• Take the Christmas light drive.  Everyone knows where to find the one neighborhood in the area where it seems that every single house tries to out-decorate the neighbors.  As a result, the electric bills are sky high but you can’t beat the light show.  Parking
  at one end and allowing the kids to walk the block is a great family activity that won’t cost you a thing and will bring pleasure to your kids.  If the weather isn’t great (too hot down under and too cold up north) you might just want to make the walk a drive instead.  Crank up the Christmas carols on the radio and sing along. 

• Invite the neighborhood kids over to decorate cookies.  Whip up a batch of sugar or gingerbread cookies, cut out some fun shapes and then invite everyone over to decorate.  By asking everyone to bring decorations for the cookies, the costs are split among the crowd.  At the end of the evening, have a munch fest and let everyone enjoy the fruit of their hard work.

• Have the kids make Christmas tags for the presents.  What person with kids doesn’t have construction paper, glue, glitter and paint laying around the house somewhere?  Set out all the art options and let your kids use their creativity to make homemade tags for those Christmas presents for the rest of the family.  Not only is Grandma getting that nice calendar you made for her for Christmas, she now has a keepsake art project that her grandson spent quality time creating. 
  

• Have a Christmas movie marathon.  Nothing will put you in the Christmas mode faster than watching “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”  Every year Derek and I watch “A Christmas Story” and I subject him to days of “YOU’LL SHO0T YOUR EYE OUT!!!”  Even in my 30’s I still get a kick out of the Mom/Safety messages of that movie.  I was sure that once I became a mom I would understand, but I don’t.  Always good for a laugh. 

Just a few ideas that can make for a lighthearted, low stress and relatively inexpensive Christmas.  Feel free to add in the comments any more that come to your mind.   I’m sure that we can never have too many ideas for fun things to do.