Add Some Creative to your Christmas

I once took a baby pig to pet pictures with Santa. (Yes, a real piglet.)

And I once landscaped a roommate’s bed with castaways from the university compost pile. The masterpiece was complete with past-bloom mums, dried corn stalks, and a carefully curated stone wall. (Don’t worry, I covered the bed with thick black plastic before dumping on the bucketfuls of dirt.)

I also once decorated a room by hanging an entire box of goldfish crackers using white thread tied to their tails. (It took a while, even with a team of co-conspirators.)

If I had the time, I’d dig back through my cardboard box of old photos taken on a film camera and show you the end results. But for now, you’ll have to use your imagination and trust me when I say: it was epic. (Insert smiley emoji here.)

I don’t know how I had the time back then to dream up (and then implement!) so many harebrained ideas. But I did.

Somehow the further in life I’ve travelled, the energy of creativity has gotten snuffed out, or at least smothered to a stinky smolder. Creativity takes only one ingredient, but these days it is an ingredient more elusive than the finest Christmas spice:

Time.

These days I’m more apt to opt for mundane and done than creative and fun. The time to be creative seems to always be just around the corner. Like a cat toy pulled on a string just out of reach. When I try, I just end up batting the air, so why even bother?

I’ll tell you why.

Creative Christmas: Why We Should Bother

Mundane and done has never evoked a lasting memory to store away for Christmas futures. Creativity almost always does.

Christmas Concerts are one of my favorite creative sparks.

Crazy dorm-room antics are some of my favorite memories to reminisce. As are the times Santa left a scavenger hunt of clues sending my brother and I all over the house to find our presents. Creativity and Christmas go hand in hand – or to say it another way for those of us in the north, creativity fits Christmas like a hand in a warm winter glove. It is a season where our all-creative God did the most creative thing imaginable:

“Hey Gabriel,” He said. “How about this! I’m going to go down to earth disguised as a baby! Someday the whole world will know, but for now, let’s just tell a few people. Hark! Where are those heralding angels?”

How easy it is to miss the creative in this most creative time of year!

If you, too, are looking for a little spark this year, consider these ideas:

How to Spark a Creative Christmas

Identify your creative. What encompasses the best Christmas memories for you? Cooking with friends, hosting a gathering, wrapping beautiful presents, composing the perfect Christmas card, singing carols, volunteering at the many needed organizations… Move that item to your priority spot. You always have time for what you schedule first.

Keep it simple. Creative does not have to be complex. Maybe you don’t have time to cook the fancy dinner you envisioned, but how about an evening of appetizers? Maybe you can’t tackle every holiday activity you hoped, but can you try one new recipe, one new decoration, one new anything?

Turn solitary tasks into combined memories. The technology that intended to make things faster, easier and more connected often serves to drive us into our own little bubbles. Look for ways to break down these bubble barriers. Invite friends over to work on Christmas cards together, bake cookies, wrap presents, surf the online shopping malls while sipping cocoa around the dining room table.

Creative and done. Don’t let your to-do list squeeze the life out of your creativity. Instead, put creativity to work tackling that to-do list. What can you combine, simplify, delegate, schedule for later, or simply remove? How can you make some of the must-do activities more fun? Instead of cramming one more thing into your December, try moving it to January. This gives the added bonus of something to look forward to after the holidays.

Creativity is something that once fell upon me as naturally as breathing. Now, I have to consciously craft it into my days. This most magical time of year should be one of the most creative, but the built-in pressures can also squeeze the creativity right out of the season. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking you’re too busy to be creative. That spark may be just what this season needs.

Go ahead – add some creative to your Christmas.

The effort is worth it.

This post was first written for inspireafire.com. Merry Christmas!