My blogger friend, Leslie, invited me and other bloggers to share my holiday fun list with her on November 21, and a quick update on how I did on my list on December 21. I call my list a Fun list since I don’t ever have a bucket list.
Now I’m challenging myself to have fun this holiday at either no cost or low cost and to be environmental-friendly as much as possible. I also want activities that engage my senses. So I come up with the following five for the period of November 21 to December 21.
5 Fun Activities for the Holidays
1) View the holiday light displays: The big banks and major department stores downtown always put up dazzling holiday displays, some with fairy tale themes. City Hall also has a real 15-metre (50-foot) Christmas tree that will be lit up at the end of November. I plan to do a 30-minute walk to get there and enjoy the visual treats for free.
2) Listen to live holiday music: I usually go with my friends to the Cavalcade of Lights event in November and/ or the annual holiday concert in December at City Hall. Both events offer wonderful music performances and are free to the public. Again I plan to do a 30-minute walk to get there.
3) Bake a Ration cake: I found this Second World War Ration cake recipe here. It would be fun to make it for the holidays. The cake is low cost as I already have the ingredients in our pantry. The kitchen will smell good. If the cake turns out well, my family and I will satisfy our taste buds with the yummy treats. Win-win-win.
4) Give food and hope: It’s a sad reality that we have people who rely on food bank because they have nowhere else to turn. I plan to donate online or buy food items and donate at a local grocery store. I’ve got the list of food items that our local Daily Bread Food Bank always needs because of their high nutritional value (e.g. baby food and formula, peanut butter, canned fish and meat, canned fruits and vegetables, rice, grains, lentils, beans, dried pasta, pasta sauce, canned tomatoes, cans of soup and stew, powdered, canned and tetra pak milk).
5) Walk to show the Earth some love: It would be fun to map an outdoor route with a few points of interest and walk it with my family or friends. We bring a warm beverage like hot chocolate or hot apple cider in our reusable travel mugs and enjoy it during or at the end of our walk. I keep my fingers crossed for reasonable weather between November 21 and December 21 so that I can complete this activity.
How about you? What do you have on your holiday fun list?
Click here to share your plans.
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Natalie the Explorer 
I absolutely love and admire this spin on your list. I find all the waste at the holidays so sad and one way we’ve tried to curb it is by offering gifts of experiences balanced with those of materialism. Our girls get gifts that get us to live theater, concert, to a local art studio, or outdoors for a day of sledding/snowboarding/skiing. Your list is making me think about what else we can do to be more green.
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Thank you, Bojana, for your visit and kind comment. Temptations to buy material things that we don’t need are everywhere and most of them are not friendly to our earth. Your gifts of experiences are good ideas. We can all do more to be more green and still have lots of fun.
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Hi, Natalie – These are all very inspiring ways to celebrate the holidays. I especially love walking a planned route with friends and family…hot drink in hand!
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Hi Donna – Walking a planned route with family and friends is my favourite, too. I was just thinking that perhaps I can do #5 and #1 together, two birds one stone. We probably need the walk after baking and eating cake!
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You have a great list! I would love to hear the live music, too.
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Thank you, Anne, for your visit and comment. The live music is sensational and not to be missed.
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I don’t use the phrase, Bucket list, either, Natalie. I like your words, “fun list.” You remind me how much I like live holiday music. Experiences are definitely big with our family right from the 1 1/2 year old to the 70 year old. Time together, precious. Thank you for sharing, Natalie. I always appreciate your good vibes all year round🙂
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Hi Erica/ Erika – When the whole family likes to spend time together and prefers experiences vs. materials, it’s more fun to plan get-together and easier to buy gifts. I’m thankful the three generations in my family all have similar mindset when it comes to holiday fun. I greatly appreciate your comments, always positive and supportive, thank you. Have a beautiful Sunday!
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I’m doing a food bank donation too – it’s on my #XmasLinky this week. I like the sound of the ration cake. Off to check out. #Lifethisweek
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I baked the Ration cake today. It turned out very well. My family approved it. Oven temperatures vary so I did the toothpick test and had to bake my cake longer than 30 minutes as shown in the recipe. I hope you try it and let me know what you think.
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Fabulous ideas. I’m off to read some more about the ration cake. I’m really looking forward to the lights and the window displays and even though I’m not normally a church go-er also want to go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve when we’re in England – if I can stay awake that long.
