Gifts for Children: The makings for hand puppets.  Box of dress up clothes Jewellery kit Upside-Down Day:  Let kids set the day’s agenda (with parental supervision).  Take off your watch, wear pj’s under your coat to the movies or eat dessert for breakfast. Homemade Bird Feeder Kit: Teach a child knitting or some other craft. Write and illustrate a story with the child as the main character.	Homemade Gifts: Booklet of your favourite memories related to a friend or loved one. Cookbook with your favourite recipes. Set up a monthly lunch date or phone call: Perfect for elderly friends or relatives. Monthly care basket: Works really well for those who spend most of the year in separate places.  Over the holidays send them their first basket of muffins or banana bread for January, and then each month of the year send something new to go with the theme of that month. Gift of art:  For grandparents, a framed picture drawn by a grandchild is the perfect present. Make your own cards and send them to relatives and good friends. Make your own calendar using cut-out pictures, photos, and/or drawings.
Regifting without Guilt Re-gift: Although many times the idea is misconstrued to be taken as a way to get rid of your junk, when articles in good condition are passed on it saves space in your attic and the landfill.   Share a love of reading: Give away the last great book you bought. Shop thrift stores in your area or online	Gifts of Time: Special activities with a significant other--a candlelit dinner, massage, or outdoor activity. A monthly lunch date with an elderly relative or friend. Gift certificates:  Dinner and a movie, a home-cooked meal, a car wash, a day of babysitting, etc. Reconnect with someone:  Call an estranged friend or write a letter to someone you haven’t seen in a few years. Shovel snow for a someone, even if you remain anonymous, it will make their holiday season.
Gifts for the Environment: Buy a potted Christmas tree and replant after the holidays. Instead of new wrapping paper, reuse old paper—the Sunday comics section, old maps, decorated brown grocery bags, or a colourful piece of material.	Family Gifts: A jigsaw puzzle for the whole family. Set up a family tournament in your favourite card game whether it is Gin Rummy, Hearts, Spades, War, Go Fish, Twenty-One, Speed, Spit, Uno, etc. Tickets to a favourite cultural or sporting event A family hike, game of capture the flag, tag, or hide-and-go-seek.
Donations in the name of a Loved One: Give a donation to a local cause such as a soup kitchen, a shelter for battered women, a local environment group, etc. Give a friend a membership to a non-profit organization. JustGive.org allows you to donate online to thousands of charities.	Gift Swaps Cookie Swaps: Share recipes, go home with a variety of cookies. Name Drawing: Each member of your family/group of friends buys/makes only one gift, for the name drawn from a hat. White Elephant gift exchange--a great way to reuse items you aren't using yourself.

When the Holidays Hurt
Ten ways to cope with loss during a season of celebration.

I had no idea that grieving involved so many "firsts." There was my first night alone; the first meal alone; the first time I attended church alone; my first anniversary alone. And just when I didn't think things could get worse,

I find myself facing the holidays alone—without my beloved husband, Gerry. This year, I would give anything if I could boycott the holidays. —Barbara, widowed eight months earlier

For many people, the holidays are a traditional time of happiness and festivity. However, for those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, the holidays are a time of mixed emotions.

There can be pleasure, but there is also much pain, because the season magnifies the sense of loss.

There are no quick fixes to getting rid of the hurt. Thankfully, God does use the loving support of our friends and family and the passage of time to heal our broken hearts. But here are 10 ways to manage in the meantime.

1. Plan ahead. Remind yourself, there is no right or wrong way to spend the holiday. Have a family meeting to discuss the best way to deal with the holiday. Some people opt to completely alter the way they celebrate.

Some families choose to maintain holiday traditions. "Even though we had an empty chair after Dad died, we all wanted to do the same things in the same way we had always done,"

2. Let your church help. The apostle James offers this advice when we are hurting: "Is any one of you in trouble?

He should pray … Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well;

the Lord will raise him up" (James 5:13-15). That passage makes clear that there are times when going it alone is going nowhere. Reach out to your faith community.

Be in the presence of others as they worship and sing praise to God. Ask them to pray with you and for you. Adapt the scripture from James to your situation, reading it this way: "Is any one of you grieving?

