Holiday Traditions on a Hot Cocoa and Popcorn Budget

As the Holidays approach and Christmas parties start to clutter the calendar and gift buying attempts to steal precedence, I want to CHOOSE to focus on the right stuff this year. The right stuff being my two littles and the guy I love.

Every family has different priorities in the Holiday season, but I think the key to a successful Holiday Season is making it special…and I do not mean Pinterest perfection. Kids don’t care, and most husbands care even less. My mother has always made the mundane memorable and I love her for that.

Now that I have my own little family, and fortunately my main squeeze enjoys traditions as much as I do, we start the Holiday fun the night before Thanksgiving with soup and a movie and continue it until Christmas day. I won’t lie, December 26 is definitely the saddest day of the year, but let’s pretend that there is no such thing as the end of Christmas…at least for now.

Here are some little and affordable ideas for making the holidays special while spending a minimal amount of money….in no particular order, at least until the end.

Supplies:

hot cocoa
pajamas
marshmallows (optional)
various Christmas movies
construction paper and scissors
cookie ingredients (recipe to follow)

1. Watch the Charlie Brown Christmas special together as a family. My family did every year, and even though perhaps Charlie Brown is too slow for most kids born after 1990, I refuse to let my kids grow up like most kids. My three-year old belly laughs at Snoopy…which melts my heart. Also, because sometimes I just want to pretend that times are simpler, I look on the TV schedule and plan to watch this one live, just like I did as a kid…commercials and all, hot cocoa from the stove-top in hand.

2. Make Gingerbread men/women together. It wasn’t until adulthood that I realized that most people just buy gingerbread cookies…and they are circular. What? Not us! Every year, mom whipped up a batch of dough and formed little circles out of it. From there, we designed and decorated AWESOME gingerbread men and women: jumping, running, sitting Indian style (today it would be criss-cross applesauce, but it was the 80s, ok?) Soft and mouth-watering. I’m reviving this tradition this year! {recipe below}

3. Drive around and enjoy Christmas lights with hot cocoa….of course. We tried to do this last year for the first time as a family of 4, but the littles fell asleep before we got to I30. So, the mister and I had a lovely, cheap, and relaxing date night. We’ve been going to Interlochen in Arlington since our boyfriend/girlfriend days.

4. Make a Christmas chain. Red and Green construction paper cut into strips and made into a chain. Like this. Easy peasy.

5. Last minute early morning Christmas Eve shopping. In the mid 90s, my family, quite by accident and after getting snowed in, ended up doing all of our gift shopping on Christmas Eve. Finding there were no crowds to brave and great last minutes deals to be had, we made this our family tradition for the next 10 years.

6. PJs on Christmas Eve with a movie and hot cocoa. Let the kiddos open one present (I prefer new pajamas) on Christmas Eve and snuggle up for one more pre-game Christmas movie with the whole family, hot cocoa, popcorn, and other various yummies make for a perfect evening.

I love the simple pleasures of the Holidays!

What are your inexpensive holiday traditions?

Gingerbread Cookies

Cream together:
1 Cup of shortening
1 Cup of sugar

Sift together and add to above mixture:
5 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 1/2 tsp of salt
2 tsp of ginger
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 tsp cloves<

Stir in:
1 egg (beaten)
1 Cup of Molasses
2 tsp of vinegar

Form into balls slightly smaller than golf balls. Each gingerbread person consists of three balls. Smush the first ball into a head. Roll the other two into snakes to form the arms and legs. Have fun and be creative. Bake for 8 minutes at 350. Remove from the oven when the edges are slightly browner than the bodies. They will cook a little more on the cookie pan. Decorate with icing when cool!