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Christmas
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Superstitions
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Decorations
With Christmas carols in the air, Christmas is a time of celebration, beauty and fun. We decorate the houses to contribute to the gaiety and festive spirit of the Christmas holidays. We use lights, colors, ornaments, wreaths, garlands, stars and the Christmas tree to add more and more loveliness to the homes. The grand and magical-looking Christmas tree is undoubtedly the highlight of these decorations. Today, people keep adding to the list with fancy lights and musical décors but the ones that are innovative and made by one's own hands and the most favorite ones too for they also bring the families and friends together as we trade ideas signifying caring and sharing. So take your cutters, papers, ornaments, glitters, ribbons and glue to carve out your best Christmas ever.
An easy home-made Christmas star can be made in a jiffy using shiny red wrapping paper, cardboard, scissors, glue, glitter and some string. Draw a huge star on the cardboard and cut it out. Make a hole on the top. Cover it with the foil or shiny wrapping paper. Paint glue in any pattern on the star and spread the glitter over it. Dust off the excess glitter, when the glue dries. Attach the string and your star is ready to be hanged anywhere you wish. Christmas wreaths made of evergreen leaves with bright red ribbon bows look beautiful too along with hollies and bells. Read this section for some great tips and ideas for your Christmas decoration.
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Christmas Tree
One of the most awaited Christmas décor items, especially by kids, is undoubtedly the magical looking Christmas tree. It is said that Christmas tree was included in the celebrations ever since humans observed these evergreen trees glistening in the moonlit sky on a clear night sparkling against the backdrop of white snow. One of the most import Christmas symbols for centuries, Christmas trees were used in many pagan festivals to honor their gods and spirits. Vikings in North Europe considered these evergreen trees a reminder of the Spring that is about to approach and that the Winter will end soon. In ancient England and France, Druids used to honor God of harvests by decorating oak trees with fruit and candles, just as Romans adorned trees with trinkets and candles on Saturnalia.
It is said that the German Christians were the first to bring the trees into their homes to decorate or use a Christmas pyramid made of wood in areas where there was a scarcity of trees. Soon, whole Europe caught up with the trend and the English Royalty popularized it among the elite. Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, decorated the first Christmas tree. They had then used candles, candies, fruits, and gingerbread. Christmas tree came to America with the German immigrants and was accepted by the general public only in the late 1800s. At the time of the first public display of a Christmas tree by German settlers in Pennsylvania, it was considered a symbol of pagans. Till then, apples, nuts, cookies, candies, colored popcorn and candles were the popular Christmas tree ornaments.
In the early 20th century, electricity brought a revolution in Christmas tree decoration. Electrical Christmas lights grew more and more popular every year and now most communities throughout the US feature public displays of Christmas trees. The President of the United States now lights the National Christmas Tree every year in Washington as an indication of the beginning of Christmas celebrations. The huge lighted tree at Rockfeller Center in New York is quite a spectacle and skaters spinning beneath it look like angels. Christmas Tree has now gained popularity all over the world and choosing the right Christmas tree and its ornaments, placing gifts beneath it and opening them at midnight is all now part and parcel of Christmas fun and revelry.
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Mistletoe
Mistletoe has been associated with love and peace since ages. Even two hundred years before the birth of Christ, mistletoe was used by Druids in the celebration of winter season. They believed in the magic of mistletoe. It was thought to have healing powers, which could cure anything and everything, ranging from female infertility to poison ingestion. Even enemies stopped fighting and declared a temporary ceasefire whenever they happened to chance upon mistletoe. Know more about the Christmas mistletoe holly with the help of the following lines: Mistletoe Plant The Christmas mistletoe plant is a hemi parasite i.e., a partial parasite. It grows either on the branches or on the trunk of a tree. Being a parasite, it penetrates its roots into the host tree and consumes all its nutrients. However, mistletoe can also grow individually and produce its own food with the help of photosynthesis. Still, it is usually found growing on trees, as a parasitic plant. There are basically the following two types of mistletoes: American Mistletoe The American mistletoe, scientifically known as Phoradendron flavescens, is native to North America. It is found growing on trees, right from New Jersey to Florida and is the mistletoe species that is mainly associated with the kissing tradition of Christmas. European Mistletoe The European mistletoe, Viscum album, is a green shrub with small, yellow flowers and white, sticky berries. It is seen growing, usually, on apple trees and, rarely, on oak. Tradition Mistletoe has been associated with many properties since ages. Among its numerous qualities is the power to bestow life and fertility as well as to cure a person of poison intake. The custom of using mistletoe to decorate houses at Christmas dates back to the time of the Druids. The concept of the kissing under the mistletoe is said to be a variation of the kissing ball tradition of the 18th century.
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Stories
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Centerpieces
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Carols
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Party Games
Singing carols, gorging on delicious cakes and party delicacies and even exchanging gifts and opening them may not keep you busy the whole evening and your great, grand Christmas Party may have its dull and boring moments between the events. To fill out the time, planning for a few party games is always the best idea. Here we have come up some of the funniest yet sober party games that can be enjoyed by people of all ages. However, kinds will perhaps like 'Find The Santa' and 'Stocking the Stockings' best while 'Spying Them All' is best suited for a small office party or an event where everybody know each other or at least, have a general idea about their nature. 'Draw the Carol' is for people of all ages.
'Best Gift' will keep your guests from grumbling about what they get and comparing them with others while 'Share The Gifts' is just another innocent game to give out Christmas Gifts in an interesting manner. We have chosen Christmas party games that are easy to arrange, suited to all budges - from low to high, are sober and related to Christmas theme. There are scores of other Christmas Games that you can find on net or that can be invented by introducing little variations on the popular kid games such as a variation of 'Pin Up Donkey's Tail' can be introduced in a Christmas Kids Party as 'Pin Up Rudolph's Nose'. Variations of dice games and card games can be introduced in the Christmas Party for Adults to win the Christmas gifts kept for the purpose.
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Poems
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Shopping
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Crafts
The long holiday season of Christmas also brings along with it the time to explore one's creativity and give vent to one's imagination and artistic abilities. You can show off your skills and innovative sense in your holiday décor, in making and wrapping Christmas gifts and party favors and is decorating your Christmas tree and setting up the table for your Christmas Dinner Party. You can also keep the kids busy and happy at the same time by asking them to help you in the holiday décor and suggest them things and crafts that they can easily make under your supervision. We have brought some of the easiest Christmas craft ideas for you and your kids to enjoy and spend quality family time together. Most of out Christmas crafts are so easy that they don't take much time and kids will need only a tiny bit of your help to accomplish them.
They are not very expensive and look so good that your children and you will be proud to display them at your Christmas party. While all the crafts in this section have been chosen, keeping the theme of Christmas in mind, you can easily keep some of the crafts even after the holiday season and show them off for a long, long time such as the snow globe and pine cone bird feeder. Easy Christmas ornaments, cotton snow flakes and Rudolph ornaments will add a personal magical touch to your Christmas tree, while your igloo, white snowman, candy cane Rudolph and Christmas puppets will last even after the winters. Kids can gift Christmas crackers, Christmas candles and holiday play dough that they have prepared at home with their own hands to their friends and win their hearts over.
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