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The lights and window displays in London are awesome at Christmas. I think Christmas feels much nicer in a colder climate. I hope you’ll see a light dusting of snow on Christmas Eve.
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Natalie, thanks for your grounding take on Christnas. We’re about to hit peak commercialism here in Australia and it has been calming reading about these simpler and more rewarding ways to celebrate together.
SSG xxx
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Yes, commercialism is also at its peak here. My family and I choose to celebrate the holidays without buying into the sales pitch.
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What a great take on this list Natalie, I love the idea of a walk to show the earth some love! I’m especially enjoying the lights and decorations in the northern hemisphere this Christmas. Being dark so early in the evening is a great way to enjoy the decorations and get into the spirit, and it’s cold as well which is very different to this time of year at home. Your ideas are kind and non-commercial which I like #lifethisweek
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Thank you, Debbie, for your kind comment. I’ve been to warmer places at Christmas and prefer to celebrate it in the northern hemisphere as it’s more festive. The earlier sunset and colder temps in the northern hemisphere make us bring out the best lights, more gatherings, with things that offer comfort and warmth.
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I’m visiting from Senior Salon. Lots of neat ideas! There’s a place about an hour away from us that you drive through and look at thousands of lights. They play music and the lights blink in time. It’s a fun outing. But I like driving around and looking at neighborhood Christmas lights, too.
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Thank you, Barbara, for your visit and comment. The holiday light displays are nice to see at this time of the year. Enjoy your outings!
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Oh, my, Natalie, I am so glad to read some of the things your food bank requests. Baby food. I am guessing for babies but not just for babies. I will keep that in mind. Maybe Pedia-sure and Ensure, too.
Can’t wait to see photos of the fairy tale light display from downtown. Our downtown light display was unveiled this past weekend. Hoping to take the grands down there for cocoa and a quick walk around to take in the lights.
Thank you for joining me. Have a tab open to check out the ration cake recipe. I bet it will be delicious.
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There are families with young children who use the food bank so baby formula is in demand there. Taking your grands to see the light display and cocoa sounds great. Seeing their reactions is precious. I baked the ration cake and it was very good, not too sweet. I hope you bake it and let me know what you think. Thank you, Leslie, for stopping by.
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I love your list – it’s a nice mix of helping others and enjoying the season yourself. I definitely hope to see a lot of lights displays around my city.
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.net
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Thank you, Lauren, for your visit and comment. I didn’t realize my list was a nice mix of helping others and enjoying myself until you pointed out. I bet the light displays in your city will be amazing.
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Loved reading this. Whilst we have good weather for Christmas it takes ages for the darkness to fall so we can see Christmas lights. Back when the oldest grandkids were little they would stay overnight and we would walk around our neighbourhood seeing the houses decorated. Then back to ours, which was also lit up, and then to bed.
Your list is a very creative one. We have a charity in Australia started a few years back to make up a bag (handbag or carry bag) with urgent needs for a woman who may have to flee her home. It’s not a great thing to happen of course, but this social initiative helps women’s dignity at crisis time. We dropped one off today for collection at a central point.
Thank you for linking up for Life This Week. Next week’s optional prompt is 48/51 Self-Care Stories #7. 2/12/19. I hope to see you there too. Denyse.
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Thank you, Denyse, for hosting and for your thoughtful comment. In the northern hemisphere, the sun sets early from late November on so Christmas lights brighten our evenings. The bag with urgent needs items for a woman who may have to flee her home is a kind and practical idea. Have a wonderful week!
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Those sound like great activities. I hope you get to do them all.
(I came over from Esme’s blog).
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Thank you, Victoria, for your visit and comment. I started doing the five activities and it has been great fun. Have a nice weekend!
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I’ve never had a ration cake. I’ll have to try! 🙂
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It’s an easy to make and very good cake without tasting too sweet. I hope you try and let me know how it turns out. Thank you for your visit and comment.
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Natalie, I am so impressed with your green ideas for enjoying Christmas. One of the things I am doing next week is planning, cooking, and hosting a Christmas dinner for sixty people who are not well off in our community. Of course, I am not doing this all by myself! I’m coordinating it, and members of my service club will be there to help cook and serve the food.
Jude
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Wow, Jude, you’re so generous with your time and efforts to co-ordinate and host Christmas dinner for sixty people. I’m sure all participants appreciate your and your service club members’ hospitality. I finished my five green ideas today so now I can either take more green actions or relax and enjoy the holiday season.
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