Are you not quite feeling it yet and wondering how to get into the Christmas spirit? Well, in this article we’ll look at 19 ways to help you get into the Christmas spirit.
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Most of the ways to get into the Christmas spirit highlighted in this article relate to how you can stimulate your senses with the sounds, smells, tastes and looks of Christmas.
When should you get into the Christmas Spirit?
Even though Christmas is just one day of the year they don’t call it the “holiday season” for nothing. I feel if you wait until too close to Christmas to start getting into the Christmas spirit you may feel rushed and disappointed: like one big firework blast without any preceding build-up.
It is a personal choice but lots of Americans get into the Christmas mindset right after the Thanksgiving turkey is put away.
Helpful Hint: Plan your Christmas activities and festivities
Christmas can come and go real fast.
To make the most of the Christmas season and to really get into the Christmas spirit, you should take a few minutes to write down what you want to do this Christmas season.
Then schedule these – even tentatively – into your upcoming days and weeks.
Some things you really want to do may require scheduling or appointments. So keep this in mind. Example: If you want to go on popular sleighride you may need to book it now.
How to get into the Christmas Spirit – 19 helpful ways
1) Put on some Christmas music
Listening to Christmas carols can immediately get you into the Christmas spirit, and acts as a great background mood-setter for all the other ways to get into the Christmas spirit. Whether you’re decorating your tree or painting your nails, Christmas carols in the background will help you get into the Christmas spirit.
2) Slip on some cozy Christmas pajamas
Pull out your favorite Christmas pajamas and get cozy.
Don’t have any? How about a onesie?
Women’s One-piece Christmas Pajamas on Amazon
3) Drink some hot chocolate, eggnog, or another favorite seasonal drink
Now that you have your favorite Christmas carols on, you’re wearing some comfortable Christmas pajamas, it’s time to grab your favorite seasonal beverage.
Common Holiday Drinks:
- Hot chocolate (with or without marshmallows and whipped cream)
- Eggnog (extra points if you drink it from a reindeer-shaped glass)
- Peppermint mochas
- Eggnog lattes
- Gingerbread lattes
4) Light some Christmas candles
Burning candles with the “smells” of Christmas can provide powerful festive stimuli to our brains. What is your favorite Christmas fragrance? Is it peppermint, pine, cinnamon, or something else entirely?
5) Decorate your Christmas tree and home
This is one of the first things many families do to kick off the holiday season. It is fun digging through the ornaments and recollecting when you received them and who gave them to you.
Plus, a decorated tree and a home filled with lovely Christmas décor is a daily reminder that we’re in the joyous holiday season.
6) Hang a Christmas wreath on your front door
You can make your own DIY Christmas wreath by spray-painting some pine cones silver, gold, white or red and then hot glue them to a wreath frame along with some pine boughs or holly leaves. Top it off with a bright red Christmas bow and you’ve got yourself a lovely Christmas wreath.
7) Make your own decorations and do Christmas Crafts
Store bought decorations are nice, but homemade Christmas decorations are a whole new level of special.
And making your own Christmas decorations doesn’t have to be complicated. Check out these easy, wooden snowmen that my family and I made.
8) Paint your nails with festive Christmas designs or Christmas red
Your home isn’t the only thing that can look beautifully decorated during the Christmas season.
If you don’t have a steady hand to do the designs yourself, check out this Christmas gel nail kit available on Amazon.
9) Watch your Favorite Christmas movies
Stimulate your senses and hearken back the memories of Christmas past by watching your favorite Christmas movies.
Some of my holiday favorites include:
- Elf (it features one of the greatest acting performances of all time in my opinion…Will Ferrell so convincingly plays an elf that he should get an award every Christmas.)
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (so many great quotes in this movie)
- Frosty the Snowman
- Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer (the old clay animation one)
- Home Alone (well actually this is one of my daughter’s favorites…)
- Die Hard (I just had to add it…)
10) Do your family’s time-honored Christmas traditions
Does you family have a tradition that you do every Christmas? It doesn’t have to be big and elaborate but keeping your traditions can help root you in the family-oriented nature of Christmas.
