To make this Christmas extra special here is a list for things you can do on your own, with family and with special people in your life. There’s items on the list for everyone, so hopefully no one has been left out, try to do as many of these as you can, think of it as your Christmas Day checklist. Merry Christmas everyone.
#1 Set A Christmas Budget and Stick To It
This piece of advice is worth its weight in gold, regardless of how obvious it appears to be. The amount of people who go over their budget at Christmas is astonishing; it appears we are a society full of impulse buyers, which can lead to disaster if you are not careful. Think about your routine that you stick to the rest of the year, you pay your rent, your bills, your taxes (hopefully) but then you have what is left over for luxuries, this is your budget for the rest of the month (or week) and in order to keep having these luxuries you must keep to your budget or else you will have to go without for a period of time. It’s exactly the same at Christmas only you have more things to buy for other people (obviously). If you haven’t saved up in advance for Christmas spending don’t panic, just sort out a reasonable budget. Make a list of all the people you NEED to buy presents for and a list of those you would LIKE to buy presents for then buy or make accordingly you don’t need to spend hundreds per person, most people will be happy with something very small. Just remember the famous old phrase “It’s the thought that counts”.
#2 Give Unwanted Toys To children at Witbank Provincial Hospital kids ward
Christmas is a time for giving, and if you find yourself overrun with old Christmas toys from years ago then maybe you are thinking of throwing some of them out; but wait, before you do that, consider the children who are unable to celebrate Christmas because they are in the hospital! Instead of throwing out all of those toys that probably cost a lot of money some time ago, you could make a child’s day by taking them all to the local children’s ward at Witbank Provincial hospital and let them have toys instead. You’d be surprised at how little can mean so much to a child especially one who has to spend their Christmas day in hospital. So if you are feeling genuinely generous and you want to give to others in this festive holiday then why not pack all those toys up and donate them today. The staff will thank you for it and the children will be thrilled. If you were to do just one item on this list before Christmas I think this should be it.
#3 Put Christmas Lights On The Outside Of Your House
Every year it seems there are more and more people in the local neighbourhood who are competing for the “most lights on a house ever competition” of course this is a completely fictional competition although for some reason the Christmas lights do get bigger although not better in some cases. If you want to put some lights on your house then please do so, it really does help carry the festive mood, just make sure you don’t overdo it too much. Nowadays there are hundreds of places that you can buy lighting from, your local DIY store, supermarkets, even the thrush and pound stores are selling them now and they can be very cheap. Just make sure that you use a ladder and get someone to help you when you are attaching them to your roofs; it’s very cold and slippery this time of year so make sure you wrap up warm and stay safe.
#4 Get In The Christmas Spirit By Watching ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’
In fact any old or indeed new Christmas film is fine really but this is one that really stands out to me, I remember watching this film every year with my family, I’m sure many of you have other movies that you watch every Christmas with your family but instead of waiting for the TV companies to start showing them on Christmas Day itself, why not go out and buy that favourite festive movie of yours so you can watch it any time you like! There a lots of choices too, some a lot more dated and some with great CGI for the kids, this is great because it means everyone can enjoy watching a Christmas movie. Think about the family time it will create too, it’s an excuse to get everyone to sit down together and enjoy something as a whole family. Whatever your traditional movie of this season is, and whenever you watch it, I hope you have a great time.
#5 Take Your Kids To See Santa
Remember when you were a child and you were taken to see Father Christmas? Remember how it felt? The excitement, then panic of thinking about which toy to ask for and the fear of wondering whether or not you had been ‘good’ enough throughout the year? Well if you’re now all grown up with your own children it means you can become a little nostalgic by taking your own kids to see Santa Claus. It’s brilliant watching the faces of your little ones whilst there waiting in line to see Santa, and it’s one of the only queues you can stand in where the children will actually behave (sometimes). Not only is this a great thing to do for your children it also helps to reinforce the whole ‘Santa Claus is real’ debacle which keeps their imagination running wild. It’s important for children to be able to have a childhood and by taking them to see Santa you are actually feeding their imagination. Christmas really is a time for the children so why not take them down Highveld Mall at the Edgars court from Friday, December 5 until Wednesday, December 24 to meet the man himself.
#6 Cook An Entire Christmas Dinner From Scratch (By Yourself)
Okay so every Sunday for around 16 years or more your dear old Mother slaved over hot stoves and cooking utensils in a bid to make the perfect roast dinner right? Well now it’s time to return the favour and the least you can do is cook her (and the rest of the family of course) a lovely Christmas dinner. The only problem with this is that if it is your first time you have no idea of what to do, get it wrong and your roast potatoes could be ready before the turkey is even thawed out, so you need to take a little time to get acquainted with the rules of cooking a Christmas dinner. Okay so it isn’t rocket science but the chances are that you will want to get it right first time so you can be thanked instead of receiving phone calls the next day about why your turkey gave your entire family food poisoning – not a good idea. Help is at hand though, because if you think back a little, back to the days of school, you should remember these little rectangle objects called books! Amazingly some of them actually have writing within them, some even on the topic of cooking and recipes! Joking aside, if you are nervous, worried, or sheer terrified that you have picked the short straw this Christmas, then click here. It may actually save your life (and those who are going to eat it with you).
