Things You'll Need:
- Pine cones
- Popcorn
- Recipes
- Christmas carols
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Step 1
One of the most common themes of country Christmas decorating is using homemade decorations and giving homemade gifts. This is not actually necessary to simulate the effect of a good old-fashioned country Christmas. You can buy readymade decorations that look handmade. Plus, it is fun to bring in the relatives and have a Christmas card-making party, where you all get together and just have a blast with paper, markers, scissors and glue and make cards to exchange. This is a fun time for reminiscing as well. Tell each other about your year, what you have been up to, what your families are doing, and so on.
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Step 2
Gathering music for an old-fashioned sing-along is fun for everyone involved. Get together, rehearse a few traditional Christmas tunes, grab a neighbor who owns a one-horse open sleigh (or at the very least a pick-up truck and trailer so you can have a hay ride) and go out caroling through the neighborhood. People love that and they will flock to the streets just to see the horse and sleigh, let alone to hear the beautiful music. Expect to get your picture taken many times. Also expect cold cheeks, hands and feet, so you will want to dress accordingly if you happen to live in a region where the winters get blustery cold.
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Step 3
Baking Christmas cookies with your family is a fun, enjoyable way to celebrate togetherness (not to mention sweetness) at Christmas time. Sugar cookies bedecked with frosting and little candies are always a welcome treat. When they are finished, hop in the car and go door to door through the neighborhood and share the joy by giving away some of the cookies to your friends, relatives and neighbors. Or organize a Christmas cookie party where everyone brings a dozen cookies to exchange with someone else. Everyone goes home with different cookies than they came with, or a variation on that theme; put all the cookies on one big platter and let everyone select whichever varieties they want to take home with them.
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Step 4
Exchange recipes with all your family and friends, then get together with them for a party featuring all of the delightful baked goods from those same recipes. Gather the children together and let them help you bake something for the party. Even if they only put sprinkles on cookies, they are helping and children love to help bake sweet things. Another good project for children is to pop some popcorn for them to string up to decorate the Christmas tree. This can keep them busy for hours while you do other things. They may eat most of the popcorn, but that is all just part of the fun anyway.
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Step 5
No country Christmas is complete without pine cones. Go out in the woods and gather a bagful of these naturally lovely ornaments, but make sure you wash them because pine cones are great nesting places for spiders and insects. You can spray paint them pretty colors, add sparkly glitter or just leave them plain and attach strings or hooks to each one so you can hang them on your tree. This is the pine tree's natural ornamentation after all, so this will look absolutely lovely on your tree. Complete the effect with your garlands of popcorn and other homemade ornaments, and you will be well on your way to a delightful country Christmas. Enjoy the caroling.