- Example: I put on National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation every time I decorate our Christmas tree [not an “elaborate” tradition but it’s important to me)
11) Plan out your Christmas shopping list
Santa has his list and you should too.
What gifts will really light up faces on Christmas morning this year? A lot of people will have a much smaller Christmas gift budget this years compared to other years, but that doesn’t mean we can’t buy or make gifts that are appreciated. It just may mean we need to put more thought into it.
So start planning now so you aren’t sucked into last-minute, spontaneous, budget-busting buys.
12) Write Christmas cards
Christmas cards used to be commonplace. You’d take the time to write a quick note to your friends and loved ones and personalize it to each person, not send generic blurbs.
It’s amazing that we’ve gotten too “busy” to do this yet we waste so much time and money on other things. I think an underlying problem is our inability to plan. Getting something in the mail on time takes planning. A skill many of us lack because we are used to the quick and easy convenience of “right now.”
So if you want to try this old-time Christmas tradition, buy some Christmas cards and get out your favorite pen and have some fun with it. (You can even find Christmas cards made of 100% post-consumer recycled paper.) And if it gets there a few days late, so what – the addressee will still appreciate it.
13) Christmas wallpaper for your phone
What do you look at more times per day than probably anything else? Your phone lock screen. So why should your house get all the decorating fun? Decorate your phone’s lock screen with some festive Christmas pictures.
Wallpaperaccess.com has some lovely Christmas wallpaper images for your phone.
14) Decorate a Gingerbread Christmas house
This is a particularly common activity when you have young children, but even if you’re single you can still do this (and it’ll probably turn out way better ? )
15) Donate new toys
Adults love Christmas, but to children it can be a truly magical time of year.
Help provide some of that Christmas magic by purchasing a new toy for an under-privileged child in need.
You may never know the positive impact that that toy brings to the lucky child who receives it.
Seek out a local charity in your region that runs a “Toys for Tots” style of Christmas toy drive.
16) Bake some Christmas cookies and Christmas treats
Yummy Christmas cookies are a way to stimulate our taste buds and are another fun way to get into the Christmas spirit.
And bonus points for sharing with friends. I don’t know how it’ll play out during the Coronavirus pandemic but when I worked at a retail pharmacy I used to love all the homemade cookies and treats that thankful patients/customers would bring us.
17) Get comfortable and take some time to yourself to relax and reflect
For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere December can be a chilly and dark time of year. But there are things we can do to try and enjoy and embrace winter.
Check out these 11 Simple Ways to Get Cozy this Winter
18) Pull out your “ugly” Christmas sweater
Reach into the depths of your closet and pull out your Christmas sweater. If you’re still working in a group or team environment, schedule an “Ugly Christmas Sweater Day” with your co-workers.
Get a small gift for the winner of the ugliest sweater.
19) Read some Christmas stories
Reading Christmas stories to your children is a great way to get into the Christmas spirit, and they usually do a good job in trying to reflect the true Christmas spirit (the giving, not the taking).
But if you don’t have kids there are still lots of Christmas stories to enjoy such as “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens (which you read for free on Gutenberg.org).
Check out a Christmas book from your local library or download one from wherever you get your ebooks and enjoy.
Some fun Christmas books for kids include:
- “The Polar Express” by Chris Van Allsburg (click here to see on Amazon)
- “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” by Dr. Seuss (click here to see on Amazon)
- “The Night Before Christmas” by Clement Moore (a classic)
- “Christmas Eve on Sesame Street” (the storybook to the movie)
I hope you’ve enjoyed some of these ways to get into the Christmas spirit, and I hope they inspire you to have your best holiday season ever.
Wishing your family the best this holiday season.
Up Next:
11 simple Ways to get cozy this winter (hygge)
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