Can you believe that Christmas is only 15 days away?!? It’s crazy that it will be here before we know it. It seems like just yesterday that it was two months away. I absolutely love this time of year! I love everything about it – the movies, the music, the food, the energy from people, the extra togetherness with family and friends, and overall spirit of the season. I love the feeling that miracles can happen and that anything is possible this time of year!
I’ve pretty much been in the holiday spirit ever since the clocked struck midnight after Halloween, but I know some people aren’t into the holidays or it takes them longer to get into the mood. I’ve come up with twenty surefire ways that can get you into the Christmas spirit. By the end of it, you’ll be singing, “Deck the Halls… Fa la la la la la la la la”
20 Ways to Get Into the Christmas Spirit
1. Watch Christmas Movies: Nothing will get you more into the Christmas spirit than Hallmark.There are so many great Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. Netflix has some, but I recommend just watching Hallmark, because it’s by far the best! Netflix has nothing on Hallmark. You can always go the classic route and watch movies like A Christmas Carol, A Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, or A Charlie Brown Christmas. If you are into cheesy, romantic Christmas movies, then Hallmark is the channel that you want to watch! I’ve been watching Hallmark since November 1. The UP Channel and ION are also showing tons of movies throughout the holiday season. Here are some of my favorites:
- One Starry Christmas
- A Gift to Remember
- Let It Snow
- A Very Merry Mix-up
- A Royal Christmas
- A Christmas Detour
- Switched For Christmas
- A Dream of Christmas
- Once Upon a Holiday
- Naughty or Nice (the Hilarie Burton OR the Haylie Duff one)
- Christmas List
- Family For Christmas
- Love You Like Christmas
- On the Twelfth Day of Christmas
- Christmas in Homestead
2. Wear an “ugly” Christmas sweater: Wearing tacky sweaters is one of my favorite things about the holiday season. I have tons of “ugly” Christmas t-shirts, sweaters, sweatshirts, and even hats. My favorite Christmas sweater has to be my pizza themed one!
3. Go ice skating: I’m absolutely horrible at skating, but it’s just one of those activities that you have to do around this time of year! It also could be super romantic going with your significant other!
4. Bake Christmas cookies: ‘Tis the season of sweets! There are so many recipes out there to choose from to bake.
5. Create a Spotify Christmas playlist: What’s Christmas without Christmas music?!? You can go straight traditional or listen to covers of your favorites or even discover new favorites with the new modern songs.
- ‘Tis the Season
- Merry and Bright
- Spiced Apple Toddy
7. Drive around and look at the Christmas lights: This is one of my favorite things to do! I think it makes downtown and all of the neighborhoods look beautiful. It’s just so nice to see everyone getting into the Christmas spirit.
8. Decorate for Christmas (if you already haven’t): Decorating is a must when it comes to Christmas! If you haven’t decorated yet, then get on it! It’s December 10! There are only 15 days until Christmas!
9. Do a Secret Santa/White Elephant/Dirty Santa gift exchange with a group of friends: My group of friends and I usually do this and it’s so much fun and hilarious. Last year for our “Dirty Santa,” the theme was “crappy” gifts. We ended up giving a box of 15 gift cards. Some had zero money on them, some had small amounts like 45 cents, and one had $25. The whole point was that whoever received the gift had to go to each website to check the amount on each card.
10. Throw a holiday party: I love attending house parties, holidays or not. Spending time with friends always creates wonderful memories.
11. Build a snowman or have a snowball fight: This one will obviously depend on the weather. Snow is definitely one of those things that people associate with Christmas. There’s just something so magical about it!
12. Read a Christmas book: There are so many classics that will guarantee to put you in the Christmas spirit, such as; A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Story by Jean Shepard, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L. May, The Snowman by Raymond Briggs, A Charlie Brown Christmas by Charles M. Schulz, The Night Before Christmas by Clement C. Moore, The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss.
13. Read the true Christmas story: Remember the reason for the season!
14. Go caroling: It doesn’t matter if you have a great voice or not, just as long as you are having fun and spreading holiday.
15. Drink hot chocolate or hot apple cider (include bourbon if you’re feeling frisky!): Hot apple cider is my favorite! All of these drinks are perfect for when it’s cold out!
16. Build a gingerbread house: Build one with your children or build one with your significant other! Either way it’s a fun activity. When my husband and I first started dating, we built a haunted “gingerbread” house for Halloween and is was such a blast, but yet so hilarious!
