Tina Barseghian - A Homemade Christmas

T he idea of a homemade holiday sounds appealing: taking the time to create handcrafted gifts and decorations, making home-baked goodies, and enjoying quality time with family. But too often, our busy and over-committed schedules dont allow us to slow down. Our consumer culture encourages us to spend the holidays in a frenzy of wasteful buying and materialism, and the countdown to Christmas becomes fraught with expense and anxiety instead of fun and anticipation. This book is intended to help you find a new approachto break the cycle and create a meaningful, modern, family- and earth-friendly homemade holiday.

The philosophy behind A Homemade Christmas is simple: Giving part of yourselfyour time, efforts, and talentwill help you get into the genuine holiday spirit. And with personal gestures that come straight from the heartby way of a handmade gift or a home cooked mealyoull not only discover new holiday meaning, youll also demonstrate your appreciation for those you love. Involve family members, including kids, friends, and even colleagues, in your plan to have a homemade Christmas.

But rest assured, a homemade Christmas does not require an inordinate amount of extra time, it does not call for much financial outlay, and you dont have to be a highly skilled crafter or cook. All you need to do is make the choice that this year youre going to take a new approach to the holiday revelry. Relax, step away from the frenzy, and head into this Christmas season with the knowledge that its all about your attitude.

A Homemade Christmas shows you how to take back the holidays with an easy-to-follow blueprint for adding a homemade touch to everything you do. Youll find its not only easier than you thought, but also much more enjoyable. Each of the five chapters in this book covers one aspect of traditional Christmas celebrations and provides a wealth of ideas, projects, tips, and advice for going homemade.

Greeting: The holidays offer a great opportunity each year to reach out to friends and family. Here are a number of ideas to create personal, artful cards that are also green, quick, and fun to make.

Trimming: Express yourself and show some flair by decorating your home and trimming your tree. This chapter is packed with ideas for making decorations and ornaments, projects for handmade embellishments, suggestions for quick homemade touches, and earth-friendly tips.

Cooking: Delicious meals, delectable sweets, mouth-watering aromas wafting from the kitchenholiday cooking is the very essence of Christmas. Here are simple suggestions for cooking and sharing the bounty of the kitchen.

Giving: Its the heart of the holiday spirit. Find creative ways to put your talents to use in this chapter. Choose from a variety of clever ideas and easy instructions for handcrafted presents and thoughtful alternatives for gifts that draw on your unique skills and enthusiasms.

Celebrating: Traditions give the holidays context and meaning, and draw people together. This chapter offers ideas for creating new traditions, cementing old ones, and making connections with the community.

Childrens uninhibited joy is what makes Christmas delightful for everyone, so within each chapter we offer suggestions for kid-friendly projects, ways to include little ones in your preparations, and ideas for fun, homemade family activities. Youll also see the recurring theme of finding ways to green your holidays with eco-conscious choices.

We hope the ideas in A Homemade Christmas inspire you with a sense of renewal to enjoy the holiday.

Share the Christmas spirit with heartfelt holiday greetings.

T he holidays provide the perfect occasion to send warm wishes to all those we care about. Busy months speed by, and between work, school, travel, and the distractions of life, we may not have the time or opportunity to reach out and catch up with friends and family as much as wed like.

But the holidays give us the opportunity to slow down and take the time to make and send personal greetings. With written notes and photos, we bring people back into our lives. The process of deciding on the idea of the card, assembling the elements, and writing a heartfelt message connects you to your loved ones, showing them that theyre on your mind and that they mean a lot to you.

Its also a way for you to express yourself artisticallyeven if you dont necessarily think of yourself as a visual artist. Homemade holiday greetings can take the form of art, collage, photos, videos, essaysor whatever appeals to you and works within your budget and time constraints.

Homemade in this context means that you put some of your own handiwork into creating your greetingbut it does not have to mean that you must create each element from scratch, eschew technology, or reject anything manufactured. The effort you make and the personal connection you forge in sending the greeting are what make it special. A holiday card amid the stack of catalogs and bills is sure to be the first piece of mail opened; a personal message in your email in-box (especially if it comes complete with photos or video) will be opened with equal anticipation.

This chapter offers homemade greeting ideas for every level of time and skill. If youre excited to exercise your crafty muscles, you may enjoy making your own stamps, creating collages with different types of media, or embroidering a Christmas message. If your time is very limited or your skills more technical than crafty, you can create a different type of homemade greeting: check out the section on digital greetings, consider writing a holiday blog, or use your camera to make a video. Making holiday cards is a great activity to share with children, too. There are also plenty of suggestions for reusing, recycling, and repurposing materials to help make your Christmas greetings earth-friendly.

Reach out and connect with your friends and family, and get yourself ready to enjoy the holidays!

Send a Photo Card

Embellishments make photo cards extra-special.

D uring the year, we rarely have the opportunity to share print photos with our friends and family. Most of us have gone fully digital and have learned to negotiate the digital process: download photos from the camera, upload them to photo-sharing websites, and send the links to our loved ones. If were lucky, we can pull this off a few times a year.

Seeing the images online is fun, but it doesnt give the same satisfaction as holding an actual printed photograph in your hand. Theres the delicious anticipation upon spotting the envelope in your mailbox, followed by the thrill of opening it and seeing the photo for the first time: the childrens goofy smiles, the pets hilarious outfit, your friend sipping a margarita in Mexico. Stick it on the fridge, and youve got an instant reminder of someone you love that can make you smile on a daily basis.