Creating a Cosy Christmas Atmosphere at Home With Family
One of the greatest pleasures of the month of December is creating an atmosphere of warmth and wonder within your home to share with your young children.
The holidays with young children are a time of enchantment, predictable rhythm and rituals, and the memories that the small moments together inspire us to hold onto. You don’t need to go to great extents, have super extravagant plans, decorations, or things to do in order to create that sense of warmth with your family this month. What matters in setting the tone for Christmas is creating those comfortable, connected, and homely feelings, and staying in a rhythm that helps your children to feel safe and secure, but also warmly anticipative.
Begin With Gentle Holiday Rhythms
Plenty of families love to transition into the holiday season by weaving the simplest holiday rhythms into their regular daily life. An advent rhythm can be a beautiful balance of structure and added fun for your young children. A delicious, high-quality chocolate calendar makes for a special moment in the morning and provides an opportunity for counting and a very little waiting for the toddler and preschooler set. When you buy a really well-made, natural chocolate or two alongside an advent calendar that has quality chocolate and easy-to-open windows, your child can feel the specialness of what is inside (along with your older children, too, of course)! Even the smallest toddler can learn to count the numbers as they open, or wait for the next number to open.
Create Warm Hearth Spots In The Home
You won’t need a lot of room or extra effort to individually or altogether create cosy spaces around your home. For your less than two-year-olds, especially (but children themselves in general), they will enjoy having “mini spots” of comfort throughout the season. A cosy spot of comfort is usually nearby so that the family can gather. You can create a spot using a basket of favourite Christmas picture books, some soft woollen blankets, and string up some fairy lights to add sparkle if desired. A natural wooden manger on the low shelf near the radiant space can become a space where your Christmas guided figurines are placed!
Our little ones so dearly sense out a space we make sentimental in hand and slow, like time and everything flows.
Practice Together Merry Family Activities
Carve a little time for merry practices that need no arrangements or another cleanup. Perhaps a carolling practice will be graceful and even less than ten minutes in duration. Singing ensembles and selecting just a few songs, even for supper in the evening, can be the same as practising carolling each week! It will put everyone in a carolling mood. And little children will love hearing the same ones over and over. Join your voices and harmonise, and create the feeling of goodwill and cheerfulness.
Just Be Inclusive
Fundamentally, a warm and snug festive vibe at Christmas is all about hanging out. Young kids remember warmth and attention, the security of something that happens over and over, and an accurate idea that some kind of fun or event happened. There’s excitement when you share a little story with your small child about what you used to have in your stocking, when you laugh together as you open the next day’s window on your chocolate calendar, or when you share just one carol before bedtime – it leaves the scent of a Christmas feeling that lasts much longer than the festive season.