Christmas quickly approaches and vacation time for children as well. We therefore wonder how we are going to entertain our children during the end of year holidays. Holiday season is the best moment to share activities between adults and children.
The first of these activities is to get back into the mood for the magic and the festive spirit of this holiday by visiting shopping malls organizing beautifully decorated windows; which are an eternally renewed delight for the children and their parents.
Sleigh Baby Cribs
Some shopping malls are also organizing areas consisting of a path to the lighting, decorations, displayed scenes from Christmas movies, train sets and toys simulating real situations; static or interactive decorations as a fire truck and fire fighters helping the victims of a fire or the express of the King's Cross railway station platform 9-3/4 bringing Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts. A little further on, after seeing Rudolph surrounded by elves and goblins relaxing on a fairy forest, we enter in the fantastic house of Barbie; which contains 35 rooms decorated for the December 24th Eve. Do not disturb her, she is hosting a Christmas party.
Another three steps and we will enter in the victorian area of this Christmas dream: hundreds of beautiful teddy bears are playing in a green grass area. Ten meters after them, we are approaching a bedroom where luxurious old fashioned porcelain dolls are sleeping in their cradle. At the end of this path, we meet Santa Claus, sitting on a golden seat and waiting for our children to communicate their wish list to him.
A picture of Santa Claus holding our child on his laps closes this magical journey that reminds us the taste and the atmosphere of our own childhood. This fairy journey will also become our first Christmas memory of the year.
The second activity will be the decoration of our house and the Christmas tree. Is there a better holiday activity than this one; which our children will remember when they will grow up and become parents? It will certainly give them the desire to perpetuate these traditions.
I remember the first time I decorated the tree with my mother and she told me to not to touch the flocking which simulated the snow because she thought that it would cut my fingers. I did not believe her... When my son helped me to decorate the Christmas tree for the first time, I told him not to touch the flocking and within one second, the taste and the atmosphere of my own childhood end of year holidays came back to my memory.
When the tree and the house are decorated, we will install the crib that represents the Nativity scene. Children have not lost their primary instincts and the scene will usually be more secure than beautiful, as if they wanted to protect the baby Jesus twenty centuries after his birth. Let them install the Christmas crib while we supervise their work. The scene of the nativity is also the opportunity to educate children about the birth of Jesus and the meaning of Christmas; and it is a fun way to learn history.
Another end of year holiday activity to share with our family is to walk on the streets to discover the gardens decorated with Santa Claus on his sleigh or climbing along the front of the houses, the lights on the municipal Christmas tree as well as participate in end of year Events organized by the municipality.
After a long and tiring day, we will enjoy a warm evening by watching a Christmas movie with our children, drink hot chocolate and eat waffles or cookies. These are some basic activities that will create, for us and our children, holiday season memories that will last for a lifetime.