The Christmas season is a festive and joyful time of the year when people come together and families gather to celebrate and enjoy the company of each other.  We gather together to have fun, and to share in the festive spirit.  Singing is an extremely popular way of expressing the joy we feel.  So when we gather with friends and relatives, we all deserve a good laugh by singing along to some funny Christmas songs. 

More on Have a good laugh from funny Christmas songs

Technorati Tags: Christmas season, funny Christmas songs

Any room becomes warm and inviting when you use beautiful, seasonal floral arrangements to brighten your celebration. There are flowers that have come to represent certain holidays such as poinsettias for Christmas, red roses for Valentine's Day and lilies for Easter. However, holiday flower choices are not just limited to these traditional flowers. Use your imagination in creating your holiday flower arrangements. Flower arrangements add a great deal to the decor and the ambience of parties, open houses and just day to day visitation and create a festive mood for the family as well. Choosing flowers or plants that last a long time is thrifty and saves time as well during the busy holiday season. Many people prefer the "green" choices in their floral purchases as well as the rest of their lifestyles, including buying live plants only. Flower arrangements don't need to just be greenery and flower stems arranged in a vase, but can be in all sort of unique containers, or can even be masses of live plants arranged in pleasing displays. Adding evergreens for Christmas makes almost any arrangement match the seasonal theme, for example, and putting it all in a toy sled would be charming. Some people like to make their own floral arrangements to express their creativity and style or to economize, while many others prefer to rely on their florist to make appropriate and beautiful flower arrangements. You can use online floral websites to do it yourself and find ideas to personalize your own arrangements. The cheapest source for floral arrangements is growing your own flowers, fern, and other greenery. You can also make a trip to the countryside where gathering flowers or greenery is permitted, but be sure you have the owner's permission and that you do not pick protected wildflowers and plants. The first place to check is your own yard or greenhouse! During the holidays, assembling a flower arrangement can become a fun holiday tradition. It is the perfect opportunity to spend meaningful time together. Families might collectively work on one arrangement, or each member (or pair of relatives) might be assigned their own arrangement on which to work. Living flowers bring life, color, and happiness to every day life and especially the holidays. Bringing home a bouquet is a marvelous sign of love.

Kids love Christmas crafts. Santa craft ideas for kids are an easy and fun way to spend time with your kids during the holidays. Choose from one of our Christmas craft-decorating, free ideas. SANTA PICTURE: If you're looking for holiday craft ideas for preschoolers,, this is a great place to start. So, let's begin with Santa pictures. There are a variety of Santa coloring books available during the holidays. Choose a picture from the book. Cut out the picture of Santa, and place the picture in the center of a sheet of white construction paper. Use a glue stick to secure the picture. Color the picture with colored pencils. Once coloring is done, use wisps of cotton to serve as Santa's beard and use a small ball of cotton at the tip of his red hat. You can use small, black buttons to serve as Santa's eyes, and a red button for his nose. Fill the rest of the area of the white construction paper by drawing presents or candy canes. When the picture is finished, your children can sign their names right under Santa's image. Take a piece of heavy cardboard and secure the picture to it. Put the picture in a frame to protect it. Place this frame in a memorable area of your house for all to look and admire. SANTA CHRISTMAS CARDS: Santa Christmas cards is another art activity your children will be able to do. With a piece of white construction paper, measure the paper to a size of 5×7 inches. Cut the paper to that particular measurement. You can either fold it vertically or horizontally. Tell your kids to personalize their version of Santa on the front page. Let them use crayons or colored markers to help stimulate their imagination. After the picture is finished, your kids can write Christmas messages on the inside of the card. Homemade Christmas cards are wonderful to display in your home or send to relatives and friends. You can even add this to your Christmas craft-a-day calendar; it's a great craft to do with your kids or students. MAKE A SANTA PLATE ORNAMENT FOR THE CHRISTMAS TREE: Things that will be used are crayons and markers, cotton balls, a large paper plate, and color sparkles. Trace or draw Santa, without his red hat, on the plate using the drawing materials. Use the cotton balls to serve as his beard. You can even stick the cotton balls together into a V-shape so that Santa's beard hangs off the plate. The cotton balls can serve as Santa's hair, also. Use a blue marker to color in Santa's eyes, and a black marker to draw Santa's glasses. Use red food color on a cotton ball to make Santa's nose. You can color the rim of the plate with red or green and add color sparkles to it. Finally, place the Santa plate on the tree by inserting an ornament hook at the top of the plate. Well that's it! There are many different ways to share with your kids on how to make Santa Christmas ornaments, pictures, and cards.