He or she should call the elders of the church to pray …"

3. Claim the promises of Scripture. Time after time, the Bible promises comfort from sorrow, healing from hurts, and peace in place of pain. Tap into the promises of God's Word such as these and claim them for yourself:

• "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak … those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength" (Isa. 40:29, 31).

• "The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit" (Ps. 34:18).

• "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted" (Matt. 5:4).

Let such passages soothe your spirit. Ask God to protect you from being "consumed" by grief and to give you strength when you are feeling "crushed."

4. Keep expectations reasonable. Be realistic about what you can handle, both physically and emotionally. Be kind to yourself and nurturing."

5. Network with other grievers. Becoming involved with others in a grief support group can help you discover that you are not alone, that mourning is not an illness or self-indulgence

and that there are people to whom you can open your heart.

6. Remember the loved one who died. The worst thing a family can do is to try to ignore the reality of a loss. It is simply impossible to hide the fact that a loved one has died and is painfully absent during the holiday.

Rather than try to minimize the absence, remember the loved one who died by offering a moment of silence at a meal, lighting a candle in his or her memory, placing his or her favourite ornament on the tree,

tucking a memorial card into your holiday cards to distant friends, decorating the grave, etc. Also, when friends are around, be certain to talk about the deceased loved one. Your willingness to do so will signal to friends

that it is okay to speak about that person and share memories.

7. Expand your "family" at holiday time. Rather than be demoralized by an empty chair during the holiday, consider expanding your "family" during this time.

8. Don't feel you have to do it all. It's perfectly fine to let family and friends assist you with shopping, cleaning, cooking, wrapping gifts, delivering, and many other details connected with holidays.

If being in crowded malls with festive shoppers and holiday music playing promises to be upsetting, then don't go. Some families do all their shopping via catalogues and the Internet.

Try to remind yourself, as well, that the holidays will still take place even if you don't get everything done as you did in previous years.

9. Take care of yourself physically. "Holidays can be physically draining, especially if this is your first experience with a holiday since the death of your loved one.

Respect your mind and your body," The Empty Chair: Handling Grief on Holidays and Special Occasions (Baker Books). "The acronym DEER (drink, eat, exercise, rest) may help you stay focused on taking care of yourself.

Holidays take enough energy by themselves without the additional gut-wrenching pain of a death.

10. Protect your boundaries. No one knows your grief better than you do. During the holidays, when people extend invitations or ask you to take on tasks,

give yourself permission to say "no thank you" or "I'll pass on it for now." Another way of protecting personal boundaries is to accept an invitation but with some limits.

This kind of statement is a perfectly appropriate response to an invitation: "Yes, I will be happy to join you, but please know that I may have to excuse myself a little earlier than others."

‘Rest assured that, with God's grace, the day will not be nearly as difficult as you think it will.’

Historical Facts and Tradition

In 1836, Alabama is the first state in the USA to declare Christmas a legal holiday	The biggest selling Christmas single of all time is Bing Crosby's White Christmas
In America in 1822, the postmaster of Washington, DC, complained that he had to add 16 mailmen at Christmas to deal with cards alone. He wanted the number of cards a person could send limited by law. "I don't know what we'll do if this keeps on," he wrote.	In the fourth century, Pope Julius I announced that Christ's official birthday would be December 25th. Prior to his ruling there had been a great deal of confusion. No-one was certain about the year, let alone the month or the day.
The first Christmas stamp was released in Canada in 1898	Between the year 1647 and 1660, Christmas carols during Christmas celebration were banned in England.
Presents - The tradition of gifts seems to have started with the gifts that the wise men brought to Jesus. The exchanging of gifts between people started in about the 1800's.	Christmas crackers were invented by Thomas Smith. He had imported some French novelties to sell as Christmas gifts, but these were not popular until he wrapped them up and added a snapper.
`Jesus is born' was the first American Christmas Carol. John de Brebeur wrote this Christmas carol in the year 1649.	Poinsettias were attached to Christmas starting in 1828. Joel Roberts Poinsett, then the first Mexican ambassador from the United States, imported the plant from Mexico.
Some priests in Australia advise you to say "Happy Christmas" instead of "Merry Christmas", because Merry has connotations of getting drunk- which brings it's own problems.	From the Old English 'Cristes Mæsse' ~ meaning the 'mass of Christ' ~ the story of Christmas begins with the birth of a babe in Bethlehem.

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