Tips for Parents Who Do Not Celebrate Christmas

Christmas is a national holiday that is celebrated every year on December 25^th. However, not every soul on this planet celebrates the Christmas holiday. Many reasons vary from different views of religion, or personal preferences. Whatever those reasons are, most parent's who do not celebrate Christmas have children who have friends that do. Their kids are coming home and asking why they don't celebrate Christmas and Tommy is getting a new ten speed bike for Christmas, but why can't they get something on this holiday. You want to keep your reasonings behind not celebrating Christmas, however it is hard when you see your child with a little dis-belief in their eye and they can not understand why they are not involved in what 90 percent of the world is. I need to express this big time. Even if you do not celebrate Christmas as a family, still celebrate family time. I have ten tips that will help your family still have a festive season even if Christmas is not apart of it.

One
Game Night
Pick a night and mark it family game night. Make it a night you know the whole family will have time to sit down and enjoy being with one another. For the mom (or dad) not to worry about food, order take-out, or make TV dinners. This way no-one will have anything to worry about, and the focus can be all on the family.

Two
Visit A Nursing Home
Volunteering is a great thing to do when it comes to doing it with your family. It will make you feel good on the inside that you brought a smile to someone's face and your whole family was involved. Visit a local nursing home and have a story hour with a book your kids enjoy reading.

Three
Take A Small Road trip
I understand that times are rough and money is tight however, I am sure there is a place in your state that you have never been to that you can make a weekend out of it or even a day trip out of it.

Four
Clean Up and Out
This time of the year is the best time to clean your child's rooms. They may not be all for it, but to get them involved offer them something they want in exchange for their time in helping. Have them earn what ever they want for their work. Make sure doing this deep cleaning of their room, they box up any items they do not want anymore and donate them. You can donate clothes to a homeless shelter, books to a library and toys to adoption agencies.

Five
Family Dinner Night
Ever wanted to try something new to eat? As a family, get a new, fun cook book. Have the dad pick out an appetizer, mom can choose the main dish, and the kids come up with dessert. Each person is responsible for cooking what they picked. Even if it does not look good, try it! After dinner, decide what the next fun and new meal will be. However, if you keep this tradition going, then make sure you only do this once a week, because our stomachs can not handle new food more then that.

Six
Hat Trip
In a hat, have everyone in your family write down on a piece of paper one place they want to go to on that day. The place has to be in your own town and opened on the day you are going. Have each person fold the paper and throw it in a hat. Allow one person to pick from the hat, and that will be the place you will get to go. To make it fair, allow the other people to pick a place to eat that day, or what type of music you will listen to in the car.

Seven
Volunteer
As a family, head down to the local homeless shelter, or over to a orphanage and spend sometime with the people there. You do not have to volunteer your time to help in any of the Christmas events that are going on, just sit down and talk to them. If you go to an orphanage, then play with the other children.

Eight
Family Craft Night
At Walmart, or your local hobby store, they are usually tons of family craft books that you can purchase. Have your family pick out one craft that they all think they will want to do. Allow the kids to make the choice of it and get their hands dirty!

Nine
Flowers at the Hospital
I know from years past of going to the hospital many times, there are many people who are sitting in those dark, cold rooms and never have one person come to see them. To make them healthy and in hopes of getting out of their, they need their spirits to be uplifted. Head down to the dollar store and buy some pre-made flower arrangements. They need to be the fake ones so they last! Take them to either the hospital or hospice and have the nurses pass them out to the patients they think need to most uplift!

Ten
This Is Where You Are From
Family heritage is very important for kids to know. They need to know who they are related to, where they come from and what they have running through them. If you never have searched your family history this is the best time to do so! Start gathering all the information possible and have the children plot down all the points and facts on poster board. Once you have gone back as far as you can in your family tree then you can make a craft project in the forms of either a family tree poster, or a scrap book of all your findings.

No matter what you do during the Christmas holiday, even though you do not celebrate Christmas, explain to your kids what you do believe in and what you want them to believe in as well. Keep the family time as strong as possible and enjoy the time!