It’s Christmas Time!

October 31, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Christmas Time 

Welcome to the Cool Christmas Blog and the 2011 Christmas season! I can’t believe it’s here already!

I’m pretty excited this year because we have a lot planned for our Christmas blog.

I’ve changed the look of the blog and to be honest I’m still playing around with different templates.  We’ll see which one wins.

I have a special series of articles this year about having a less expensive Christmas.  It’s called Christmas on the Cheap.  Some of us are watching our spending, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a wonderful Christmas.  Check the articles out for some great holiday ideas.

We have put up a separate site for the top Christmas Toys of 2011.  I am also building a review site for one of the top gifts this year, eReaders.  You can read about the Kindle Fire, Nook Color, and others there.

Last year I was thinking of getting a Kindle, but held off.  This year I’m thinking again since I’ve seen quite a few.  They are cool.

For me, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without some kind of trip to the Northeast.  For many years I would go north and stay with my Dad at his house.  He’s had that house for 57 years.  Amazingly, he sold it last winter when the housing market was terrible, and the house itself was covered in snow.  Now my Dad, the 91 year old man, lives with one of my sisters in the same town.  Even though the old house won’t be there, the people  still are.  Friends and family are what make Christmas special.

This year we are planning another visit to New York City.   It’s always fun to see all the decorated store windows.  On top of that we are heading to the largest holiday show in the country, the Pennsylvania Christmas Show!  I’m looking forward to that one.

Since I will be in Pennsylvania I’m also planning on visiting the National Christmas Center.  The Travel Channel call this “one of the most Christmasy places in America.”  I can’t wait.

Don’t worry.  I’ll take plenty of pictures and movies and share them all with you.

Finally, our trip wouldn’t be complete without some model train action.  My Dad and I are planning to visit the NJ HiRailer’s O gauge Christmas show.  This will be something new for us.

As you can probably guess, I want to make Christmas special this year.  I very much enjoy the usual Christmas traditions with friends and family, but I also look for something new.  I like going to new places, meeting different kinds of people, and seeing how they all celebrate Christmas.

For me, Christmas is a time to be grateful.  Grateful for everything life has brought me. Grateful for the lessons I’ve learned, the people I’ve met, the challenges I’ve endured, and the happiness I’ve known. With that in mind I hope you enjoy the Cool Christmas Blog.  I wish all of you a very, merry, Christmas!

How To Spend Less and Give More This Christmas

December 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Christmas on the Cheap 

There is nothing wrong with a Fruit-of-the-month club but there are better ways to enjoy Christmas for less. In fact, many will get more satisfaction out of buying that special toy for the Toys for Tots campaign at the office than they ever do from the office secret Santa. Cool Christmas Blog offers a few suggestions on how to return Christmas to a season of simple giving and simple pleasures.

1. Serve Up Dinner

This is the most obvious choice and, probably the first one that comes to most people’s minds when thinking about how to give of themselves over the holiday season. Plan to take time to volunteer as a family at a shelter. Whether you help to prep the meal the day before or head over on Christmas Day, the shelter team and dinner guests greatly appreciate your time. Unfortunately, for many it may be their only hot meal. The experience will make your family be thankful for their dinner even more and it didn’t cost you a dime.

2. Use a Wish List

Many people do not realize that charities have a “Wish List”. This is perfect for those who want to do Christmas on the cheap but still love to shop. Instead of spending money on extravagant gifts for loved ones, ask your favorite animal shelter or children’s hospital what they want. Set a spending limit and hit the mall. In fact, sometimes actual presents mean more this time of year than cash donations. What lonely dog doesn’t deserve a new tennis ball or chew toy on Christmas morning?

