How To Make The Season Special

I’m a big fan of lists. Maybe that’s why I love Pinterest so much. It is literally just a gigantic list of ideas. I’m also a big fan of Christmas and the feeling it gives me to see the kids snuggled up with hot chocolate next to the Christmas tree. So for this post, I wanted to bring you a list of the ways we make the holiday season special. Some things are specific to Chattanooga, TN, but many can be done anywhere and I’m the poster child for lazy momming so, these are super easy.

1. Decorate. This sounds silly, but I skipped this one year and I’m sure I scarred my daughter. She still doesn’t let me live it down.
2. Cozy up the house. Pull out the extra stuff and throw it around the house.
3. Play Christmas music while doing everyday things around the house. We like to play it on our Google Homes after the morning alarms go off and during breakfast. Sometimes even while cooking dinner.
4. Crafts! We actually love this as much as the kids. We have paint out and constantly hop on Pinterest for quick and easy crafts the kids can do (and we can join in on). We have done door hangers, canvas paintings, ornaments, and popcorn garland.
5. Baking. I read somewhere that smell is very closely linked to memories and I want to ingrain the goodness in the kids’ brains. Also, remember when I said I was a lazy mom? I definitely just pick up the pre-cut dough, but my kids don’t know the difference and when dipped in milk, I can even fool myself.
6. Involve the kids in the gifting. Of course only if your kids are beyond Santa. I’ll never forget the first time I had one of the teen girls pick out a gift for the seven-year-old and then it ended up being the favorite on Christmas morning. She was so proud of herself.
7. Walk the city on Christmas. If the weather is nice enough, we like getting out and about on Christmas day. Sometimes we even bring hot chocolate with us.
8. Plan a daycation. Being in Chattanooga, there are so many places to head to for lights and Christmas magic: Rock City, Ruby Falls, Atlanta Botanical Gardens, Nashville, Knoxville, etc.                                                     
9. Hop in the limo. We did this last year when things were still pretty closed up for Covid. We snagged a limo and lights package. We dressed in our pajamas and the limo picked us up from our door. We drove all over Chattanooga checking out the lights. Our driver knew all the good places and we even got hot chocolate and a cookie!
10. Coordinate a small gift exchange with a group of friends or coworkers. I love this game called My Favorite Things where you actually gift your own favorite things and share them with the person you are gifting. This can be your favorite book, a gift card to your favorite coffee shop, your favorite nail polish, or a sweater.
11. Gift the Christmas pajamas well before Christmas. I never understood getting the Christmas pajamas the night before Christmas — the kids don’t get to enjoy the anticipation of Christmas in them. I want memories of them eyeing the boxes under the tree in their buttflap pjs days before Christmas.                       
12. Fill the house with people. I loved the way my Grandma’s house felt when we had the whole family together. Life circumstances have led us to a place where we don’t have family locally and we don’t often travel for big holidays, so we like to make sure we have friends over for dinners and such so our kids get that same sense of the holidays. 
13. Get the shopping done early. I start working on my lists in October, so all I need to work on are stockings as the days close in. This also helps me not panic and stress all of December.

I would love to know what things you do to make the holidays special in your home. The list is honestly endless and I hope you guys leave me some great ideas in the comments to update the list with in 2022.