I don’t know if you’d call it a Christmas tradition really but every November I spend the third weekend preparing for Christmas – that’s this weekend for 2011.

I don’t do other things that weekend and get the kids out of the house as much as possible (my parents take them on the Saturday every year) so I can concentrate on my to do list:

1. sort all the loose socks – pairs get put away and most others go in the rag bag or a charity bag
2. empty the kitchen pantry and put things back neat, noting what things will be used in the next week or so to clear more space. Anything not likely to be used gets put into a charity bag (often there’s a box at school around now to collect them)
3. empty the fridge and freezer. Again, things go back in neatly after I review what’s there and plan the next week’s menu accordingly
4. tidy the cupboards and shelves in the lounge room – putting people’s stuff back in their room and other things into the rubbish or charity bags. What’s left is put in neatly
5. I sort my kids’ books then toys, too. Pulling aside things they’ve grown out of (usually that means moving on to the next child) and removing broken things (to repair where feasible, throw out otherwise)
6. If I have any time left (which I never have!), my plan is to sort through clothes drawers to remove anything to small or too worn.

This really is about Christmas, not just a spring cleaning, as it gives me space for Christmas things (stocking on food stuffs for Christmas events and places for new gifts to be stored after Christmas) and also gives me some mental space and energy to cope with December and the whirlwind it always becomes in our house. Of course, it also makes tidying the house easier during December when we have more visitors so that helps, too.

I don’t do normal housework for the weekend and only give the emptied cupboards and fridge a cursory clean as I go – I focus on the stuff rather than cleaning and find I can get through a lot.

I’m not a clean freak (at no other time of the year do I do housework stuff for more than an hour at a time!) but I find this really sets us up nicely for Christmas so thought I’d share the idea for others to use. And now I am psyched up, my glass of wine is finished so I’m off to find all loose socks in the house now…

In the past, my kids have had those commercial cardboard advent calendars with cheap and nasty chocolate inside. I’ve always wanted to do something better but it gets to 1 December and I haven’t set anything up so back we go to the easy but meaningless commercial stuff.

There’s still a good chance I won’t do better this year but at least I’m thinking about it ahead of usual…

I know you can put chocolates in envelopes (one for each day) or stick little bags on a page instead, but I want a little more exciting than that. I’ve heard of good ideas in the past but nothing is coming back when I need it to. SO what advent calendar ideas do you have? Which ones have worked well?

From Christmas cards to movies to wrapping paper, we see images of Christmas that have snow-covered trees, snowmen, Santa in a sleigh, reindeer, open fires and icicles.

Occasionally, and increasingly so, we see images of a warmer Christmas although most are cartoon-like – have you ever seen a Christmas card showing a tree in sunshine or with summer-clothed people around it?

Let’s face it – the entire Southern Hemisphere is in summer for Christmas – it’s not just Australia and New Zealand having warm Decembers – so why should our imagery be limited to half the world’s experience of Christmas?

Do you look for more relevant images when choosing Christmas cards and wrappings? Maybe the lack of snow in Love Santa letters is important to you?

What do you use as backgrounds in Christmas photos or scrapbooking pages?

When I was 6 or 7, my mum and me took a whole day making paper chains. mum cut strips from magazines and stuff then we stuck them together looped through each other to make our chains.

It really was all day we did it so we had a huge pile of chains at the end When we hanged it up it went all around our lounge room two times and dangled down beside the door on both side too.

loved that day with my mum, loved seeing those chains hanging up for weeks. So that’s my favourite Christmas memory and my idea of what people can do with kids for fun in December.

Last week we raised the question of what does Christmas mean to you and the idea that we each have values associated with Christmas.

Those values are what can make us have a miserable Christmas if they are not met – many of us feel that Christmas is a terrible time to be alone because we value family and relationships at Christmas time and others couldn’t imagine Christmas without going to Church on Christmas Eve/Day.

Like any other values, we develop our values around Christmas from our own experiences so our values can be different even from the people we love most – couples often have different traditions and expectations about Christmas.

And like many other values, we often don’t consciously think about what our Christmas values are.

So here are some ideas for finding your own Christmas values and ideals:

1. sit somewhere quietly, close your eyes and dream of a perfect Christmas. Then note down the important features of that day
2. spend some time looking at old photos and remembering the great bits of Christmas past
3. deliberately spend some time with those old photos and memories thinking about the not-so-great Christmases (or parts of Christmas) – what are the common features of those less-happy memories?
4. think about your usual values and how they fit with different aspects of Christmas. For example, if you are a minimalist or charitable person, maybe the excess of food and gift giving makes you uncomfortable or as a non-religious person you don;t like going to Church for Christmas with your family.
5. over the last few Christmases, what worried or stressed you the most? What things made you feel better and calm?
6. answer this question thoughtfully – if you could only do 4 things to celebrate Christmas this year, what would they be?

We’ve all heard that too many Aussie kids are becoming sedentary and over weight, even obese.

While Christmas is a time for fun and pleasure, it can also be used to encourage new values and lifestyles, such as helping kids be more active.

The choice of active-inspiring gifts will depend on the child’s age and current activity levels, but here are some gift suggestions that encourage doing rather than sitting.

