Christmas isn’t just about succulent roast turkey, flashing lights and mountains and mountains of gifts (although all of that stuff is nice) it is about showing how much you love and care for the people around you.
Taking time out at Christmas to really show your love and appreciation for everyone from your nearest and dearest family members and friends to neighbours and even simply the people who deliver your packages or collect your bins, can really help to make the festive season even more special than it already is.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the best ways to show you care this Christmas:
1. Visit the neighbours
If you have any neighbours who are elderly or vulnerable, and maybe do not get a lot of visitors during the year, Christmas is the perfect time to extend the olive branch to them. Pop over with a Christmas card and maybe a box of chocolates, wish them a Merry Christmas and check that they are doing okay. It’s such a simple thing to do, but it will mean a lot to neighbours who perhaps are feeling a little lonely at this time of year.
2. Donations
At this time of year, we are reminded of how lucky we are. We get to spend quality time with our families eating good food, exchanging thoughtful gifts and having a good time. Not everyone is so fortunate. So, if you are able to do so, taking the time to donate a small sum to a local homeless shelter so they can feed people over the festive season, a food bank, animal resuce centre or a charity that buys Christmas presents for the less fortunate, is a great way to show you care, and an excellent way to teach your kids about the real meaning of Christmas too.
3. Volunteer
As well as donating money or goods, you might want to think about doing a little volunteering over the festive season. It’s a really good way to give back and be thankful for all you have during the Christmas season, and you can make some lifelong friends when you help out serving Christmas dinners to the elderly or at a homeless shelter, for example. No matter how much or little time you have available, chances are local organisations would love to have you.
4. Make breakfast in bed
Show your partner how much you care for them this festive season by making them a special breakfast complete with fancy pastries and bucks fizz, and serving it to them in bed., So many people run themselves ragged in the run-up to Christmas in a bid to make everything perfect that a simple gesture of appreciation like breakfast in bed can mean the world.
5. Tips
Giving tips, whether in the form of cash, Christmas gift cards or a token gift, is a great way to show the people who you might not know well, but who make life easier by delivering your food or collecting your recycling bins, or whatever that their work through the year is really appreciated by you and your family. If you don’t have much money to spend on tips, then even just taking the time to bake them some Christmas cookies or a thank you card is likely to be very much appreciated.
6. Be a secret Santa
Buy lots of little gifts, wrap them up and leave them in various locations around the town with a note saying that whoever finds the gift should keep it and enjoy it. Being a secret Santa not only brings joy to lots of people in your community, but it will put a huge smile on your face too, There’s nothing like making people happy anonymously to help you really get into the Christmas spirit.
If you want to be a secret Santa for someone in your life that deserves more credit, you can also target the gifts directly towards them. For example, if your child’s teacher has gone underappreciated, you could get them a candle from Kindred Fires, for instance, and get your child to leave it on their desk when they’ve left the classroom – to keep the ‘secret’ part of Secret Santa, of course! You could even have it personalized with a nice thank-you message to show how much you appreciate them.
7. Bake some cookies
Baking Christmas cookies or cakes and bringing them with you to work is a really simple gesture that will delight your colleagues and show them how much you care for and appreciate them too. If you have kids, make a batch for their teachers too; Christmas is always a busy time for school staff and a sugar pick-me-up might be just what they need after a day of choir practice, nativity rehearsals and school Christmas parties.
This Christmas, while you’re enjoying shopping for gifts and attending the school nativity, take the time to show someone how much you care, and it will not only spread the love, but it will make you so much happier too.
