A Homemade Christmas

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter One: Greeting

Chapter Two: Trimming

Chapter Three: Cooking

Chapter Four: Giving

Chapter Five: Celebrating

Resources

About the Author & Illustrator/Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

The 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 don’t 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 approach—to 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 yourself—your time, efforts, and talent—will help you get into the genuine holiday spirit. And with personal gestures that come straight from the heart—by way of a handmade gift or a home cooked meal—you’ll not only discover new holiday meaning, you’ll 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 don’t have to be a highly skilled crafter or cook. All you need to do is make the choice that this year you’re 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 it’s 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. You’ll find it’s 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 kitchen—holiday cooking is the very essence of Christmas. Here are simple suggestions for cooking and sharing the bounty of the kitchen.

Giving: It’s 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.

Children’s 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. You’ll 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.

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