• wheeled transport – a bike, scooter, inline skates or skateboard are all popular and require kids to move and be in the fresh air
• put a swing up in your yard or on the veranda
• a skipping rope and set of elastics
• toy or inflatable bowling pins and ball
• a ball or bat and ball set
• swimming pool toys
• outdoor accessories (hat, sunscreen, water bottle) – good filler type gifts that can be effective if you choose well (e.g. a Toy Story hat and Cars branded sunscreen will be proudly used by my 3-year-old)
• sand pit toys – if you don’t have a sand pit (which is itself a gift idea!) that’s a good excuse to head to a beach or park
• gardening tools – toy ones or scaled real ones so they can help you
• a bucket of chalk they can use outside on the concrete – and run chalk chases if they’re old enough
• equipment for a kitchen – set it up in a cubby or a corner of the verandah. Their imaginations will get them moving more than you may think
• a family pass to the zoo, local pool, a water park or even an indoor playground
• a voucher for some classes – gymnastics, dance, circus, tennis, cricket, yoga, skating. etc
• materials to build something like a billy cart, cubby, garden box or wagon
• play dough, clay or other material that needs manipulation
•  electronic games that go with a Wii board or XBox Kinetics (think Wii Fit, sports and dancing games)
• a kite
• things  for blowing bubbles

Put aside the outside definitions of Christmas (including what close family and friends would say) and consider what Christmas means to you personally.

What is important to you, what are the values of Christmas and the holiday season?

Is it about the birth of Christ, being with family, having a special meal with loved ones, giving thoughtful gifts, giving service to others, being social and seeing many people, or is it a break from the everyday?

Knowing what Christmas means to you and what you want from Christmas can be liberating – it can mean:

1. making sure you get that important thing so Christmas is not a disappointment for the next 12 months
2. being able to ignore some of the other pressures and expectations to concentrate on what you really want to
3. a clear idea when discussing plans with family – if everyone has a clearer view, discussions are simpler and compromises easier
4. set some real priorities

I have 3 kids, all at school and various clubs and groups, so there are a few special people I’d like the kids to thank at Christmas time. I know that most of these people are paid but it is for the extra effort and care beyond their job that I appreciate – and its good for the kids to say thanks even if the teachers are paid to be there.

But I just can’t afford much so spread across 13 or 14 adults, it leaves very little. Does anyone have suggestions of nice gifts they’ll appreciate (beyond the thought!) that are inexpensive?

And I feel I should spend more on my daughter’s Joey Scout leaders because they actually are not paid for what they do. Nothing I do could pay for a fraction of their time but they deserve something special. Is it right to spend very little on the other to spend more on the wonderful volunteers?

When choosing gifts for your children, do you put a lot of intellectual thought into it, or just grab an easier option (like what the kids are nagging for!)?

In an ideal world, I think we should have a purpose in mind for the gifts we give our children.

For example, we may decide it is important to encourage activity rather than sedentary lifestyle so we chose (predominantly at least) gifts to suit that lifestyle value. Or maybe healthy eating is important to you so you give dried fruit instead of lollies and healthy cook books rather than chocolate ones!

Instead of overall values, maybe the purpose of for gifts would suit each child and help with things they need to develop (maybe Scrabble for someone struggling with reading, jigsaws for those not skilled in problem solving or Pictionary or Cazoo for kids who need more communication skills).

As much fun and pleasure as kids derive from opening the gifts at Christmas, surely we should keep the big picture in mind and choose gifts that lead the child in directions we like?

Mind you, I am not saying give kids presents they’ll hate – let them enjoy Christmas and we want them to use the purposeful gifts. Just find a compromise – don’t give an inactive kid a bike but perhaps give an electronic game that involves moving or a scooter for getting to and from school.

What do you think? Is it better to choose gifts with a purpose, that support your goals and aims as parents (grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc)?

If not completely about purpose, what proportion of their gifts would you like to have a purpose?

I hope it’s ok that I have a whinge here! But it really annoys me that so much of the ‘first Christmas’ stuff is only in pink and blue.

For one thing, I am still pregnant so don’t know if I’m having a boy or girl (I’m due on 20 December so buying in advance is pretty necessary!). But I don’t want lots of pink or blue according to gender anyway.

I see no reason to distinguish between genders with colours at the best of times, but at Christmas I would much prefer red or green to stick with Christmas – or maybe purple as that is a trendy Christmas theme colour.

Is it just me or can we tell shops to get rid of gender-based Christmas gimmicks and concentrate on Christmas as the only necessary theme?

Santa has visited Australia, said good-bye to the Boomers and headed off with the reindeer, so it’s time for us to say…

MERRY CHRISTMAS AUSTRALIA!!!!!!

Have a fantastic day full of love and laughter,

Tash and all of Santa’s Elves

I just came across this thought in a magazine (Your Child in Banyule & Nillumbik to be precise) and loved it:

one of the most glorious messes in the world is the mess created in the lounge room on Christmas Day. Don’t clean it up too quickly.

I love that mess (especially compared to the mess my kids usually make…) all the wrapping paper and packaging strewn across the floor, new clothes, books and toys scattered around, topped off with tinsel and decorations around the room. It evokes happy feelings of sharing and giving, and its bright and colourful. Love it!

I never clean it up before we go out for Christmas lunch, and generally leave it for Boxing Day (isn’t that the point of Boxing Day anyway??) Does that make me unusual?