If you’ve found yourself feeling a bit ‘over’ Christmas in recent years, going through the motions with no real joy, then it’s time to ‘sparkle’ things up a bit!

How do I define ‘sparkly’? Well, for me, it means seeing Christmas as the embodiment of all that it is good in the world. Connecting with people you love, and really celebrating life and beauty. A time when all that glitters really is gold!

Here are a few ideas for adding celebration and sparkle to your Christmas. I’ve either ‘done’ these myself, or plan to. Please don’t feel overwhelmed by this list – if you spot a couple of ideas that really resonate with you, why not just give those ones a try this Christmas?

1. Create a beautiful, welcoming wreath for your front door or the inside of your home.

2. Create personalised Christmas cards. We’ve done this every year since our girls were one year old, because I thought it would be easier to have one card that included a photo update of our children, rather than printing and sending photos with conventional cards.

Until last year, I had our DL-sized cards designed and printed at Snap, but last year I created my own and will have fun doing that again this year! I love taking the photos of our girls for these cards – they have a lot of fun!

Here’s a scan of our family Christmas card from a few years ago:

If you live in the US, Pinhole Press has a fantastic range of beautifully designed templates that can be personalised with your photos.

3. Help out at a food shelter – bring your family on board. If you can’t help out in person, perhaps donate some food, or consider donating to Oxfam via its Unwrapped Christmas-gift project.

4. Remember the power of intention, and create an affirmation that helps you attract the type of Christmas you’d love to have (for help with creating affirmations, check out the Affirmations: Your How-to Guide PDF bonus when you invest in Dream Life Affirmations audios.

5. Make a set of special, long-lasting decorations that can become family heirlooms (perhaps some Santa tree ornaments or napkin holders?!).

6. Take healthy sweet treats around to your neighbours on Christmas Eve, beautifully packaged – you could make the White Christmas recipe in this month’s ezine, or check out the recipe for decadent Orange-Choc Bliss Balls in Monkey Mike’s Raw Food Kitchen: An Un-Cookbook for Kids.

7. Watch a suitably Christmassy movie such as the original Miracle on 34th Street, or the Christmas scene from Mr Bean’s Christmas! (And then there’s always Love, Actually.)

8. Add a bitta ‘bling’ to your life with sparkly decorations in your home and office. There’s something so special about glitteriness. Just remember that ‘sparkly’ can be tastefully done (tinsel doesn’t have to feature, if that ain’t your thing). Candlelight makes everything shimmer – and what about adding sparkle to your clothing? Check this out for inspiration!

9. Pretend you’re a child again, and put out a stocking at the end of your bed.

10. Create your own Christmas crackers. We did this for the first time last year, and it was so much fun.

We (my children and I) bought the inner tubes and cracker snaps from Riot, and we filled the crackers with a cracker snap, a wrapped Lindor chocolate ball, a handwritten Christmas joke, and a handmade paper crown. We then wrapped them in tissue paper, tied ribbons on the end, and put a small photo of the recipient on the front of the cracker!

Note: don’t make the tissue paper wrapping too thick. We did, and it was a little difficult to rip the crackers open…

Oh, a bonus tip –  if you’re a ‘planner’, like me, you’ll love Alison May’s Brocante Home Christmas Planner, which features heaps of inspiration and dozens of checklists.

I hope this list has inspired you – and if you were feeling a bit jaded about the whole thing, I do hope that it’s reignited your Christmas spirit!

PS I’d love to hear what you love about Christmas – what traditions do you love to repeat every year? What new tradition/s would you like to start? Leave a comment and let me know!