21 Fun Ways to Celebrate Christmas

Have a blast and help others

Compiled by Heather Scheiwe

1. Get your friends together to string popcorn and cranberries while watching animated kids' classics like A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

2. Get your youth group to create a living nativity scene one night a week in front of your church.

3. For a few laughs and a lot of fun, get together with friends to look at each other's family photos from past Christmases.

4. Form a kazoo band and go caroling—no singing allowed!

5. Pile the family in the car and drive around your town looking at Christmas lights.

6. Drop anonymous notes on your teachers' desks thanking them for sharing their gift of teaching with you. You may want to include a message about the greatest gift of all, Jesus!

7. Make your own creative wrapping paper using butcher paper and festive stamps.

8. Make a nativity scene from snow; if you live near a sunny beach, sand-sculpt the nativity scene.

9. Check with your local animal shelter and see if you and your friends can help give the animals their baths. Bring red and green ribbon to give them bows when you're done.

10. Go to your church one evening when no one else is there. Bring a single candle to light and sit in the silence, enjoying the peace of the season. (Be sure you've cleared this with somebody on the church staff.)

11. Grab your siblings for a fun day of shopping for your parents. After you've purchased the gifts, find a good place to sit and watch people. Try and guess who they're shopping for and what they bought.

12. Make hot cocoa for your grandma or grandpa. Ask them about Christmases past and their favorite traditions.

13. Try a holiday recipe from a different culture, like Mexican wedding cookies or Norwegian lefse.

14. Make a mixed tape of familiar Christmas carols sung by famous musical artists and have a contest to see who can guess who's singing; award the tape to one who gets the most correct.

15. Read the Christmas story (Matthew 1 and Luke 2:1-20) several times before Christmas; write down some new insights God gives you as you read.

16. Offer free babysitting for a busy mom in your church while she goes shopping.

17. Give out candy canes at school with a little note that explains where this tradition came from—to represent the staff of the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ; the red is his blood; the white is the purity of Christ. (Get the whole story here.)

18. Turn off all the lights and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas" by candlelight.

19. Get your youth group to clean your pastor's or youth pastor's house while they relax with their favorite Christmas CD.

20. Volunteer to be a Salvation Army bell ringer. Give candy to young children who drop money in the bucket.

21. Keep a journal of all your favorite Christmas memories from this year so you can thank God for each one and remember them next Christmas!

35 Top Merry Christmas Wishes Quotes 2013

Compiled below is a list of 35 top Merry Christmas Wishes quotes to use to wish a unique and original Merry Christmas to your friends and family. Use them on your Christmas cards or SMS or even email messages. Also check our Funny Christmas Quotes here and some really hot girls Christmas wallpapers here.

Christmas is a time when you get homesick – even when you’re home. ~Carol Nelson

He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree. ~Roy L. Smith

Once again we find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time of year when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions such as trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in my family by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from the mall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men, who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to a parking space. By Dave Barry.

The earth has grown old with its burden of care but at Christmas it always is young, The heart of the jewel burns lustrous and fair And its soul full of music breaks the air, When the song of angels is sung.” By Phillips Brooks.

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale

O Christmas Sun! What holy task is thine! To fold a world in the embrace of God! ~Guy Wetmore Carryl

Somehow, not only for Christmas, but all the long year through, the joy that you give to others, is the joy that comes back to you. And the more you spend in blessing, the poor and lonely and sad, the more of your heart’s possessing, returns to you glad. By John Greenleaf Whittier.

Christmas is the season when you buy this year’s gifts with next year’s money ~Kurt Avish

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. By Charles Dickens.

Christmas is the gentlest, loveliest festival of the revolving year – and yet, for all that, when it speaks, its voice has strong authority. ~W.J. Cameron

Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth; that can transport the sailor and the traveler, thousands of miles away, back to his own fire-side and his quiet home! By Charles Dickens.