17. Take a picture with Santa: This is a super cute idea if you are a couple!
18. Wear Christmas PJs: Old Navy has many cute matching tops and bottoms!
19. Volunteer: Do something good for someone else. Donate items to a homeless shelter or volunteer at a soup kitchen. Christmas is the season for giving. It’s great to give back to help the less fortunate and to help those in need.
20. Write a letter to Santa: Maybe you’ll get what you asked for?!
If you loved my post, check out what the rest of the #LexBloggerFam has to offer you this holiday season!
Sarah Caton |Â Space, Place & Southern Grace
Leela Foley |Â Â Lex Eats
Ella Rutledge |Â Girl Meets Lex
Chioma Brown |Â C’s Evolution of Style
Lindsay Latimer |Â Bourbon & Lipstick
Nina McClure |Â Blooming Boldly
Erin Short |Â The Bliss Between
Sheryl Woolverton |Â How to Make a Life
Courtney Hastings|Â Kentucky Girl Ramblings
Desarae Anderson | House Three Thirty Six
Tif Fannin |Â Bright on a Budget
Bronwyn Butler |Â Basically Bronwyn
Zac Jones |Â The Kitchen Gent
Stephanie Hargis |Â This Lexington Life
How do you get into the Christmas spirit?
These are all great ideas! We drove around and looked at lights last week – such a fun date night!
Yes, girl! So many good ideas! I love those Bath & Body Works candles – Tis the Season is so good!
I’m a HUGE fan of all of these. This is my favorite time of year, and these are all great suggestions to enjoy the season!
Such fun ideas! I want to make a gingerbread house!
Great post,
I love the holidays but I’m not always feelin the christmas spirit… can be a bit more difficult when there’s less kids in your life, kinda have to force yourself to be jolly and merry!!
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xox
MESSYPOT.COM
We had our first snow this weekend so I am definitely ready for some holiday cheer!
Hmm, I’m not so sure I could get into the spirit of the “Dirty Santa” exchange. But watching Christmas movies always does it for me!
So we have been watching christmas movie after christmas movie and I love it! We are also doing a lot of baking on Saturday!
These are great ideas! I’ve always loved Christmas so it doesn’t take a whole lot to get in the spirit. I really hope I don’t lose that magic once the kids are older.
I love this list! You’ve got a few things on here that I want to still do!
Thanks!
danielle
momwifefoodie.com
Love these ideas! Doesn’t take much to get me in the season, but driving around looking at Christmas lights is definitely a MUST! 🙂
Love these ideas! Doesn’t take much to get me in the season, but driving around looking at Christmas lights is definitely a MUST! 🙂
Love these ideas! Doesn’t take much to get me in the season, but driving around looking at Christmas lights is definitely a MUST! 🙂
These are all fantastic ideas! Admittedly, I don’t really enjoy the holidays as much as I used to because it’s become so commercialized! But a few things you mentioned are things I do to get into the spirit: I watch cheesy holiday movies, I love to drive around and look at all the Christmas decorations, and baking holiday cookies is always a sure fire way to get myself into the holiday spirit! One thing I hadn’t thought of though was something one my reader’s said a few days ago about how she gets into the Christmas rigamarole: she buys herself a nice peppermint body wash and lotion set every year to indulge in. I think I’m going to start doing the same for myself every year from here on out! Great post!
I love Hallmark’s Christmas movies but could never remember the names of my favorites. You are a saving grace!
Thanks to the kids I have most of these crossed off the list, but I must remember in years to come to follow the Christmas traditions such as Santa, letter writing, Christmas lights, movies, food etc. It really does get you in the mood. ?? Love Christmas!
I love this list!!! Hallmark movies are so fun to watch while you’re baking Christmas cookies!
It doesn’t take me much to get in the spirit, but driving around looking at Christmas lights is a MUST! 🙂
OK I love all of these suggestions!! My favorites are probably Christmas PJs, decorating for the holidays, and baking Christmas cookies! My mom is obsessed with Hallmark Christmas movies so I will be sure to write down all these movies for her to check out haha!! (I personally love the ones where someone is a secret prince or the one where the girl has to pretend she has a fiance and brings him home for the holidays and then they obviously fall in love lol!)
This is a fantastic list. My husband is kind of a Scrooge which makes it hard for me to really get into the Christmas spirit. I absolutely LOVE the stripper glasses, too! 😉
I love all of these ideas! We do most of them every year, but I’m so bummed we didn’t do a white elephant this year.
So many great ideas! I have the Christmas movies on non-stop and having been baking up lots of cookies! Love this time of year!
I’ll admit I’ve been struggling to be in the Christmas spirit. These ideas should help!
I love your ideas! Our favorites are decorating Christmas cookies and looking at lights! (Plus decorating the tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving).