{"id":6726,"date":"2010-12-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/spindelmaker.bluesystems.no\/2010\/12\/01\/celebrate-december\/"},"modified":"2010-12-01T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-12-01T00:00:00","slug":"celebrate-december","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spindelmaker.bluesystems.no\/?p=6726","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate December"},"content":{"rendered":"

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1. Yay! Finally! You can open the first present in your Advent-calender. Find your Christmas decorations and decorate a little bit every day.<\/p>\n

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Buy fruits and make a big bowl of fresh fruit. Get mandarins! The smell is enough to get me in a Christmas-mood any day! And they taste so yummy!<\/p>\n

Then invite friends over for a creative Christmas-making event. It might be a good idea to have this planned ahead, so everyone knows what to bring. Tonight I\u00b4ll be making hearts with some of my neighbors:<\/p>\n

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2. Make a list over all the Christmas-gifts you have to buy or make. A good list is a job half-done. Almost\u2026<\/p>\n

Buy tulip- and hyacinth-bulbs, put them in water, leave them in a relatively cool room and they\u00b4ll be ready for Christmas.<\/p>\n

Initiate a Christmas-ornament swap group with some of your creative friends! Oh, the joy of receiving handmade ornaments from good friends made with love and affection!<\/p>\n

3.&nbsp;Check at the local post-office when the deadlines for Christmas-cards to arrive in time are.<\/p>\n

And find all your red clothes, and have them ready-to-wear!<\/p>\n

Start your own Christmas-journal, where you write lists for presents, cards and cookies-recipes.<\/p>\n

4. Put up all the decorative lighting outdoors, while wearing brown shoes. \ud83d\ude42 But be careful not to fall down anywhere!<\/p>\n

Write your very own wish-list for Christmas and hang it on the fridge. You think you\u00b4re too old? Nope! Isn\u00b4t it better to receive things you really want and need, rather than yet another nice \u201cthingy\u201d for the shelf? It\u00b4s not being selfish and un-modest, it\u00b4s being environmentally friendly. And in addition, it\u00b4s nice to dream, so you\u00b4re allowed a couple of really, really expensive things on the list. You see, wishing is free! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Photography was invented in 1877. Why don\u00b4t you have a date with your camera, and make your very own Christmas around the house documentary photo-book?<\/p>\n

5. Second Sunday in Advent. Light the two candles. &nbsp;Today is Nicolas-mass, named after St Nicolaus, patron for children and sailors.<\/p>\n

Plan the Christmas-parties, send invitations and plan the menus. Light the fire-place and listen to some of your favorite Christmas-music.<\/p>\n

Rehearse Christmas-carols while you bake the first batch of Christmas cookies. December is a month of song, so sing out loud with your most personal instrument, your voice!<\/p>\n

6. &nbsp;Take a walk in the nature and collect pine-cones funny branches and other elements you can use in your decorations.<\/p>\n

Make and write a couple of Christmas-cards. Oh, and write something personal, like what you appreciate about the receiver.<\/p>\n

7. Go to the post-office, and buy postage for all your Christmas-cards. Buy different ones, to make the cards\/envelopes cheerful!. Like this package I got last year from Japan. In addition, you can add stickers and use your own home-made stamps.<\/p>\n

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Bake dry cookies and fruit-pies that need a while to mature. Let the children join in the fun!<\/p>\n

8. \u201cMary-in-waiting\u201d-day, referring to the virgin Mary waiting for Jesus to be born..<\/p>\n

Make a new tradition: every year one new ornament for the Christmas-tree. A self-made one. By making a new ornament every year, your tree will become a tradition-bearer in a new sense of the word.&nbsp;You can make several, and give to your friends, along with other presents. I love hearts, and decorate my whole house with them for Christmas. That\u00b4s what it\u00b4s about isn\u00b4t it? Love?<\/p>\n

Or invite a couple of your favorite creative friends over, and make one ornament for each present, and swap between yourselves afterwards. What fun!<\/p>\n

9. Decorate the entrance, maybe you can make a big wrath of some of the things you picked up on your walk on sunday? Make a part of the house ready for the Christmas-cards. How can you display them, so they can be enjoyed the whole month? Today is actually Christmas-card day. So how about making a few of them? Self-made cards are always the ones mostly appreciated!<\/p>\n

Find some things you don\u00b4t need anymore, wrap them and give them to a homeless shelter.<\/p>\n

10. Make edible gifts, like caramel-candy or jams or sugar-coated almonds. Write a letter and find a gift for your adopted child in a third-world country. If you don\u00b4t have one already, check out&nbsp;SOS children villages. <\/a>They do a great job!<\/p>\n

Today is Human Rights day. So another option would be to look into Amnesty International, and their work. In Norway, they have a great SMS-service for signing petitions.<\/p>\n

11. Make your own candles! Get a kit at the local craft-store, and have a fun night with the entire family! And while you\u00b4re at it, get the christmas-plants. If you wait too long, there will be just left-overs. And then they\u00b4ll help you decorate tomorrow when you\u2026<\/p>\n

