by Joan Collins

Created on: November 23, 2009

Bring your family together and tell them, "This year, Christmas will be homemade." Decorations, food, and gifts can all be made at home. You don't have to live in a little house on the prairie to have a homemade Christmas. A homemade Christmas may even become a family tradition.

Start with the decorations. Have the family gather around and make Christmas ornaments. String popcorn and cranberries on fishing line for garland. Make cinnamon cookie ornaments. Check out

this link for five different recipes. Check out these beaded Christmas ornaments and these easy ball ornaments that are so easy the kids will enjoy making them.

Cut Christmas stockings out of red felt and add a white band around the top. Let each family member decorate their own stocking with fabric paint, glitter glue or cut-outs from felt. Hang them up on homemade Christmas stocking hangers like the adorable trees found here. Fill the stocking with homemade candies, fruit and little homemade treasures.

Deodorize one room with scented pine cones. Use clove-covered oranges to add scent to another. The cinnamon cookie ornaments will add a terrific smell to the tree.

Christmas pillows can be created by covering existing pillows with Christmas fabric. Use buttons to secure them so they can be removed after the holidays and saved for next year. Christmas place mats can be created by covering complementary colored place mats with pictures cut out from Christmas wrap. Cover the finished product with clear contact paper.

Begin baking early. Each weekend, spend time with the family making and decorating Christmas goodies that can be frozen. Christmas cookies.com has some wonderful tips on freezing cookies. For so many years we have thought we didn't have time to cook because the holidays are so busy. Try this simple quick cranberry sauce recipe and you'll find that it doesn't have to take a lot of time. Search your cookbook and find things you family will like making together and eating. Consider involving family and friends. Have each family bake several dozen cookies and host a cookie exchange.

Homemade gifts can be easy, useful and fun! Here are a few ideas to get you started. Candles are easy enough for kids to make, yet fun enough for teens. Melt wax in a double burner. Add crayons or wax colorant to color the wax. Once it is melted, there are many things you can do with it. For example:

A. Dip candle wick into the wax. Let it cool a little and dip it again. Keep repeating the process until the candle

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