24 - Making Memories. It's Christmas Eve! I wonder if the kids will remember much of what we did today, but I have no doubt that I will! I wouldn't say we "made merry" or did anything special, but we definitely made some memories! We made a Walmart run for milk, eggs, wrapping paper, tape and crayons on a very windy day, and we came out of the store into a torrential downpour. It was wonderfully warm rain, pooling up to my ankles in the parking lot, and we were soaked to the skin by the time we got to our van, but we laughed all the way, and my four-year-old caught raindrops on her tongue...and her eyes, nose, face, and hair, too. :) What a memory to keep! This evening the kids unwrapped their pajamas from Grandma by the light of the Christmas tree, a bunch of candles, and a rarely lit fireplace. (Note to self: next year, don't light the advent candles when the fireplace is lit...although the spectacularly melted-down candles really impressed the girls.) More memories... :)
23 - Christmas Lights. My like-minded neighbor and I were talking today about how much money it takes to decorate the outside of a house for Christmas, for just one month out of the year. We came up with a fairly simple, Scrooge-ish solution...skip the decorating, and enjoy the neighbors' displays! :)
22 - Cinnamon Dough Ornaments. We made these last year as a school project when my two oldest were in Kindergarden. We (yes, all six of us!) were living in a hotel room, and we didn't have a lot of decorating options, or space! I got some cookie cutters at the thrift store for .25, and we made these ornaments. They smelled wonderful, and we made a bunch to mail to grandmas and aunts for Christmas presents. We kept the Baby Jesus we made, though. :)
21 - Christmas Card display. It had to be cheap, easy, out of my way, and definitely out of reach. So I stuck two push-pins in the top of the trim (where the holes won't show) and tied an elasticised ribbon to them. I hang up the cards we receive with plastic coated paper clips. It is cheap, easy, out of my way, and definitely out of reach. :)
19 - Christmas Letter. Instead of Christmas cards, we usually send out a Christmas letter (with pictures) to our friends and family. This year, due to circumstances beyond our control, the time I usually set aside to work on them was taken up by other important activities, like spending time with my husband. 
18 - Buy just one favorite movie. Last year I rented Baryshnikov's version of The Nutcracker for my girls to watch. They LOVED it (but then again, I don't know too many little girls who wouldn't!) So this year, for a joint Christmas present I got them "their" own copy (from half.com -- for less than half the price other places were charging!), and I gave it to them early. Our kids do not watch many movies as a rule, but with special permission, they have watched it almost every day (sometimes twice a day) after their schoolwork and chores are done. Even Mr. Adorable watches the whole thing -- he is 19 months old and won't sit through any other movie.
17 - Do you see what I see? I see a beautiful star, colored and cut out by a certain 4 year-old, and hung at the top of our tree with gold foil-covered wire. She made it in Children's Church on Sunday, and spent the ride home wondering where on the tree would be high enough to keep it safe, because "It's only paper, but it's special to me, Mom."
16 - Nothing says Christmas like...kumquats! Perhaps growing up in the southern hemisphere (where Christmas is in the summer) has twisted my thinking slightly, but I was elated to find kumquats at my commissary yesterday. (Yes, elated!) :)
15 - Stocking Stuffers. My kids usually get a bunch of small things in their stockings, as well as things like dried fruit and nuts, none of which are much fun to wrap. So I had my mom make me some little drawstring bags out of Christmas fabric scraps that I can fill for them year after year. Cute, free, and reusable! (Thanks, Mom!) :)
14 - Clearance, clearance, clearance. I won't embarrass any stores by telling you how cheap I got these things. I shop the Christmas clearance sales every year. I don't mean the day-after sales. I mean the "it's been marked down more than 75% and is dirt-cheap" sales, a month or so later. Things like wrapping paper and gift bags and cards you can save away for next year (and they don't take much storage space, either). I keep the candles to use next year, and I've used a big tub of soft wrapped mints as filler in packages we mail. Use your imagination!
12 - Use old maps as wrapping paper. My husband is a pilot, so we have a lot of expired sectional charts around our house. We reuse them as wrapping paper for our kids, families, and like-minded friends. :) 
