December… it can be such a hectic time of year. The weather fluctuates, the days become longer, and our timetables become disorganised… just as our regular commitments finish up for the year lots of extra ones take their place. Christmas catch-ups and break-ups, concerts and assemblies, orientation days and transition days. December can have us running ragged, often with a plate of shortbread in hand! Sure, those holidays may be looming ahead, but before get to them there are ‘to do’ lists to get through that are as long as Santa’s sleigh.

Christmas can be magical, special and meaningful… but sometimes the festive season also seems silly with sugar, and jam-packed with packaging and plastic. This year I’m doing my best to keep life simple. Here’s a few thoughts I’ve had:

Simple gifts

Gift giving is a lovely expression of fondness to show someone that we care. Does it always have to involve a trip to the shops?

A friend recently told me that this year her family were following a strict Christmas gifting rule: make it, bake it, or grow it. This can be tricky to apply to children’s gifts, but it does prompt the question… how much is too much when giving gifts to our little ones?

For many years my children were each given a huge bag of gifts by a lovely doting relative. The items were obviously collected throughout the year and reflected that the children were thought of often. But by Christmas each bag bulged with a dozen or more items. The unwrapping of these gifts was super exciting, but I always felt awkward watching each item being frantically unwrapped then abruptly set aside as they reached for the next. None of the lovely gifts ever received the attention it deserved. Just ONE of the items alone would have seemed so special, but it’s magic was lost amid a pile of gifts and wrapping. To me it was a lesson in the old adage, “less is more”.

This year the adults in my family have chosen not to exchange gifts with each other. Instead we are chipping in a cash donation to the Royal Children’s Hospital which supported my nephew in recent months. It’s our response to feeling like we already have more than enough “stuff” in our lives.

Homemade gifts can be a treat, and playdough is a great easy gift idea for a young friend. Whip up a batch and pop it into an airtight container. Here’s an easy recipe:

Playdough

• 1 cup of plain flour

• 1 cup of water

• ½ cup of salt

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar

• a few drops of food colouring

Mix together all ingredients and cook over a medium heat in a very well-greased saucepan.

Keep turning in the centre. The mixture is cooked when it forms one springy mass.

Remove from the saucepan and, when cool enough, knead the mixture until the right texture is achieved. It will keep for several months in an airtight container in the fridge.

Gingerbread

Baking is great way to make a gift and gingerbreads are an item that your kids can help create. Package them in a paper bag (a decorated paper bag of course - hand out some textas while the gingerbread is in the oven). Here’s the recipe my family have been using for years:

• 125 g butter

• 2 tablespoons golden syrup

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1 egg, beaten

• 2 ½ cups plain flour

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 2 tsp ground ginger

Prepare an oven tray with baking paper. Sifted the flour, salt and ginger together and set aside.

Melt butter and golden syrup in a saucepan while stirring constantly. Take the pot off the heat then add sugar and egg, stirring madly now to stop the egg cooking before it’s combined.

Add the sifted ingredients to the mixture still in the saucepan and combine it all well to make a wet dough.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board or table top. Divide into parts and give one to each child to model, cut or mould.

Drop a pile of utensils onto the table (rolling pin, cookie cutters, forks, skewers) and watch some amazing gingerbread creatures appear. Add details with currants or choc bits.

Bake at 165 C until golden brown. Approx 10 - 12 minutes.

Once cool, package them in a paper bag (a decorated paper bag of course - hand out some textas while the gingerbread is in the oven).

Simple trees

I’m already regretting my traditional pine Christmas tree, bought as a fundraiser for the local Scouts. It’s lovely, but next year I’m choosing something less wintry and more in keeping with our climate. I’m admiring friends who are using some cool alternatives to Christmas trees: pot plants, sculptures and even branches cut from gumtrees. I’d even be happy with big cardboard triangle that my kids have fingerpainted green, and I prefer paper chains to tinsel anyday… here’s how they’re done.

Paper chains

A true festive classic, paper chains are super easy and so repetitive that they are perfect to make with your kids - you may be surprised how quickly they grow.

Don’t rush out and purchase fancy-schmancy paper until you've first checked your pile of kinder paintings – most artwork looks great re-purposed into chains. Otherwise you can use copypaper, magazines, catalogues, in fact any paper that isn't too flimsy.

Pre-cut strips about 2cm wide and 20cm long, then form into loops fixed with tape, linking them together as you go. It’s easier for little fingers to use a dispenser to cut pieces of tape, or better still for you to pre-cut pieces of tape and line them up them along the end of a bench so that little fingers can pick them up easily without getting into a sticky tangle.

Have a peaceful, safe and happy festive season, and be sure to give your loved ones the wonderful gift of your time.