Stockings are Hung

The stockings are hung. . . . or not.  Christmas can be stressful when you have a small house and a large family!  Keep reading for a few of the ways I’ve learned to make my Christmas easier.

1- We don’t have a Christmas tree.  Well at least not inside!  We do buy a potted tree every year.  It sits on our porch and the kids can put some homemade ornaments on it if they wish but nothing that will harm the animals or the animals can harm.  Then, after Christmas we go and plant the tree somewhere on our property.  This gives us the bonus of watching our tree grow and increasing the trees on our property.  Think wind break!

2-  The stockings are hung. . . . not.  We don’t have anywhere to hang our stockings.  I do have super cute stockings that my mom has knit for all of our children(as well as myself, my husband, my brothers, my cousins, etc).  I do get them out and we do have stockings for Christmas, but they don’t appear out of their storage tub until Christmas Eve.

3-  I’m not a huge decorator.  Like I’m horrible at it really.  But we try to do some small things to help the children have fun and feel that they’ve accomplished something.  Some years we make paper snowflakes and hang them from the curtain rods.  Some years we make paper chains and hang them from the banister or curtain rods.  One year we did nativities out of paper and posted them on our windows.

4-  We always do Christmas cookies!!  It’s so much fun to make cut out sugar cookies and decorate them.  Yes it makes a mess.  Yes it’s hectic.  But really it only involves two rooms(hopefully) and the mess is easily cleaned but the memories last forever.

5- We are big on traditions.  We always have chili on Christmas Eve.  My parents started this when I was small and I’ve kept it alive in my own family.  We always have cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning with hot cocoa.  Once upon a time when I was growing up this was donuts(store bought- such a treat) but as our family is large that’s not feasible.

Other traditions involve opening our stockings before breakfast but after chores and after reading the Christmas story.  The stockings are hung might sound better but they look pretty setting on our window shelf just the same!  Then comes breakfast.  Yummy!  Then a time to enjoy and play with anything from our stockings.  Next comes lunch.  After lunch is when we take turns one at a time opening one present.  That way everyone sees what’s received and it makes it last ALL afternoon!  Supper is small and snacky normally.

We like to watch Christmas movies!  Watching Christmas movies starts right after Thanksgiving.  The kids and I love it!  Some of them we watch with daddy and some without.  He’s not a fan of all of them.

6-  Christmas presents remain in hiding until Christmas morning.  Or to be truthful whatever time on Christmas Eve I finish wrapping them and putting them under our window shelf.  Due to space in the house our presents tend to remain in the garage or locked in a trunk until just a few days before Christmas.  Then they come in the house and I work on wrapping them when the kids are asleep at night.  But they still remain hidden out of view until the appropriate time.  We have inside animals and young curious kiddos that I don’t want to tempt!

Do you have any ideas for celebrating holidays in small spaces?  Any special traditions you want to share that your family does each year?  I’d love to hear them!!