#7 Buy A Present To Give To A Children’s Charity
This is becoming a lot more widely accepted everywhere nowadays, there was a time when this would have been unheard of, but you can literally walk into any supermarket and the chances are they have a trolley, box or basket waiting for you to buy something and add to it. I think this is a great idea, and would be even better if most of these charitable trolley’s and boxes were visible at the front of the store. That being said you don’t have to rely on the supermarkets to help you out, if you are really interested in doing something for a childrens charity you could start up your very own Christmas fundraiser around your local area, or maybe just go out buy a couple of things and then head over to your local children’s charity and offer them your gifts. This is the season for giving and I honestly cannot think of any persons that deserve a few nice presents this time of year more than the children these charities represent. So get your woolly hats on, grab your gloves and scarf and do something great today.
#8 Give Your Unwanted Clothes To A Homeless Shelter
We’ve all got old clothes from time to time right? Either we have just decided we no longer like them, or maybe you have lost a lot of weight (or put some on) the point is that these unwanted clothes often get put straight into the bin, which is a big no no really. Just think of those that are less fortunate than you are, and believe me there are people less fortunate than you, regardless of how bad you may think things are at the moment. I like to bag up a load of clothes around a week before Christmas, making sure that they are all clean and in good enough condition; I know you are giving them away but there is no point in giving away something that is unwearable right? I love doing this every year because it really does give me a sense that I have done something good, and I have, those people in the shelter would have had to stay in the clothes they have been wearing for weeks or months on end, and with this time of year being so cold over here I think it’s important to help as much as you can. Trust me do this and you will not only feel great about yourself, you will be really helping people and that’s what Christmas is supposed to be about isn’t it!
#9 Bake Some Christmas Themed Cookies For The Kids
Christmas cookies is now a tradition and its another great way to get the kids off the couch and into the kitchen so you can have some quality family time. I think that throughout the year a lot of us forget about Christmas and what it stands for, religious thoughts aside I think it is important that we get the quality time we need with our families, maybe that means sitting around a table for dinner instead of in front of the television, or maybe it means baking Christmas cookies with your children or partner? I think this really is something that more people should be doing, its fun, its messy, you can make the cookies into any shapes and sizes you want.
#10 Don’t Forget To Put Up Your Christmas Stockings
Okay so it may not be the most important item on this list but if you are already putting up your decorations you might as well get your stockings ready too. Christmas stockings are great for the kids because it allows you to buy some smaller items for them, which is great for when you are really on a tight budget. The tradition of Christmas stockings dates back to the day’s of Saint Nicholas and have stayed with us ever since, its also just a nice touch to finish off all of your lovely decorations that you have added to your home. If you haven’t already got a couple of Christmas stockings then make sure you go out and buy a couple or better yet be creative and make your own that way you can get everyone involved, and you can all have your very own personalised ones, that way you will know whose is whose come the day of opening all of those presents!
#11 Do Your Christmas Grocery Shopping In Advance
This is some what of a no-brainer but I’ve known people to forget in the past and they are then frantically running around the nearest supermarket like they are on a free-for-all supermarket trolley dash! The beauty of getting everything as early as possible is that you do not have to worry about rushing about last minute as well as being able to avoid the manic queues both inside the stores and outside with the traffic. Christmas shopping may be a fairly mundane task to do but it is pretty much a mandatory thing to do as well as the fact that it is inevitable that you will need at least something from your nearest store. If you want my advice, go as early as possible, if you have a 24 hour store near you go at the dead of night, just try to avoid the huge queues, you can thank me later!
#12 Avoid Christmas Day Arguments
It happens to the best of us, we’re enjoying a lovely Christmas dinner, everything is perfect until someone brings up a dreaded conversation and BANG! All hell breaks loose, there’s turkey flying left and right, gravy is plastered all over the walls and the in-laws are at each others throats! Okay not quite but you get the idea, Christmas always brings a couple of arguments as well as the celebrations, but it can be avoided. One of the main topics for arguments at Christmas is that of the Christmas dinner, someone mentions dry turkey and that is it, game over; so your best bet is to keep your head down and your mouth chewing, if it is a little dry then just drink some more mulled wine, that way if an argument does sprout up hopefully you’ll be too blissfully unaware of what is actually happening. Another key tip I will give you albeit a little too late; listen to your partner, they have been giving you clues about what they want for Christmas for the past 2 months and if you haven’t taken the hints then come the opening of those presents you could be in for a nasty surprise. On top of all this, one rule trumps them all; the ladies are always right, it doesn’t matter how wrong they are, they are absolutely positively correct at that moment in time, and you’d better remember that too!
#13 Turn Off The Television And Spend Time Together
I remember reading a year ago (or more) that the number one reason why Christmas Day arguments occur is because of the television, whether it is because of who has control of the remote control (and thus chooses what everyone watches) or because there is an argument about what is actually being watched. The best way to avoid all of this messing about is to keep the television switched off throughout the day (or at least most of it). When you think about it you really don’t need the television on at all, put on the Christmas CD that you bought a couple of day’s ago and let the songs fill the room with the background noise you need. If you have children you will already have plenty of toys and games to use as a family so you should be more than occupied throughout the day. Then comes the Christmas dinner, which will be at the table meaning no television then either. By all means go the other way and watch it to your hearts content, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!