Instead of being a time of unusual behavior, Christmas is perhaps the only time in the year when people can obey their natural impulses and express their true sentiments without feeling self-conscious and, perhaps, foolish. Christmas, in short, is about the only chance a man has to be himself. By Francis C. Farley.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other. ~Burton Hillis

Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time. ~Laura Ingalls Wilder

May peace be your gift for this Christmas and the blessing of the Almighty be with you and the world to help us all make this world a better place. To make it a Christmas day everyday of the year. ~Kurt Avish

Christmas is forever, not for just one day, for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf. The good you do for others is good you do yourself. ~Norman Wesley Brooks

A Christmas candle is a lovely thing. It makes no noise at all. But softly gives itself away. ~Eva Logue

For the spirit of Christmas fulfils the greatest hunger of mankind. ~Loring A. Schuler

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. ~Harlan Miller

Sing hey! Sing hey!
For Christmas Day;
Twine mistletoe and holly.
For a friendship glows
In winter snows,
And so let’s all be jolly!

At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year
~Thomas Tusser

Christmas is for children. But it is for grown-ups too. Even if it is a headache, a chore, and nightmare, it is a period of necessary defrosting of chill and hide-bound hearts. ~Lenora Mattingly Weber

May the spirit of Christmas bring you peace,
The gladness of Christmas give you hope,
The warmth of Christmas grant you love.

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men! ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I love the Christmas-tide, and yet,
I notice this, each year I live;
I always like the gifts I get,
But how I love the gifts I give! ~Carolyn Wells

‘Tis blessed to bestow, and yet,
Could we bestow the gifts we get,
And keep the ones we give away,
How happy were our Christmas day! ~Carolyn Wells

Except the Christ be born again tonight
In dreams of all men, saints and sons of shame,
The world will never see his kingdom bright. ~Vachel Lindsay

The earth has grown old with its burden of care,
But at Christmas it always is young. ~Phillips Brooks

Let Christmas not become a thing
Merely of merchant’s trafficking,
Of tinsel, bell and holly wreath
And surface pleasure, but beneath
The childish glamour, let us find
Nourishment for soul and mind.
Let us follow kinder ways
Through our teeming human maze,
And help the age of peace to come
From a Dreamer’s martyrdom. ~Madeline Morse

Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance – a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved. ~Augusta E. Rundel

Let us remember that the Christmas heart is a giving heart, a wide open heart that thinks of others first. The birth of the baby Jesus stands as the most significant event in all history, because it has meant the pouring into a sick world of the healing medicine of love which has transformed all manner of hearts for almost two thousand years. Underneath all the bulging bundles is this beating Christmas heart. By George Mathhew Adams.

The joy of brightening other lives, bearing each others’ burdens, easing other’s loads and supplanting empty hearts and lives with generous gifts becomes for us the magic of Christmas.” By W. C. Jones.

Christmas! The very word brings joy to our hearts. No matter how we may dread the rush, the long Christmas lists for gifts and cards to be bought and given–when Christmas Day comes there is still the same warm feeling we had as children, the same warmth that enfolds our hearts and our homes.” By Joan Winmill Brown.

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde, The Merry Book of Christmas

Why is it called Christmas?

Ever wondered where Christmas got it’s name? It comes from the combination of two words –
“Christ’s Mass,” which was a special church service celebrating the birth of Jesus that started in the
Catholic Church in the mid-fourth century. Masses are services where the Lord’s Supper (Eucharist)
is taken.

The word “Christmas” derives from an Old English term that dates back to 1038: “Cristes Maesse.” The term literally means “the mass of Christ,” which is evidence of its Catholic roots.[1] “Mass” comes from the Latinmissa, and refers to the service of Eucharist, or the Lord’s Supper. To the Protestant ear, Mass is best understood as a daily service of prayers in which Christians partake of the Lord’s supper, and the “mass of Christ” was specially devoted to the celebration of Christ’s birth.

The Development of the Liturgical Calendar

That is the simple explanation of the word Christmas. However the term is also a clue to the larger development of church tradition and practice. To begin, neither the celebration of Christ’s birth nor the word “mass” existed in the Early Church. It was not until 397 that missa was used by St. Ambrose to describe the already established liturgical centerpiece of the Lord’s Supper. Before then, Mass was commonly called Eucharistia.[2]

Of greater relevance to our purposes, however, is the relative absence of any Christmas celebration for the first three centuries of the Church’s existence. This absence was due to the fact that early Christians actively rejected the celebration of Christ’s birth. Origen (ca. 185-254 ca.) objected on the grounds that only pagan figures in the Bible, such as Pharaoh celebrated birthdays. Furthermore, the Roman Empire celebrated the birthdays of its leaders,[3] and it was during one of these very celebrations—Herod’s birthday—that John the Baptist was beheaded.[4]

