Fun New Christmas Activities that will help bond your family and friends and start new Christmas Traditions

by Jaci Rae

Start a family decorating tree for animals in the woods. The week before Christmas or whenever you have a Christmas party, gather your family and friends together to gather treats that are good for animals (apple slices, birdsead, popcorn and cranberry garlands orange slices, nuts, etc.)

Then go to a wooded area in your area and have everyone hang up the goodies for the animals.

Afterwards have your Christmas party and go caroling.

Go to your local Post Office or call up your favorite charity and find out if they have gift stockings that you and your family can pick out. You can also look for Angel Trees at local shopping malls. These places will usually have little paper stockings that have a child and their wishes and needs listed in them.

You and your family can then go shopping to fulfill their Christmas dreams. As a family, you can explain how other children and families may not be as lucky as you and it will give your children and other family and friends a chance to get into the real spirit of Christmas, gifts from the heart.

Make a Christmas Chain. The day after Thanksgiving, gather family and/or friends together to build a paper chain. Each person makes a link, there needs to be 24 links for each chain. Color and decorate them according to each persons desire. Each person should make links that equal 24 links.

When everyone has finished, put the links in a big pile and gently mix it up. Then grab a link and start to make a chain of 24 links. Once that is done, everyone should get one chain. If your family has four people, then you would take four chains.

Then, starting on December 1st the link chain goes up. Each time someone does a good deed (cleans their room without asking, does the dishes, helps to serve food to a homeless shelter, etc.), a link is given to them. The person who has the most links on December 24th wins the game.

You can decide on what that person will get. A few good ideas are that they get to open one present, or an extra present on that day. They don't have to do their chore for one day or a special dinner, things like that. This helps the family have fun and helps bind them together as well as instills the values that we need to hold dear, that of helping others.