We enrich our pre-Christmas time with various traditions and creation. I will be happy to share some of it with you. I believe it will be an inspiration for you. And if you will add them to your life, you will inspire others around you to do something differently this Christmas :) That is, to support and preserve nature, to spread joy around you, but also to support and satisfy yourself.
1) The Tree of JOY
We created our tree of joy for passers-by with the intention to focus on joy in us and around us, with the intention of supporting the spread of joy through the world. :)
In front of our fence, we have a tree, which we saved from one construction, where it was not suitable for the owner, so we planted it in our place. We named it TREE OF JOY (yes, we also give names to trees and usually we plant them with some nice intention). Right at the beginning of Advent time, we decorate the tree with lights and dried oranges, grapefruits, lemons and limes and make some kinds of Christmas raw or vegan cookies and sweets, which we wrap in the shape of candies in baking paper and hang them on the tree. The tree is marked with a heart, which we made in a woodworking workshop with Honza, and there is this sign next to it and it is written on it.
TREE OF JOY
Have some sweets from our tree, which we created for passers-by with joy and happiness.
These sweets are created in a raw / vegan variant, so it contains only dried fruit, cocoa from unroasted beans, crushed unroasted cocoa beans, spices, seeds or nuts. During Advent, the cookies on the tree will change, so you can come and taste another kinds.
It is our wish that you also make some unexpected joy to someone close to you or to someone you do not know personally.
We wish everyone a wonderful pre-Christmas time.
Zuzka, Honza and Neo
There is also a diary close to the wooden heart, where passers-by can write us happy messages or maybe just how they liked the sweets :) So if you come across this tree on a walk, you are cordially invited to taste and to JOY from life or at least from our sweets and surprise on your winter walk.
2) CHRISTMAS LETTERS and THE GRATITUDE DIARY
We give material gifts minimally and such a traditional gift for us are Christmas letters, which we write to each other. In the letter, we remember the whole year, everything that made us happy, everything we thank the other for, everything we realized, what we understood, and it is always the most beautiful gift we can give each other. Sometimes in such a letter you will find out how important a little thing that you did for the other was and you may have completely forgotten about it. Of course, it is beautiful to write such a letter to other family members too (parents, grandparents or children or a close friend) and of course such letters are also beautiful from children, in which you can learn what was so important for your child last year that he will not forget it for the rest of his life. Believe me, it can surprise you a lot.
I love even the process of choosing the paper on which I will write this Christmas letter for a person, and I also really like wrapping letters in various creative ways. You can put the letter in some beautiful envelope, box or just wrap it in fine paper and decorate it with twigs and what you will find in nature during winter walks.
GRATITUDE DIARY
I came up with this gift early last year. It is actually such a gift for you as well, because you will realize a lot of gratitude during its writing and it will help you to tune in and see, perceive and feel all the beautiful things that your partner carries. My intention was to write this diary every day. Every day write some gratitude that pertains to my amazing partner. In the end, I didn’t write every day, because I didn’t have such discipline, but I believe it is possible :) :) :) I always wrote in stages and I wrote a lot and during the year I filled the diary almost completely and then creatively wrapped it and handed it to my partner together with a Christmas letter under our Christmas tree.
3) For each Christmas we plant a TREE
Every Christmas we buy a potted tree in the gardening store, which we decorate as a Christmas tree, we leave it outside and we put it inside before Christmas. Then we always plant it and return it to nature.
Buy such trees in some gardening centers or directly in the forest nursery, there are the best and at great prices. If you buy a tree in a pot in Bauhaus or other large store, it will probably dry out after planting – because the tree is not rooted and has pruned roots.
4) Our Christmas and whole year tree
We have this tree at home all year round. During the year, it serves as a decoration for the individual seasons, so you can dismantle it after the winter and hang dried flowers and herbs, feathers, crystals or various types of leaves on it.
We created it by collecting fallen tree branches during our walks in nature, and gradually we found all sorts of sizes that fit together nicely and created the size we needed. Then we simply cleaned the branches, let them dry and tied them together with a strong string and hung them on the wall. We have also added decorative lights, so the tree also serves as a kind of mood lighting.