The Christmas season is filled with decorating opportunities, but none more special than the trimming of the Christmas tree. The style you use to decorate your tree is a reflection of your interests and taste. Here are some suggestions to get you started. 1. Thematic Christmas trees are becoming more popular. People use a single color to decorate. Others use a period of time in their lives. They then find or make ornaments to reflect the time period you have chosen. 2. Personalization of your Christmas tree can happen when you add unique personal ornaments of your choice. Specially chosen ornaments add to the Christmas tree and make it uniquely yours. 3. To save time and trouble save the boxes the ornaments came in for storage later. If you do not have the original box; get a glass packing box from some mover. Label the box before you store the ornaments for easy retrieval. Be sure to separate each ornament with some type of packing material to protect them during storage. 4. The sparkle of a Christmas tree comes from the strands of Christmas lights hung on the tree. Use caution when stringing the lights. Avoid placing a bulb too close to a branch as a fire can occur quickly. 5. Hanging Christmas tree lights means finding out which lights work and which ones don't. It's always easier to find the burned out bulbs before you start. Be sure you start from the top of the tree when stringing your lights. Work down and then around the tree. Plan your path so you end up near an electrical outlet to finish your work. 6. Store your lights on a piece of cardboard or an empty can. This keeps the wires straight, prevents them from breaking. Next year you won't have to deal with tangled lights. 7. Starting from the bottom of your tree, hang the larger ornaments. Then gradually add the smaller ones hanging them all around the tree. If you have young children or pets you may want to hang ornaments a little higher to prevent damage to the ornaments. 8. If you've ever seen an evergreen tree after a snow storm. Then you know how to hang tinsel on your Christmas tree. Hang the tinsel on the outer ends of the branches. Aim for a picture like you see when there is the first storm of the season. 9. You want your ornaments to shine and compliment your tree. So rather than just putting every ornament you own on the tree, pick and choose the ones your want. This way every ornament has its own special place.

You might say that I have lost my mind if I said that I have a stress free Christmas. Well, my sanity is still intact and we have had several Christmases that were stress-free in the past. I would like to tell you about the things I've learned to help reduce the stress during the Yuletide season. AFTER WAKING IN THE MORNING, READ GOD?S WORD EVERY I start by reading God's Word every day. Hearing from God & speaking to Him each day is a great boost for me and it strengthens and preps me to be the mom He wants me to be. During breakfast, we start our family devotions and begin our children's day on the right track as well. Each of my children understand that they are to read their Bible after waking. There are times that some of the kids need a little more reminding. DON?T DO EVERY ACTIVITY THAT POPS UP This seems quite evident, but it took me a decade to apply this. Actually, my marvelous husband helped me learn how to minimize the activity in our lives during the Christmas season. In the past, I wanted our kids to experience everything available during this season. What was actually happening was I began to harbor stress that would usually explode around Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. (I?m sure none of you have ever experienced this. WHICH ACTIVITIES DO I CHOOSE What works for our family is to choose 1 or 2 Christmas activities to attend outside our home. Anything else we do is done in our home. One of the best ways this reduces stress is that I am not ?persuading? my husband to attend one more Christmas activity each week. He still spends all day working to provide for our family. Consequently, he is much happier going to a few activities and enjoying our family & friends at home. Having other people in our home gives us a lot of satisfaction, so we capitalize on this. With cooking and cleaning done by the children, our work is lessened and I am not feeling stressed when our visitors arrive. ENJOY YOUR HOME I always more activities for our family than we ever have time for. In our Thanksgiving weekend I decided which activities can be postponed until next Christmas season. REMEMBER: YOU CAN?T DO EVERY THING, EVERY YEAR. I try to select activities that inspire my children to do something for others, instead of only thinking of themselves during the holiday season. One of the things we used to do is charity work by raising money for a missionary family. The kids would take orders for pumpkin bread loaves and chocolate chip cookies. After making and delivering them to their customers, they would pay me back for the ingredients and supplies used. The remaining money was their profit, which was used to buy useful gifts for a missionary family. This season we will have other kids over to bake cookies so their moms can do some Christmas shopping, uninterrupted. A Christmas card stamping party for younger kids would be a great idea for an activity. I?m still thinking it over how that will work. I have some other ideas that are included in Advent, Christmas & Epiphany Celebration Ideas. MAKE CHRISTMAS YOUR SCHOOL For those of you who homeschool, lessen some of the formal academics and enjoy these times. As we bake, shop and prepare for Christ?s birthday, we are also doing math and writing and reading with these activities. At our house, we still read aloud each morning and then work on a Christmas project. This may include handwork type crafts or other quiet projects. DO YOU FEEL STRESSED DURING THE HOLIDAYS? Take a moment right now and prioritize all the activities available to your family. Choose only 1 or 2 activities that the entire family can enjoy and pass on the rest. Being at home with your family is enjoyable. Invite another family over to roast marshmallows and mingle with them. At the center of this Christmas activity, keep your hearts tuned to Jesus Christ. Without His love for us, we would not be celebrating the true meaning of Christmas. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Ephesians 2:8

