How To Get In the Holiday Spirit

I'll be honest. The last couple of years, I haven't even remotely been in the holiday spirit. I don't have kids and haven't been around kids on Christmas, so that take some of the fun out of it. It's not cold or snowing at all in SoCal (which is fine by me, but when you grow up with a cold Christmas it makes for a very Pavlovian response--or lack thereof).  And frankly, my mother hearted Christmas so hard that it really made the holiday exciting. It hasn't been the same since she died (obviously). I tried for several years to fill her cheerful shoes, but it got old. So I let things go, one by one and then got down to doing nearly nothing.

So I decided this year was going to be different. I made a list of things that I'm going to do between December 1-25th to try and get into the spirit. I'll either end up cheery or wanting to poke my eyes out with a candy cane, but either way I'm gonna do it. This is my initial list and I'm gonna give updates on what's happening. I have some other ideas waiting in the wings in case any of these falls through, but here goes:

1. Learn to appreciate a Christmas carol that I hate.
2. Listen to nothing but Christmas music on one commute home.
3. Give a gift to a stranger.
4. Go ice skating.
5. Make a Gingerbread house.
6. Resurrect one holiday tradition from my past. 
7. Put out at least one holiday decoration.
8. Buy something tacky just because its seasonal.
9. Watch a Christmas movie.
10. Bake Christmas cookies.
11. Send holiday cards.
12. Send all our Christmas presents to arrive on time.
13. Give a gift to someone without expecting one in return.
14. Stuff a stocking (or two).
15. Read The Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris.
    
16. Attend a Holiday Party.
17. Watch a Lifetime or Hallmark Holiday movie (counts separately from one above).
18. Write a Christmas list of both practical and completely unreasonable wishes.
19. Write a letter to Santa like I did as a kid.
20. Go looking at Christmas lights and decorations. 
21. Make puppy chow (and give most of it away).
22. Make chocolate covered pretzels (and give most of them away too)
23. Buy something that smells like Christmas. 
24. Write a short story about my favorite Christmas memory. 
25. Have all my presents bought before December 15th.