Homemade Christmas

Most people now think of Christmas and see presents and parties, candies and Santa Claus. They see trees decorated with bright lights and expensive glass ornaments. We've come as a society to see Christmas as a commercial event, rather than as a time for reflection, togetherness, peace and love.

Christmas doesn't have to be about presents, parties and Santa Claus. Christmas can be a time for joy, family, selflessness and being thankful.

When I think of Christmas, I think of everything homemade: candles, felt stockings, ornaments, paper snowflakes and Christmas scenes for the windows, the Advent calendar, sugar cookies, lollipops and cupcakes. I think of peppermint candy canes, snow, searching for the perfect Christmas tree and the popcorn, cranberry and decorations garland for said perfect Christmas tree-yes, I grew up in one of those traditional families and I'm happy to say that I'm not only better for it, but I appreciate Christmas more for it as well.

If you're ready to take the plunge and create a truly homemade Christmas, the first thing you need to do is a take a deep breath. A homemade Christmas can be easy or it can be very difficult. If you have a plan, you'll be ready for anything that comes your way.

You can buy Christmas stockings to hang above the fire (or on the wall if you don't have a fireplace or mantle) at any local department store, discount store or grocery store. But if you want to show the true personality and spirit of each individual in the family, you might want to opt for homemade felt stockings.

You can find the pattern on the internet or you can draw it yourself on a plain white 8.5 x 11 sheet of paper and you buy the same size felt sheets at any local craft store.

Every member of the family can cut out their own shapes and use little beads, strings, buttons, plastic cupcake decorations (trust me, they really work!), etc. to personalize their stockings. Have a music-lover? Help them user tan felt to cut out the shape of a violin. But what about a wine lover? Make a wine bottle with a little green felt and some aluminum foil. And don't forget%u2026you don't need a sewing machine or a hot glue gun. Just felt, adornments, scissors and crafting glue.

Everyone knows that Christmas is a time for great food%u2026of the sweets variety. You can't help but want to eat chocolate, white chocolate and every other kind of candy, cookie or cake you can find. And what better way to celebrate than to make your own batch of sweets for the family to enjoy? My Christmas favorites are my secret recipe fudge (it took me 4 years to come up with my perfect recipe), sugar cookies (with red and green frosting of course!), rum balls and cupcakes.

Of course gingerbread is a specialty at Christmas. My brother always makes everyone a gingerbread house. The great thing about this is he has fun baking and then decorating them and everyone else has fun eating them.

For some fantastic Christmas treat ideas take a look at Family Fun and get really inspired.

Above all else cupcakes are my favorite Christmas treat (who am I kidding? They're always my favorite treat!) because they're a little different than the norm. Face it. At Christmas, you can get fudge and sugar cookies at every house on the block. But it's rare to get a cupcake at Christmastime, unless someone has a birthday.

Christmas cupcakes and other treats are a rare specialty because you can decorate all of them. I usually do a rundown of the grocery store the third week of November and grab all of the small Christmas candies and other cupcake decorations I'll need to make my special treats. The great thing about cupcake decorations is that I can usually find a way to use any leftovers on sugar cookies and fudge squares. This cute Christmas snowman cupcake is incredibly easy to make and yet looks sensational.

Any other time of year, I might use small toys or other non-edible items to decorate my Christmas cupcakes and other goodies. But at Christmas giving the goodness of sweet treats without the little plastic surprises is the best way to go. If you want to give your cupcakes a religious demeanor, there are edible Christian motifs available at some stores-last year I made the manger scene (sans stable of course) on a bed of cupcakes with the edible toppers I was able to find. And I used some of the leftover stars for the tree toppers on my sugar cookie Christmas trees.

Looking back on my childhood one of the greatest things I remember is the ornaments that my mother hung on the tree. They were made of felt and papercraft, and were made from her heart. My mother took a lot of pictures of us kids when we were younger and she found a way to use them. She made frames out of canning jar lids, glued the picture on and stuck a piece of ribbon in for a hook. Sometimes she'd use the plastic, non-edible cupcake decorations and use them to adorn the ornaments as well. The memories that flowed-and still flow- through her house always made Christmas a holiday to remember. And the collection is growing. Unlike ornaments you buy at the store, you don't have to buy a whole new set to update your homemade ornaments. Just swap out a new picture or make more ornaments.

Of course, a homemade Christmas isn't just centered around handmade ornaments, personalized stockings and oh-so-yummy treats. It's about the feelings and memories that you create with your family and the people you love.

When I think about Christmas, I don't just think about felt stockings and picture ornaments. I think about the time I spent with my mother making the stockings for everyone in the family and I think about choosing the newest set of pictures that she was going to put on the tree. And I think decorating cupcakes with her and my sisters%u2026and I remember that it was my mother who started the frosting war-the result of which is also a picture on the Christmas tree every year.

Any Christmas can bring memories of the past and create memories for the future but centering it around togetherness certainly doesn't hurt.