The first of November is the Christmas season.
At least, it qualifies as the Christmas season for me.
Annually on Halloween, I watch a Christmas movie to initiate the year’s festivities once I finish any holiday activity. Usually, I watch The Polar Express, but this year I couldn’t find the ancient DVD, or a streaming service to watch it on. Instead, I watched The Santa Clause, which was an adequate replacement.
Since then, I have started spreading my Christmas cheer.
Consequently, I have begun the search for activities to enhance the season.
A lot of activities are very repetitive, but adding a seasonal twist can easily enhance it. On this note, baking is a fantastic holiday activity. Not only is it a fun and creative activity but there are so many variations that go along with it. The options for what to bake are endless, from cookies to brownies, and with different levels of difficulty to fit whatever the people baking prefer. There is also so much that is up to interpretation with designs or aspects of baking that can specifically fit the Christmas season. You can alter colors through frosting, sprinkles, dye, and more to the red and greens famously associated with the season, and designs of Santa, snowmen, and more. You can listen to music or watch a movie or TV show while baking, making it in no occasion boring.
In frigid Michigan, you can always make time for those outdoor winter activities when the snow arrives. Some of my favorites are ice skating, sledding, and building snowmen. There are so many others as well, such as skiing, snowboarding, snowball fights, and more. Some may sound immature, but sometimes those things are the most fun of them all. The snow and temperatures create thousands of options for fun, even if sometimes it just means snuggling up with a warm drink and watching it fall.
Christmas lights appear as early as October, and I am always ecstatic when I see them. I become like a dog seeing a squirrel whenever we drive past any. Me and my mom will take nights where we drive around with Starbucks and Christmas music just looking at all the lights. It seems simple but is a great time filler to be in the spirit of the holidays. There are also light shows such as the one at the LMCU ballpark. The show is a tradition in my family, and I will sometimes go multiple times a year. One year, me and a group of friends went and we sat in line for hours, so we blasted the music and sang with everyone else in line. It is such a fun thing to do while staying warm and comfortable.
There are so many other shows for the season, my favorite being The Nutcracker. There is also the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, which comes annually to Van Andel Arena for their entertaining concert. Other lesser-known activities include the Christmas trees at Frederik Meijer Gardens, events such as Tinsel, Treats, and Trolley in Ada, the tree lighting in East Grand Rapids, and many more things.
Returning to the idea of food with baking, so many places have special menus for the season. These places include Starbucks, Biggby, Crumble Cookies, Ihop, and many more. Sometimes, especially if you don’t want to dirty dishes, or make something yourself, going out and trying these delicious, limited-time items is the perfect cherry on top of any other activity that is being planned.
There are endless options of things to do to avoid being a Grinch this season. Some other things include simply watching a movie, crafts, shopping, decorating, and more. Truly anything can enhance the Christmas spirit, just add some Christmas music and you’re set.
