Christmas is nearly here – and there’s very little you can do about it! The Christmas season is simultaneously exciting and obnoxious and can be difficult to get into the spirit – especially when the fun of Halloween and Bonfire Night are so recent in memory. What are some simple ways you can fast-track yourself into the Christmas spirit?
Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay
Turn Up the Festive Tunes
The key to many festive hearts is not in the early appearance of Christmas fodder down seasonal supermarket aisles, but rather the soft-launch of festive hits on the airwaves. There is a Christmas banger for everyone, from soulful ballads to sleigh-bell-flecked rollicking rock-n-roll-ers – and all are infectious, to say the least.
Starting up a festive playlist on your streaming platform of choice is a surefire way to get into the mood. You could even bring the family into a festive game of sorts – Whamageddon is a particularly fun one played across social media, wherein you lose if you hear Wham!’s ‘Last Christmas’ before Christmas Day…
Deck the Halls
Christmas at home is often defined by the decorations: stockings over the fireplace, wreaths over the doors, a Christmas tree in the corner and tinsel around every corner. The sooner you decorate your own home to suit the season, the sooner you’ll be dipping into that merry feeling that comes with the season!
You needn’t start with the tree, mind. This can be quite an overwhelming thing to have erected in your living space for more than a month, after all. Rather, you could start small and build up. Hanging up some festive lights can be a subtle introduction to the festive season, from which you can build up your Christmas decorations with ornaments, mantelpiece trinkets, and, eventually, the glory of tinsel.
Watch a Pantomime
Not all festive spirit shenanigans need to take place in the comfort of your own home, mind. There are many festive activities to discover out and about, all of which are their own gateway into that famed Christmas spirit. One such gateway is to the world of panto, where festive pantomimes are an ineluctable part of the holiday season run-up. They are also a fantastic family event!
Find a Christmas Lights Switch-On
Of course, panto isn’t quite for everyone. For a different flavour of family-friendly festive fun, you could turn to your nearest market town for its own Christmas lights switch-on event. Urban centres across the country will have their own festoonings of festive lighting, and their own switch-on event with a local celebrity of choice. Go along, marvel at the new lights and ring in the official start of the holiday season!
Host a Festive Film Night
Finally, after a busy day of decorating, singing along to Christmas tunes and plodding your way around festive stalls, what better way to top off the evening than to settle down with a tranche of Christmas films? Chintzy Hallmark romcoms are a laugh to watch with friends, while quintessential masterpieces like It’s A Wonderful Life are guaranteed to bring a Christmas tear to the eye.
You could even curate your own festive film marathon, whether late-20th century classics like Home Alone and Planes, Trains and Automobiles or modern Netflix classics-in-making…