Let\u00b4s all join Teri <\/a>in her December-celebration: One thing I want to do in December is to make a handmade item to give away annonimously. &nbsp;It may be to a total stranger left in a public place to brighten someones day.<\/p>\n

12. Third Sunday in Advent.&nbsp;Invite lots of friends over for a light-feast! This is the darkest time of year, still a couple of days to go, before the sun turns. So light candles inside and outside if you can, and celebrate the light! Then listen to the song of the Vienna Boys choir. It doesn\u00b4t get much more christmassy than that!<\/p>\n

Wise words from Melissa:<\/a> \u2013 It is nice to recieve, but, even nicer to give\u2026.
\nSometimes we get so caught up in the holiday season, whatever religion anyone is\u2026 that we forget about giving. I am a firm believer in PIF (Paying it forward) \u2026 maybe coming up with a way that you and your family or you and your friends can get involved in making someone else smile, selflessly!<\/p>\n

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13. Saint Lucia-day, in memory of the saint who died a martyr in 304 in Sicily. Wake up early and bake rolls, add cream and wake everyone up singing the Santa Lucia-song.&nbsp;Light three candles.<\/p>\n

Tammy\u00b4<\/a>s decor-suggestion: I just covered styrafoam pears in plaster cloth, then painted them to go with my xmas colors (silver and robins egg blue) Pretty and will look dreamy nestled in their pine bough bed on my table :o) Don\u2019t forget the glitter!<\/p>\n

14. Make a ginger-bread house and decorate it with the kids. Be creative and unfold your inner architect!<\/p>\n

15. If you haven\u00b4t already, now is the time to get hold of wrapping-paper, and ribbons, make labels. Get candles and napkins too. Take extra care in wrapping presents. Be creative in how you decorate them. Add a little ornament or a candy-cane with the ribbon and label. I\u00b4ll be back with lots more suggestions and tips.<\/p>\n

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16. Christmas-workshop with the kids. Or friends. Make a gift. Maybe you should try making that painting you\u00b4ve been thinking about.<\/p>\n

17. Buy the Christmas-tree and wreaths and candles for the graves of your lost loved ones.<\/p>\n

Seriously cleaning! This is the day. This is the weekend. By the end of it, the house will sparkle!<\/p>\n

18. &nbsp;Keep cleaning. When you\u00b4re done: Spa-day! Take a long, bath with scented oils, take a hot-mud-mask and a glass of red wine by the tub. Have girls-night-out with your friends, and dance the night away!<\/p>\n

19. Fourth Sunday in Advent.&nbsp;Thomas-mass. Light all four candles. Make a fire in the fireplace (or light lots of candles) and enjoy a good book.<\/p>\n

20. &nbsp; Take a walk outside and forget all about Christmas for a little while. Visit older friends or relatives, and bring some cookies or snacks.<\/p>\n

Or maybe you should go caroling? It\u00b4s such a nice tradition. In Norway, usually this happens after new Years, but why not before Christmas?<\/p>\n

21. Check all your lists, to make sure you\u00b4ve remembered it all. Make a couple of extra gifts to have in case someone drops by unexpectedly&nbsp;\":-)\"<\/p>\n

22. Make the sour-kraut (surk\u00e5l) and polish the silver. Then make a treasure-map with a small edible treasure at the end! Like \u2026 brownies!!<\/p>\n

23. Decorate the Christmas-tree. Use ornaments that make you happy, even if they don\u00b4t match your sofa. The corky Santa your nephew made in kindergarden, the Eiffel-tower key-ring souvenir from Paris, and your newly made decoration of the year. All while playing Christmas songs on the CD, and singing along. Have an open house, with friends dropping by, invite them in for egg-nog \/gl\u00f8gg.<\/p>\n

24. Christmas Eve. Set and decorate the table in the morning. Go to church and light the candles on the graves. Let the peace silently unfold around you.<\/p>\n

25. Christmas Day. The big family day. Or to be more specific: the day you spend with your loved ones.<\/p>\n

26. Another peaceful day. Maybe time to spice things up a bit? Find the games and play Monopoly or Life or Chinese checkers. Make a family-tournament! Light the fire and stay warm and cozy!<\/p>\n

27. Time to visit friends. Or maybe you can invite them to your house. Invite old friends who come home for Christmas, that you only get to see a couple of times a year.<\/p>\n

28. There are lots of concerts these mid-season-days. Go out and have some fun!<\/p>\n

And if you\u00b4d rather stay at home, find some cards, and get social the old-fashioned way \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

29. Make a list of things you like to about yourself. Keep it and look at it on blue days. And while you\u00b4re at it. Make a list for some of your loved ones too. It will certainly put a smile in their heart&nbsp;\":-)\"<\/p>\n

30. Go outside and make a snowman. Or if there is no snow, go outside and sing in the rain!<\/p>\n

31. New Years! Yay! Make a nice table in silver, and smile, dance and be happy! Forget about resolutions \u2013 you\u00b4re already great just like you are!<\/p>\n

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1. Yay! Finally! You can open the first present in your Advent-calender. Find your Christmas decorations and decorate a little bit every<\/p>\n

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