5) ADVENT COCOA TIME or Christmas garage opening
This year we decided to start with a new tradition for our friends, family and loved ones and diversify one of Advent Sundays with a cocoa event, during which we opened our garage, decorated it and tuned it for Christmas, played Christmas music, created a lot of goodies and sweets for tasting and most importantly we made a giant pot of warm raw cocoa with Christmas spices and coconut milk and hosted passers-by, neighbors and especially our friends, whom we let us know in the form of a private Facebook event.
Our intention was simply to meet outside the virtual world in a world alive, real, pre-Christmas, magical and share with a cup of cocoa news, joys and our visions and wishes for the next year.
What else have we come up with during this event:
Since we are getting rid of things rather than buying them, we decided to move our unused and functional things further and make those who use them happy and then they can send them again, for example. So a lot of things disappeared like unused cezve, glasses, some clothes and all sorts of little things.
We really enjoyed creating all the goodies and also the decoration and it was a great pleasure for us to prepare this event and come up with what else we can decorate and invent. In addition to cocoa, we created raw pralines, apricot vegan cake with crumbs, Christmas cake, hazelnut cookies, raw balls and also a divine gingerbread ice cream made from frozen whipped bananas, gingerbread spices and dried coconut milk.
You can do a similar event in front of your house, cottage, tree or on your street and just enjoy the meeting in the pre-Christmas time.
6) Tradition the day before Christmas – surprise those you haven’t seen the whole year
We love to surprise each other and we love to surprise others, so one of our traditions is that the day before Christmas we make a list of our loved ones, whom we will visit and surprise with a small handmade gift. Usually we make our raw Christmas cookies or pralines and then deliver the presents according to our list. It’s not about some long visits, it’s more about handing over a present between the doors and hugging someone you don’t see so much, but you just want to see him and make him happy. If the person is not at home, then we leave gifts with a message somewhere at the door, on the window or in the garden (where we sneak in discreetly), so it is sometimes an adventurous Christmas mission.
7) Christmas decorations forfree
We decorate by using what we find on our trips in nature. We do not buy any decorations, but we create them. We decorate the tree with dried slices of oranges, apples, lemons and limes. Also connected with cones, twigs of arrows. On the dining table we have many different twigs, cones, rose hips and leaves and dried decorations or even fresh fruit. We create a wreath on the table and on the door from fallen coniferous twigs and the only things we buy are straw base, which cost a few crowns.
9) Advent calendar for Neo and Christmas cocoa time
We create an Advent calendar by buying a regular calendar. We like it because of the picture. We carefully divide it so that we can pull out the whole plastic plate with chocolates. We rob and throw away the chocolates and make our own chocolate.
We love to create raw chocolate and pralines together. And tasting them too, of course :)
It’s always a beautiful time together, when we come up with various combinations and we always get a completely new recipe, which we usually don’t repeat, because we come up with new chocolate ideas during the next creation :) You don’t need many things to prepare your own chocolate. Of course, the better the raw materials you indulge in, higher quality, better and healthier the chocolate is. With these ingredients, chocolate will provide you with a huge amount of minerals, vitamins and energy (my advice: be careful not to eat raw chocolate in the evening, I usually do not sleep all night just after a few pieces, this shows how chocolate actually can be so strong).
I recommend the following ingredients for making real raw chocolate: RAW and BIO cocoa powder, RAW and BIO 100% chocolate, RAW and BIO cocoa butter, BIO coconut oil (in the case of creating an Advent calendar, do not use coconut oil, which at room temperature melts, but cocoa butter, which melts up to about 40 degrees Celsius. Then you can have a calendar even nicely at room temperature and chocolate lasts) and a favorite sweetener: I like to use BIO maple syrup for my chocolates and then anything you’d like them to mix with. Believe me, you will come with amazing original combinations such as: cinnamon, vanilla, salt, coffee, coconut, nuts, seeds, walnut butter, poppy seeds.
You will also need a bowl for a water bath, where you will mix and dissolve the chocolate, as well as a mold for chocolate or pralines or simply baking paper and a container in which you pour the mixture for the chocolate and let it solidify.