The holiday season always seems like a whirlwind of shopping, parties, pageants, and family gatherings, a month or two of furious, but joyful, activity, leading up to Christmas and the New Year celebration. By the time it's all over, most of us need a breather, a bit of time to relax and reflect and renew. No matter how wonderful the holidays have been, by January many families experience a kind of celebration withdrawal. Most of us naturally miss the lights and the music and the fellowship of the holiday season, and the gray winter days of the next few months just seem to emphasize the fact that the wonderful feelings of Christmas are over, for nearly another year. But the feelings generated by the season leading to Christmas need not vanish completely, for the calendar, beyond December. Though Santa Claus's visit is the high point of the holiday season for families with children, there are many other aspects of these days that can be kept fresh and alive, throughout the year. Those donations of clothes and toys and food we worked so hard to make during the holiday season can, and should, be repeated throughout the rest of the year. Most charities, which take in the bulk of their donations just before Christmas, find themselves scrambling to meet their goals during the rest of the winter. Many families find that the new toys of Christmas have replaced old favorites, in their childrens' hearts, and are able to gather last year's toys and drop them at their local donation centers. Kids grow out of their clothing so fast that most families have boxes full of gently-worn clothes, which are perfect for donation. The preparation and delivery of donated goods can be an all-day family project, capped by a movie or a trip to the pizza parlor, to celebrate making someone else's days a bit more special. Besides donation, volunteering together can be a rewarding way for a family to liven up the winter, after Christmas. Families who find themselves longing for the feelings that permeate their lives during the holidays can rekindle that spirit, year-round. Working together to make others' lives a little better isn't just a generous exercise, it's also a wonderful way for a family to keep Christmas alive. The calendar shouldn't be the only way to measure the spirit of Christmas.

It's so easy to get caught up in the excitement of the Christmas season. When the carols begin to play, we know that there are parties and events to attend, family to visit, and decorations to put up. It's also the time when Santa Claus makes his annual sleigh-ride, with his bag full of goodies for children everywhere. Parents look forward to Santa's visit almost as much as their small children. The delight a child expresses on Christmas morning, when seeing all the presents under the tree, is one of the most fulfilling sights in any parent's life, a moment they'll remember forever. Unfortunately, Santa usually leaves the bill for all that delight squarely in Mom's and Dad's mailboxes, come January. Many Christmas shoppers, and especially parents, hit the shopping bricks, each year, without doing enough delving. Though most parents know by Thanksgiving exactly what their kids want Santa to bring them, a lot of parents head to the stores without knowing where to find the best prices. As a result they may buy the sought-for item at the first store they come to, when they could buy it for less, down the street. The internet can be an alternative way of finding the perfect toys. Sometimes, leading up to Christmas, retail stores run special internet sales on popular toys and games. The advantage to internet purchasing can be in saving on sales tax, but consumers will pay for shipping, in most cases. It's also a good idea to make sure you're buying something that the retailer actually has in stock, and can ship promptly. Moms and Dads should always remember to take written shopping lists with them, when they hit the malls at Christmastime. A running account of what is spent, along with a total budget that's written out, can be a great tool to have when a parent is tempted to overspend. Once the Christmas shopping for the kids is done, parents need to put it out of their minds until Christmas morning. Too often, parents want to add that extra little spark to their kids' Christmas day, so they find themselves, at the last minute, running back to the store for just a little more. Then they exceed the budget, and usually wind up buying something that gets thrown away soon after it's opened. We all want the best for our kids at Christmas. Overdoing and overspending will only create financial tension, later on, and leave parents with less-than-perfect memories of Christmas.

