

  5. Pingback: [BLOCKED BY STBV] Delightful December (Baker’s) Dozen | Chaos Served Daily

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