For many people, Christmas is their favorite time of year. What do we love about it? Everything!

We love gathering together with and being close to members of our family.

We love the smells and tastes of a large meal together.

We love giving and getting presents.

The good news is that except for the snow, the things we love about Christmas can happen all year round with the right attitude, and a little effort on your part.

So why not endeavor to bring a little Christmas into the year ahead?

Gather together with family

One terrific thing about Christmas is gathering together your family members from all over the state or the country or even the world.  this is largely made possible because Christmas is a time where many companies allow for extended time off just for the purpose of getting together with your family.

So if you want to set up your Christmas in “current month here” – you will have to get creative.

Your local family will be easy to gather on a specific date, but relatives who live further away might complicate the matter. One way to accommodate this is to plan a Christmas around their schedule. Are they planning to come nearby one day this spring? Do they have a conference this month?

Plan around that. Or, if the budget allows, maybe you can take Christmas to them?

Have a celebration meal any time of the year

If it is the Christmas camaraderie around a common table that delights you, why not schedule a big meal on a different extended weekend? You might  be surprised to learn that turkeys are on your grocery shelf almost all year round. Same with those jars of cranberry sauce.

So it is just a matter of gathering family around your table.

Or, shake it up by having a Christmas dinner not for family, but for the people in your life who you enjoy but never get to spend enough time with. A friends Christmas dinner might be a wonderful new tradition!

Why only give gifts once a year?

There is really no reason why many of us choose to only give gifts at Christmas and birthdays. We have all had that experience where we were in the store and saw the perfect thing for a friend or a loved one.

Why not buy it right then?

And instead of waiting for Christmas, wrap it up. The next time you see them, surprise them with it. This way you can spread a little dollop of Christmas over your whole year, and all of your friends and family.