Every parent understands the importance of Christmas morning in a child's life. It's the goal of most moms and dads to help St. Nick make the day as perfect as they can. The joy a child expresses at finding the mound of toys and goodies left under the tree by Santa Claus is something that makes every parent smile. Every Christmas is the same, for most parents-they want it to be perfect, for their kids. Years pass and the various ways families mark Christmas morning become their own specific traditions, habits that make them comfortable. However they choose to celebrate the morning after Santa's visit, through the years, the memory of their first Christmases will remain strong in their family fabric. Every Christmas morning is a time which is unique in its own right and can be recorded and preserved forever. There are many different kinds of media available, today, with which to record the occasion. Unlike years past, there's no training necessary to be the family photographer, today. Most cameras, either video or photo, are simple point-and-shoot devices, making their operations simple enough for anyone to use. A lot of families, today, have video cameras, to record their children's lives as they grow. A recoding video camera, set on a mantle or a tripod in a corner, is a simple way to record the magic of a family's Christmas morning. Mini-tapes and DVD's are easy to store and keep for later viewing. Digital photo cameras, today, are also simple enough for anyone to be the designated family photographer on Christmas morning. Many families are just more comfortable with photos than with videos, especially on a morning when everyone rises and heads to the tree, with little regard for how they look. Candid photos, though can often be more interesting and funny, later on, than even video. Generations from now, the descendants of today's families will appreciate the fact that someone took the time and effort to record their ancestors at such a joyful time as Christmas morning.

As Christian men and women, we know the true meaning of Christmas in our hearts, but how many of us proclaim this fact to the world around us during the holidays? We can gently challenge those who would see Christmas as a time for commercialism and greed by letting our actions speak for themselves. Spread the message. Want to give something special to a neighbor or fellow employee? The gift of the Word would make the best present. Tell them the Christmas story. It's not "'Twas the Night before Christmas". Ready made pamphlets recounting the birth of the Jesus can be bought online and delivered to your door. To have that personalized touch, how about creating a leaflet of your own. A small token, like a candle, can be added also the to present. Fill someone's heart with the blessings of God's message. Share His love. When a person invites a somebody to their home, it shows that they have an intention to share their blessings with them. When we integrate Christ into our very lives, his dwelling becomes our dwelling. Invite a friend or fellow employee to God's home for an Advent worship or a family Christmas Eve church worship. They will not regret that they came. Show it. For poor people, life gets a little bit harsher around the holiday season. More bad thing happen. People in great need, like the poor and destitute, become more so due to the harsh conditions this time of year brings. God tells us to reach out and help these people. Volunteers are a big help during the holidays. Extra set of hands are greatly needed by soup kitchens and food banks to prepare and serve nice hot meals, as well as help with food deliveries. The social services agency can provide information on families near the community that could use some extra care during Christmas. With support from a church body, everyone can join in and help give gifts and other needed materials. Providing gifts for orphaned children can also be a church project or one taken on by individual families within the congregation. If you see a need that has yet to be met, begin your own program to provide it or just do it as a family. The goal here is to let Christ's light shine in another person's life. In his lifetime, Jesus saw each individual's need where they were. Someone whose been helped by you will be more likely to listen about the God you are serving. Living Christ's life is a commitment to spread the Word and love to others. If Christ is always prioritized in your lives, your actions should be known by everyone. Being Christians, we have a chance to give to the world the true meaning of the Christmas season.

As much as we love the onset of the holiday season every year, most of us know that one of the pitfalls of Christmas is the extra weight we put on, from eating all that wonderful food. There are so many parties and gatherings, with so many gorgeous and sugar-filled treats, most of us tend to sigh and accept the fact that we'll gain a few extra pounds. This is the one time of year when we should be able to overindulge a little, and enjoy the delicious and traditional foods that we find at all of the Christmas season's events. Still, we can make the season a little less destructive to our belts and waistlines, if we spend a little time considering how we eat. For instance, most gatherings and parties at Christmastime are about family and friends, about love and fellowship. We should remind ourselves, as we arrive at these gatherings, that we're here to enjoy our families and friends, and not just to taste every single dessert on the table. When seeing a spread of holiday food on a buffet table for the first time, we instantly want to taste everything. But that's just not practical. Look at the food, carefully, and decide what you really want to have, then help yourself. Just don't take large portions of everything offered-you can't possible enjoy it all, equally. If you know you'll be attending a party with good food, don't starve yourself all day, so that you can eat more. Arriving hungry is a perfect way to guarantee that you'll eat too much. Remember, the food is the party's enhancement, not its purpose. Try to get plenty of sleep during the Christmas season. It's difficult, with all of the shopping and parties, but sleep can help your body resist cravings. A lack of sleep makes you want more sugar and starch. Your children are especially vulnerable to the temptation of over-indulging this holiday season. Most of the food we associate with Christmas is filled with sugar and fat, and is presented in a beautiful, appetizing manner. Chances are, your kids will eat too much of the wrong stuff this year. Try and make sure they get plenty of exercise to burn off some of those extra calories. When faced with all of the glorious food you'll see, this Christmas season, don't punish yourself-enjoy it. But remember that the food will vanish. The extra pounds may not, unless you understand, ahead of time, that January will be a time for a few extra visits to the gym.