Christmas is celebrated differently between families; each family having different rituals and traditions that are passed down over the years.

Some people open presents on Christmas Eve, some on Christmas Day and others after Christmas.

And others dance around their tree and sing songs as part of their celebrations.

My family doesn’t even have a tree at Christmas, we decorate the fireplace and chimney!

Though it is for the same thing, each family celebrates this day (well month really) in slightly different ways.

I’m curious as to what other people do - are we the only ones without a tree?

Love Santa personalised letters are a wonderful way to brighten someone’s Christmas. And you could win a Love Santa letter just by contributing a story or tradition to this very blog.

This fantastic way to brighten a day is drawn every month, and has great meaning now it’s only 12 weeks until Santa himself is climbing down your chimney.

So simply click here to find out how to Share Your Story and go in the running to win a personalised Santa Letter

Christmas is a time of celebrations, family and fun. It’s easy in these times to forget about water and energy conservation, but conserving our resources is a year round activity.

Some easy ways to save energy of the summer holiday period are:

- Use curtains to keep out the sun and a fan to move the air rather than turning on an air conditioner or evaporative cooler
- Serve directly onto plates instead of serving platters so there are fewer dishes to wash
- Have a container ready for plates to be scraped into rather than rinsing them
- Consider dry flower or fruit arrangements instead of filling large vases with water for fresh flowers
- Use wine glass charms or another method to distinguish glasses so people can use the same one instead of washing glasses all day

And it doesn’t have to stop there! You can use alternative wrappings for presents instead of using so much paper, perhaps a nice tea towel, table cloth, hanky or scarf. You could even give some water saving gifts such as a tap timer or an efficient shower head. We have a few more ideas listed in our article on saving water at Christmas, too.

Christmas is only 12 weeks away, so now is the time to sit down and plan out your Christmas and make it practical and environment friendly.

Writing letters to Santa is one of the main entertainments for children at Christmas. With over 120,000 letters sent to Santa last year through the Australian post it’s now time to start thinking what to write in this years letter to Santa.

Sometimes kids write amazing things in their Santa letters. Instead of asking for a toy or a play thing they sometimes ask for things from Santa that are more heart felt and meaningful. And sometimes they write something very funny and amusing.

Do you remember anything you asked Santa for in a letter? What about anything amusing or special your children asked Santa for?

Has anybody in your family ever kept copies of Santa letters as a memento?