3. Make a Loan

If you have never heard of Kiva.org, you need to check it out. The concept is extraordinary.  You loan a small amount of money to a family in a third world country to help them become self-sufficient. The desired microloans are varied, from a family in Mali who need money to buy seeds and fertilizer to a widow in Tajikistan who needs to buy more products to sell for a profit at the local market. It can be a meaningful gift to know that a loan of as little as $25 can be life-changing for someone else. And, the best part? When they pay the money back, you can loan it again.

4. Donate

Many people give a cash donation to their favorite charity this time of year but, in order to give more and spend less, you need to put a little more thought into it.  Why not opt out of buying gifts for family and friends and donate a small amount to each of their favorite charities this Christmas?  You will spend less and they will love you for it. In fact, it shows you care enough about them to know what causes they believe in.

5. Commit

Volunteering your time and donating money in lieu of family gifts is great but charities need help year round.  Give yourself a present and commit to volunteering throughout the year. Maybe you could start a new family tradition; have everyone go around the table and talk about their favorite charity. Each of you can announce why you chose it and what you are committed to doing for them in the coming year.

Hopefully, this gives you some great tips on how to give more meaningful gifts from the heart while still spending less and doing Christmas on the cheap.

Decorating for a Victorian Christmas

December 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Christmas Decorations 

You don’t have to choose to decorate your home in the traditional bright colors associated with Christmas. If you prefer a Victorian Christmas theme in your home year round, you can also keep that style in your holiday decorating. Using Victorian decorations to dress your home for Christmas adds an air of subdued glamour and quiet elegance.

The first step when you decide to decorate in a Victorian style is to choose your main color. Most of the main colors in Victorian style decorating are softer colors. They are colors that would remind you of stately old mansions.

The most popular main colors are cranberry, a light blue, pale pink or a beautiful sage green. Once you’ve chosen what your main color will be, just like you choose accent colors for the decorations in your home, you’ll need to select an accent color.

The accent color will keep the main color from being too overwhelming. You don’t want an entirely pink Victorian theme or one that’s all sage green and nothing else. The results will end up gaudy instead of grand.

Accent colors work with the main colors and are usually soft silver or muted gold. They are never the brassy gold or bright silver. Remember the Victorian Christmas look has a misty feel to it, like a soft, very faint fog rolling in off the mountains on a cool autumn morning.

Any type of Christmas tree can be turned into a Victorian theme with the right decorations so don’t worry about the kind of tree you have or plan to buy. In keeping with the Victorian theme, for your tree skirt, you’re going to want to use a lace or crocheted one. You can find either material in the colors to match either your main or your accent color.

One of the loveliest decorations on any Victorian tree are the Christmas balls covered in lace or the crocheted ones. Along with the Christmas balls, use wire ribbon threaded from the bottom to the top of the Christmas tree.

Many of the decorations used in Victorian times featured paper decorations trimmed in soft gold and hung by fine gold string. You can find those same paper decorations today in the forms of carousel rocking horses and other designs.

The Victorian Christmas theme was also big on the use of tassels so use tassels in your decorating theme. Use table runners with tassels, use thin rope tassels to tie around your holiday napkins or use them to hold back your drapes.

For wall decorations, you can use shadow boxes filled with bits of Victorian decorating such as old photos, scraps of lace, old letters. You can find the material to make Victorian shadow boxes at most craft or online stores.

Christmas Traditions You Can Share With Your Family

December 11, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Christmas Traditions 

Being part of a family inevitably means there will be traditions passed down through the years. Many people share specific Christmas traditions with their family that they learned from their own families growing up.

But maybe you’re just beginning your Christmas holidays as a family and you don’t really have any traditions of your own yet. There are many popular traditions that you can pick from and make them a part of your own holiday traditions. There are traditions that are suitable for any age group.

One favorite holiday tradition in many families is making Christmas cards to send out. You can choose to send cards personalized with your own family photo and a poem or a few lines telling the receiver what they mean to you. If you don’t have the time to make Christmas cards, you can get store bought ones and add your own touch to them.   Nowadays, many people are making a Facebook Christmas page that all their friends and family can visit.

