Christmas Tree
Activities
Decorating the Christmas tree is an
event that most members of any family look forward to. It not
only is a time to reflect and remember where the various
ornaments came from or who made them, it is also an exciting
time that really brings Christmas right into the home.
There are a variety of activities you can incorporate into bring
the Christmas tree into your home. Some families enjoy singing
"Oh Christmas Tree" as the tree is brought into the home. Make a
fun activity of this whereby everyone has to come up with an
original verse to the song (since few know the actual words).
This can keep everyone entertained while someone else works to
get the tree standing up straight.
Once the tree is in a stand and ready to be decorated, make a
game out of the ornaments. Put all the homemade ornaments aside
and work with those first. Start with the first family member
and ask them who made the ornament, where did it come from? Once
the details are out of the way, ask the crafter (likely a child)
if they remember making the ornament. If you're the parent, tell
the child what you thought when you first saw the ornament. This
is fun, since it reminds children that the things they make and
bring home are meaningful to the parents.
There is always one ornament that is just ugly, or plain silly.
Play "hot potato" with that ornament. Whoever gets stuck with
the ugly ornament has to say one nice thing about it, such as
"well, there's a lot of glitter on it and that's pretty", or "Dougie
made it, so I like it". It's a silly way to remind children to
find good in everything. It might even remind them that things
are just things. This is a good lesson for this time of year.
Some people use an advent calendar to count down the days until
Christmas, and this is how it's traditionally done, but there is
one fun activity sure to be a hit with children. Similar to the
concept in Germany (where the advent calendar originated) this
involves providing one small gift for children every day until
Christmas. In Germany, it's only done for several days before
Christmas, but you can do it for the 24 days of the month until
Christmas arrives.
Buy tiny handled gift bags at the craft store. Buy 1 for each of
your children. Have the children decorate the bags, and on each
of the 24 bags, have them place a number as well, 1 through 24.
As you decorate the tree, find space for each of these little
bags. Because they have handles, they can hang right on the tree
like an ornament, or you can tie ribbon on the handles so they
have a more graceful swing. Each night, fill the right bag with
a tiny prize or gift. So if it's the night of December 14,
you'll take bag #15 (all the bags with earlier numbers will be
gone) and put some little trinket in it. It might be a piece of
candy, a tiny ornament for your child's own tree, a tiny car or
small eraser. The idea here is that it's a small gift, but come
morning, that's the first activity your children will engage in
- discovering what little treat you left for them the night
before.