ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

Help Your Community Have a Bright Christmas

Updated on November 26, 2013
Sustainable Sue profile image

With her master's in sustainable development and years-long interest in health, Susette eats, works, and lives as green as she possibly can.

Great dessert to take to a Christmas potluck!
Great dessert to take to a Christmas potluck! | Source

I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round, as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.

-Charles Dickens

How active are you at Christmas?

view quiz statistics

Life is richer and more fun when a person balances their solitary and family time with some type of involvement in a community. This is never more true than during the Christmas holidays, when lights are bright and enticement fills the air. How you choose and shape your own "community" is up to you - your likes and dislikes, your affinities for different activities and types of people.

Christmas Holiday Fun

Within the standard types of communities (e.g. neighborhood, town) there are never-ending possibilities for fun during the holidays, especially if you like to organize. Consider some of the ideas below and add your own in the comments.

If you don't like to organize, be aware that your support, itself, helps to make the season brighter for others. What would a party be if no one came? How much could a church give to a charity, if no one showed up to help? To get a feel for how involved you are (or aren't) in the world outside of yourself, take the quiz on the right and then read on.

Different Types of Community

For most people there are four main possibilities for forming community outside of family: Friends, your neighborhood, the workplace, and the town in which you live, including church.

You could use any of these as a starting point to launch yourself into another. You could go with friends to a performance of the Nutcracker Suite (town), or through your church join a group Christmas caroling in your neighborhood, or invite a friend to a workplace party or vice versa.

Start with wherever you feel safest, take your Christmas courage in hand, and stretch out for more fun in a venue new to you.

Christmas Community of Friends

Circles of friends often expand during this most expansive time of year. A friend will host a Christmas party and you'll meet friends of theirs you've been hearing about for a long time. Or you might host a party and invite your friends to bring some of their friends.

Christmas for the Three Pigs

You could have gift exchanges, go caroling, go out to eat, or go to a performance or, most intimate of all, do the childhood sleepover scene, complete with tree and stockings, spiked eggnog, stories, and CDs playing Christmas music all night. It doesn't have to cost much (or it can) and can be a great launch for further activities like those that follow.

Neighborhood Christmas Community

If you already have friends in your neighborhood, this will be easy. If not, you've likely been saying hello to certain neighbors as you walk the dog or have nodded as you passed by on your bicycle. Now take courage in hand and go knock on their door with a plate of Christmas cookies or a bottle of wine. Ask if there have even been Christmas celebrations in this neighborhood before. Halfway through the bottle, ask if they'd like to join you in organizing one (lol).

Here are other things you could do for your neighborhood:

Organise a decorations contest in your neighborhood . . . or join one.
Organise a decorations contest in your neighborhood . . . or join one. | Source
The bottom portion of these photos are reflections off the tops of cars used as a tripod.
The bottom portion of these photos are reflections off the tops of cars used as a tripod. | Source
  • Dress your place beautifully with Christmas decorations to give a lift to the hearts of all who walk by.

  • Hold an impromptu contest to see who in your neighborhood has the best decorations. Mock up an award and take it with a gift of wine or pastries to meet the winner.

  • If you have a skill like writing, photography, or singing, give it to the neighborhood this season. Write an essay for each neighbor you have found something to admire about, format it nicely, and slip it into their mailbox or front door. Or give them a photo of their house, garden or pet. Or play Christmas music aloud as you walk down the street singing along and smiling wide at the neighbors you pass. Stop to chat.

Community of Work at Christmas

Gifts come in many forms and Christmas is a time of giving. Until the recession hit a few years ago, most people spent four to eight or more hours every day at a workplace. There is no way you can spend that many hours with the same group of people without creating some kind of bonding. This year, be one to give to your workplace community:

  • Take a poll of what kind of Christmas music coworkers like. Buy some CDs and play them in the afternoons, when mental activity lightens up.

  • Decorate your part of the office, warehouse or factory (and more, if they'll let you). Dress in red, green, or sparkly gold. Wear a holiday tie, vest, or jewelry.

  • Sing to yourself often and smile more than usual. Send Christmas jokes to your coworkers via email.

  • Invite your favorite coworkers to a home party or organize one at work.

  • Take refreshments to work - like fudge, divinity, or Christmas pie.

  • Drop a little Christmas gift by everyone's computer or machine, or give them Christmas cards. Make your gifts generic for those you don't know well and personal for those you do.

Lights in Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada.
Lights in Nathan Phillips Square, Toronto, Canada. | Source

Town Dressed for Christmas

Town activity always picks up during the holidays, from before Halloween clear through until after New Years Day - pretty much three straight months of celebration and preparation for celebration. Town activities you can take on will vary, depending on the role you play, but can include church, shopping, official city events, arts events, charity, and decorating your storefront, if you have one.

You can be involved in organizing any of these events or be an active participant in them. Whichever you choose, your Christmas will be enhanced by taking part:

  • Churches often have parties, potlucks, visitations, and performances you can take part in. This is a good time to join the choir, if your church has one, since most people are familiar enough with carols to learn them easily. Or help put on a Christmas play.
  • When you are planning to shop, look first at the city's website to see what official Christmas activities they are sponsoring, then choose to go shopping during those times. Take friends or family with you. Dress the part, even wearing a Santa cap if you have one.

Larry's Christmas Story

  • Arrange to attend a Christmas performance of some kind. Again, check the city website and the websites of local performing arts companies. One of my brothers used to be a dancer and I watched him perform in the Nutcracker Suite one year.

  • Make donations to charities, buy gifts for the poor, or help cook Christmas dinner for a homeless shelter. Even dogs in a doggie homeless shelter can appreciate a gift or two. Read Christmas stories to kids in an orphanage.

Christmas Gifts to the Community

One church I belonged to asked for donations of stuffed animals from its members one year, collecting them under a floor-to-ceiling Christmas tree. On Christmas Eve 10 or 15 of us took the collection to nursing homes, singing carols as we gave them away, one bed at a time. The faces of nearly all of those present lit up, residents and attendants alike. Some residents sang with us, many cried and reached out for hugs, a few snatched the toys to their chests and turned quickly away, so we couldn't see their faces. That was one of my all time favorite Christmases.

Christmas Time at Starbucks

Christmas can be an extremely poignant time. As I was writing this at Starbucks with the smell of fresh coffee filling the room, it suddenly started to storm outside, enhancing the coziness and reminding me of the storms of my childhood.

This simplest things can make spirits bright. What will you do this Christmas?
This simplest things can make spirits bright. What will you do this Christmas? | Source

A woman in an armchair near me started talking about a snowstorm her house had been buried in once. Then the sound system started playing the Nutcracker Suite and I thought of my brother (now deceased) dancing the mouse king in the ballet. My heart filled and tears started to flow.

This is one of the things I like best about Christmas, this unexpected poignance. After all of these years and with many more to come, the magic persists. May we all be blessed with the vulnerability, overflowing love, resourcefulness, and courage to help make Christmas brighter in our communities for ourselves and for everyone we meet.

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)