Understandably, Christians desired to distance themselves from the pagan practice of observing birthdays. Christ was not to be confused with worldly leaders, so the church placed its greatest liturgical emphasis on Easter and Pentecost. These two significant events were honored with “ecclesiastical feasts,” which “not only commemorate an event or person, but also serve to excite the spiritual life by reminding us of the event it commemorates.”[5]

Easter and Pentecost remained the primary occasions for ecclesiastical feasts until the mid-fourth century when Christmas and Epiphany were added. December twenty-fifth was established as the Nativity Feast Day, and the official Nativity Mass was the first Mass of that day, held at nine o’clock in the morning.[6]

The “Mass of Christ” Grows in Liturgical Significance

Unlike the Western churches that observed Christmas on December twenty-fifth, the Jerusalem Church had established a tradition of celebrating Christmas on January sixth. Their celebration included a special service of Mass on the night of January sixth, and it was conducted in a church built above the cave in Bethlehem where Jesus was believed to have been born.[7]

As an increasing number of Western pilgrims visited the Holy Land and learned of this tradition, they chose to adopt the practice for themselves. Thus in the mid-fifth century the Roman Church established a Midnight Mass in the church of St. Mary Major. This “ subterranean chapel” was chosen for the Midnight Mass because it symbolized the cave in Jerusalem.”[8] It should also be noted that the hour of midnight was itself significant, since some traditions conjectured that Christ was born at midnight.[9]

Over time, the Roman tradition of Midnight Mass spread to other Western churches. Although the morning Mass remained an essential element of the Christmas Day celebration, the Midnight Mass came to signify thebeginning of Christmas Day. In fact, some Christian traditions considered it to be the distinctive Christmas service.[10]

As this tradition developed further, the church added a third Mass at dawn, thereby establishing a tripartite celebration of Christmas: Midnight Mass remembered the appearance of the angels, Mass at Dawn commemorated the arrival of the shepherds, and the Day Mass looked forward to Christ’s return.[11]

Additionally, Christians developed a fourth Mass to be held on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve mass developed out of the practice of vigils, which Christians commonly held “on the evening before important feasts, both universal ones such as Pentecost or local ones such as the feasts of martyrs in Roman North Africa.” By the fifth century, the December twenty-fourth Mass of the evening Vigil of Christmas was added to the Western liturgies[12]

As time went on the Christmas celebration grew in popularity, so the liturgical practices grew as well. The practice of Christmas Mass became a central fixture in the church calendar which is why, by the eleventh century, the day became known by its liturgical emphasis: Christ’s Mass.[13]

Today, the word “Christmas” is used by Protestants and Catholics alike, regardless of liturgical practice and Eucharistic belief. However, the Catholic origins of the term have been a stumbling block for some Christians. In seventeenth century England, the Puritans rejected Christmas as “unbiblical and loathed it for its ‘papist’ name, that is, ‘Christ’s Mass.’” The Catholic association was so odious to this band of Protestants that they outlawed Christmas whenever they possessed the political power to do so.[14]

Although the Puritans reacted too harshly, they undoubtedly understood the history of “Christmas.” Though a small and seemingly innocuous word, it is the product of politics, religion, controversy and jubilation, forged over centuries of liturgical growth.

Top 10 Best Christmas Movies

Top 10 Best Christmas Movies : Elf and Bad Santa Among the Classics

Someone just up like the Grinch. (Photo : Flickr / melissaclark)

Elf (2003)

Funnyman Will Ferrell delighted audiences across America with his performance as Buddy, an adopted Elf who has seriously outgrown his place in the North Pole. When Buddy finds out that he isn't biologically an elf but an actual human instead, he embarks on an outrageous journey to New York City. Buddy eventually finds his actual father, Walter Hobbs, a stern man played by James Caan. Elf is ten years old this holiday season and a heartwarming, modern Christmas classic.