Another well-known holiday tradition is attending a church event together. Many churches have Christmas Eve services that are beautiful with all the decorations and the soft glow of candlelight.   Often these services have choirs singing a variety of holiday songs.  Here at Cool Christmas Blog, we often attend a midnight service on Christmas Eve.  Funny thing, though, the church we go to changed the midnight service to 10 pm.

Young children can write letters to Santa and take it to the local post office. Some post offices have a special box set up just for letters to Santa. Kids can also get involved in decorating the Christmas tree and as you hang the ornaments on the tree, if there’s no history behind the ornaments, you can share bits of your history with your child or talk about the meaning of Christmas.   The last few years we’ve been picking up a new ornament with the date on it.  It’s something to remember each Christmas by.

Putting up the tree can become a time of sharing conversation that children look forward to. You can start a tradition of listening to certain songs as you put up the tree. One family listened to Bing Crosby Christmas songs while putting up their tree over forty years ago, then their grown children kept up the tradition and later passed it on to their children.

A well received tradition is the practice of dining by candlelight on Christmas Eve and afterward, each family member opens one gift. You’ll want to set aside a particular gift on Christmas Eve so that you’re not digging through the piles of gifts to find it.   This was one of my family traditions and we all looked forward to it.

Most cities have Christmas parades or Christmas music shows that residents can attend. Make it a habit to attend one every year. The night before Christmas, begin the tradition of reading a Christmas book, sharing the Christmas story, or watching a much loved Christmas movie together.

Whatever traditions you decide to incorporate into your family, you’ll be glad you did. It’ll make the holidays more meaningful and give everyone something to look forward to.

5 Tricks to Spending Less This Christmas

December 10, 2011 by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Christmas on the Cheap 

Making the commitment to spend less this Christmas is easy. Actually doing it is another matter.  Now that Christmas season is in full swing, it is easy to get carried away with the frenzied momentum.  Before you know it, you’ll be spending far over your budget.  Cool Christmas Blog takes a look at 5 tricks to spending less.

1. Don’t go window shopping at the mall!

Better yet, don’t go to the mall at all, if you can help it. Marketing execs are paid the big bucks to make you forget your ambitious plan. In fact, they spend money to learn which techniques will make you spend most everything you have.

Use online shopping instead. It is much easier to say no from the comforts of your own home.  It’s more private.  No one is pressuring you.  You can easily click out of any screen you want, at any time.

2. Set a budget.

This is sometimes easier said than done. Be strict with yourself. Take cash out of the bank and put that exact amount you want to spend on each person in a separate envelope. You can have a separate envelope for expenses such as stamps, wrapping paper, holiday cards, shipping costs – just don’t forget to budget for them.

Not sure how much to spend on people?  Do you feel bad when you set a budget  for gifts?  Read this article about the myths of Christmas spending.

 

3. Accept the fact that you are not perfect.

Hey, who says I’m not perfect? Listen,  there are exceptions too every rule. If you see the ultimate, dream gift for someone (and can afford it), go ahead. Do not make the mistake of thinking  you need to do this for everyone.  You may be tempted, but forget it.   You can explain away your expensive  purchase as a birthday/Christmas/every-holiday-for-the-rest-of-your-life gift.

4. Don’t feel pressured to get involved with every gift giving arrangement at the office.           

Practice saying, “My family is really focused on not buying gifts this year”. Most people will understand. If all else fails, announce that you will be baking several dozen cookies or your grandmother’s famous whatever and bringing it to the office. Leave a note that reads, “Happy Holidays from the Smith Family” and make sure everyone can see it. Food always does the trick.

5. If you feel weak in the knees and don’t think you can stand up to the pressure, turn to gift cards.

You can purchase them in specific dollar amounts that are within your budget and then tell everyone that you are done shopping.

Hopefully these tricks will help you avoid overspending this Christmas and finally reach your goal of spending less (much less) this holiday season.

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