by Karen Yvonne

Created on: December 18, 2008

Recessionary times don't have to immobilize us and rob us of our Christmas joy. The real joy of Christmas is in that overwhelming feeling of anticipation and our celebration of Jesus' birth. No amount of commercialization, or gift of man, can ever compare to that.

The traditions we've created around our celebrations stimulate our senses and heighten our sense of excitement. We can continue to enjoy many of those traditions, even if our wallets are very light.

Christmas should bring families closer together. This is a perfect time to make those events the cornerstone of your celebration. You can start by creating your own family Advent calendar. You can use any calendar and mark the days with the activities and events you will do as a family that day.

Use Advent as a time to introduce or reinforce the value of giving to others. This doesn't have to be expensive. You can make it a family project to select a name from an Angel Tree and share in the excitement of buying, wrapping and dropping off of the gifts. If your church is sponsoring a Christmas Child operation you can share in the joy of picking out items for the shoe box and thinking about the child that opens that box.

If money is too tight to buy a gift, consider a project that gives of your time. Time is often a greater gift than anything money can buy. Does a neighbor need leaves raked, snow shoveled, garage cleaned, help with laundry or maybe just some company for a little while? What about a visit to a nursing home?

Making decorations is a great way to bring everyone together and make your house look festive at the same time. Last year's Christmas cards are great for making all kinds of decorations. All you need is some string, glue and colored paper and you've got the ingredients for a variety of decorations. You can making a hanging mobile with your favorite cards, cut figures out and paste them on wreathes, paste them to the back of colored paper and hang them on the tree, or, string them side to side to create a unique garland.

Take a family photo and make a special 2008 decoration by inserting it into a glass ball and hanging it on the tree. You can glue pieces of a cotton ball to it to make it look like snow.

Find all the free holiday events listed in your local newspaper. Christmas tree lightings and parades are great ways to put a sparkle in your eyes and get you outside enjoying the cooler air of the season. Many churches offer special music presentations that are free to the public and provide

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