It's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Competing with Miracle on 34th Street for most cherished Christmas movie of all time, It's a Wonderful Life features a magical cast headlined by James Stewart. Considered by the American Film Institute, as one of the 100 best American Films ever made director Frank Capra's holiday epic is a timeless tale. Playing do-gooder George Bailey, Stewart's character has to continually put his dreams on hold to help others. As he attempts suicide to end his meager existence, a guardian angel swoops in to show Bailey just how important and loved he really is.

Miracle on 34th Street is another perennial Christmas classic. Premiering just one year after It's a Wonderful Life means these two films will be compared and contrasted with each other to the end of time. At the time of its release, Miracle of 34 Street was a bigger commercial success than It's a Wonderful Life, but today both are considered top holiday favorites.Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

34th Street centers on Kris Kringle, a Santa Claus employed byMacy's department store in Manhattan, New York. Kris insists that he is actually Santa despite hardly anyone believing him.

The Polar Express (2004)

A landmark achievement in cinematic history, The Polar Express, was the first film to entirely use all-digital capture. The 3D film proved to be an immense hit critically and commercially thanks to Tom Hanks's virtuoso performance. If you've already seen the movie you can read The Polar Express book, which won the Caldecott Medal for most distinguished American picture book for children.

Breath-taking visuals aside the story is a real treat. A young Michigan boy doesn't know whether or not to believe in Santa Claus anymore. He goes to bed and discovers a train called The Polar Express. The train goes straight to the north pool and the boy gets to go on the adventure of a lifetime.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

What's better than Kevin McCallister being left home for Christmas? Being left behind in the most exciting city in the world of course! The original Home Alone is still the highest grossing comedy of all time (take that Wolfpack) and the sequel could have very easily been an uninspired money grab. Yet Lost in New York is an amazing Christmas film. The original core cast is back, including Macaulay Culkin (Kevin), and Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern (the Wet Bandits).

Highlights of the film include: Kevin befriending a crazy pigeon lady; Harry and Marv attempting to rob high-end retailer FAO Schwartz; and watching America's most forgetful family reunite with their troublemaking son towards the end of the picture.

Bad Santa (2003)

Willie T. Stokes (Billy Bob Thornton) and Marcus (Tony Cox) are criminals plain and simple. They have an annual ruse where they get employed as Santa and Elf at various shopping malls. When they have the chance they spring into action and rob the mall blind. This time around things don't go according to plan thanks to Thurman, a heavyset, bullied boy played by Brett Kelly. Thurman actually believes that sex addict, alcoholic and criminal Willie is the real Santa Claus. The pair of misfits bond and become close friends. The outrageous Black Comedy features the F-word dozens of times. It's a definite crowd pleaser, but don't let your kids see it.

Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)

Like the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, the Grinch is a tale about forgiveness and redemption. The Grinch is a sad bitter sap. The Grinch has a black heart and stays away from the pleasant residents of Whoville. On Christmas Eve, he hatches a plan to steal Christmas and enlists his trusty dog Max to help him.

When the resident's of Whoville awake to see their possessions taken from them, they don't mope about and cry out loud. Instead they celebrate the positive things in their life. The Grinch finally starts to see what Christmas is all about and he turns over a new leaf.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Young Charlie Brown finds himself in a decidedly non-merry mood despite the fact that Christmas is fast approaching. Voiced by Peter Robbins, Charlie despises the fact that the Christmas Holiday is being exploited by commercial interests. The half hour special focuses on Brown's attempts to instill the true meaning of Christmas into the entire Peanuts gang.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)

A raucous Christmas classic starring comedy legend Chevy Chase, Christmas Vacation is a must see holiday comedy for any occasion. Chase plays Clark W. Griswold, a man full of holiday spirit. Expecting to have a nice simple Christmas with his family, he is wholly unaware of the shenanigans about to take over his life. Christmas Vacation features a stellar cast including Juliette Lewis and Randy Quaid. The famous lights scene is a real crowd-pleaser.

A Christmas Story (1983)

Selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress last year, A Christmas Story is a cultural landmark of American cinema. Ralphie Parker loves Christmas and he is hoping that he gets a Red Ryder BB Gun as a present. All the adults in Ralphie's life talk about the dangers of owning such a toy, but he cannot drop the subject. Set in the 1960s, A Christmas Story will be playing non-stop this Holiday season so be sure to check it out.