Tips For A Fun Christmas Holiday

By Chiomah Momah

Christmas is here and many a times, we get caught up with all the buying and other activities that we forget to actually have some good old family time! Here are some tips to make sure you and the children have fun and relax as it truly is the season to be jolly.

 

Christmas Songs

Everyone loves Christmas songs, they are cheery, fun and some of them remind us of the reason why we celebrate Christmas. Children especially love singing along and getting a good dose of Christmas cheer. Some classics that every family must have are Boney M’s Christmas album and the popular Disney Christmas. There are fun songs like “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,” “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and Classic hymns such as “Away in Manager,” “Noel,” and so on, that the whole family will enjoy listening to and singing along.

Watch and read Christmas classics

Christmas stories never grow old and are enjoyed from generation to generation. Get a copy of the book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and teach your children the joy of sharing. You could also get movies like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

Make Decorations

This is a fun and easy way to relax with the children. All you need are old gift wrappers, foil paper, coloured paper and scissors. You can teach them how to make spiral shapes and all sorts of cool designs that they can hang up all over the house.

Decorating the Christmas tree

How, you may ask, does such a simple task bring so much joy? Children just love decorating the Christmas tree. You can make it a family tradition where everyone joins in. Year after year, every child should have the privilege of putting the star on top.

A visit to the Motherless Babies Home

This is a great way to put a smile on the faces of the less privileged. You can get your children to pick out clothes they have outgrown and take them some gifts. It’s a fun way to spend a day and your children will also get to realise that although they may not have gotten that expensive gift for Christmas, they are truly blessed to have loving parents and a home to call their own.

Kitchen Fun!

You don’t require the best culinary skills to make muffins or brownies with your children. You could also try chin-chin and have the children make some fun shapes. Always lots of fun!

Visit Santa

Though most of our Santa’s may look nothing like the real deal, but visit anyway! The children will love receiving gifts and enjoy taking pictures at the grotto.

In-house Christmas Concert

You could invite a few friends or relatives over and have your children present the story of the nativity along with a few songs. Alternatively, if you live in a small estate or housing development, you could get all the children together and they can organize a Christmas show for the neighbours.

The night before Christmas, make sure you put all the gifts under the tree. At the break of dawn, your little ones will be up to go and open their gifts. Make sure you have your camera handy to capture the joy on their faces.

Motherhood In-Style asked few mums what plans they have for the yuletide already:

Nwamaka, mum of four

We’ll spend the yuletide in Abuja. To make it fun for the children, we have planned an event in our home tagged “The Twelve Days of Christmas” starting on the 14th of December. We’ll have various activities lined up, bearing in mind my goals for “low stress” and “celebrating love.” We’ll also be paying a visit to the orphanage where my kids will donate some of their used items, cooking our favourite meals and desserts and eating as a family, singing carols and re-telling the Christmas story. My annual favourite is our ornament-craft evening when we add our specials to the Christmas tree. Looking forward to a blessed Christmas already!

Tinuola, mum of two

The only way we get to relax is by going on holiday. This Christmas we are planning a trip to Dubai. You may ask why Dubai, well, apart from the fact that one can obtain a visa at short notice, it also won’t be too cold there and our travel agent is good at making arrangements for daily outings with the children. We are really looking forward to a lovely holiday!

Nneka, mum of three

For our family, our relaxation around festive times always revolves round going to a nice restaurant for lunch and then ending up in a quiet park. We spend as much time together as we can and generally take things easy.

Emmanuella, mum of three

We always look forward to Christmas as it’s a time to spend with family and friends whom we hardly see. Our usual tradition is to travel to Lagos where most of our family reside. It’s always a fun time for the children as they get to spend quality time with cousins and family friends. With so many family members to look after the children, we actually get some good time to relax.

Talatu, mum of one with another on the way

With a baby on the way, that’s all that’s on my mind. I will probably just spend most of my time resting at home with my husband and daughter. We usually have lots of guests during festive periods so I am sure I will end up doing a lot of entertaining in our home which is also something I enjoy immensely.

Ufuoma, mum of three

I hardly get to rest during holidays as I am usually at work. However, I will make sure on my off days I spend quality time with my husband and children, reminiscing on the events of the year and generally being thankful. I usually avoid fun spots during festive periods as they get rather crowded, so I’ll look for fun activities to keep us occupied through out the holidays. Fun stuffs like baking together, singing Christmas carols. I’m also toying with idea of getting the children to present an in house concert. Our best part is usually waking up on Christmas morning to open all our gifts.

Wow! These mums sure do have great ideas. Here’s hoping they are actually able to implement them.

Whatever you decide to do this festive season, do make sure you have yourselves a very merry Christmas!