Recipe:
One of the basic variants for the preparation of chocolate, for example, is to melt 30 grams of cocoa butter, 30 grams of 100% RAW chocolate and 30 grams of cocoa powder. Next, you add a sweetener and tune the taste of chocolate just by adding one of the fats or cocoa or chocolate. Once you are satisfied with the taste of basic chocolate, add the other ingredients you would like in chocolate and pour the mixture into a plastic plate from the Advent calendar and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes and it’s done.
Of course, you can try a combination in which you use only cocoa butter mixed only with cocoa powder and sweetener. Chocolate will be always amazing :) Don’t worry :)
If your child likes milk chocolate, you can also create a milk variant by adding powdered coconut milk. You can find them at WILD&COCO.
Tip:
You can find all the ingredients for making your own chocolate on VITALVIBE. They’re shipping Europe-wide :)
10) Christmas fasting
Instead of Christmas feast, you can indulge in Christmas fasting for at least half a day. It is very pleasant during the holidays and instead of eating it is good to come up with a Christmas program that will entertain you all day. You can create something together, make or go for a walk in nature and take a winter trip.
11) A gift for the most important person in the world – YOU
This gift is always the most important and it is a gift for the most amazing being on Earth and it is you. It is beautiful to indulge in this tradition and of course not only at Christmas, but all year round, but if you still have in your life the setup of postponing your interests, wishes and dreams indefinitely due to the needs of others, then definitely indulge in this tradition this year and start learn to pamper yourself. You don’t have to buy material gifts, but you can also enjoy a self-development course, a lecture or an online program or a massage, or anything that will support you and make you happy. It may be that you agree on one day off for you, in which you make space just for yourself and do what you love or do nothing, which is also okay. Or you can add such a day to your calendar regularly, for example once a month.
12) End of year celebration, New Year’s Eve and New Year
We usually celebrate the end of the year with our closest friends at home, where we prepare a conscious party.
We haven’t drunk any alcohol for many years, so our feast consists of raw and vegan food, with each guest brings some sweet and salty vegan or raw recipe. At home, we always prepare a New Year’s circle on the floor, which we create again from various stones, twigs, fruits, candles and everything we find at home and in nature. We will spread pillows around the circle and also prepare crayons and papers for some art-therapeutic New Year’s technique. In the middle of the circle we place a symbol that also supports the intention to create such a circle and surround it with objects that symbolize the individual natural elements, so we always insert something into the circle that symbolizes water, earth, wind and fire. Then we all talk, sing and create and draw in a circle. During the evening, we also prepare sacred Advent raw cocoa and taste goodies. In the later hours, we clean the circle and play music and dance. At the end of the party we drink New Year’s ritually prepared cocoa and wish each other.
13) Tips for gifts
If you would like to buy something material, then I have a few tips for you where I shop and what makes me happy and what I like to give my loved ones if I don’t make something myself.
- Handmade wooden cutlery, bowls, combs, hair clips and many other products can be found at my friends on the web www.stromyazivot.cz (you can use the discount code under the name: LOVEOFRAW, which you attach to the order and you will be deducted a discount of 5%)
- BIO and RAW superfoods, plant proteins, detoxification mixtures or raw materials for the preparation of raw chocolate can be found at www.vitalvibe.cz
- coconut products, young coconuts and sets for making homemade yoghurts – www.wildandcoco.cz
- handmade MACRAMÉ and dream catchers – www.dreamy.be
- dresses, tunics, scarves, jewelry from Bali – www.balisecret.cz
- customized paintings from the heart of the universe – an image on any topic that you solve or support your self-development directly from Akashic consciousness– www.margot-gabrielle.cz
- reverse osmosis (filtration of water for amazing price), detoxification baths and more products for health – www.bezleku.cz
- crystals and stones from Krystaly REON – you can find them on facebook here KRYSTALY REON
- website for handmade products from many different artists, enthusiasts and creative people – www.fler.cz
- harmonizing carafes for water and other interesting goods – www.naturesdesign.cz
- joyful original gifts from Anie Songe – www.tovarnanaradost.cz
- bracelets made of real stones created with the intention or the possibility to have a bracelet made on any topic – only a Facebook page – MALINA BEADS
Christmas wish and also a wish for the whole year:
I wish with all my heart that you can see and perceive miracles around you every day. Let you see miracles in everyday life. For if you believe in miracles, miracles believe in you.
