The 8 Things You Can Do Before Christmas
Christmas is nearing, have you started preparing for it?
Are you an Otaku, or worse, Hikikomori? Are you guilty of doing only anime, manga, and lurking at sites that you’ve clean forgotten about Christmas? Get a life dude(tte)! Below are 10 tips that one can do to get into the Christmas mood.
#01. Christmas-theme your site.
Get a Christmas themed design for your site. Come up with Christmas themed banners like what kanzeon or Kairu Ishimaru has done. Better, you can start blog posts like what I’m doing while waiting for Christmas.
#02. Shopping!
- For Christmas cards.
Remember the joy of receiving a card? It just seems so much cheaper to send an e-card instead of getting stamps. This season, I’d suggest shopping for Christmas cards and sending them the snail mail way. C’mon it’s only once a year and the best part is that friends get to keep the card in hand.
- For Christmas prezzies.
You’ll need gifts so that you can exchange them with friends at parties. With Christmas sales on-going, start hitting shops and get the Christmas gift. Brain storm and come up with a Christmas shopping list so that you do not leave anyone out.
- For Christmas decorations.
In Singapore, we can fit no fresh Christmas tree in a HDB. If you’re on the ball, get a “fake” Christmas tree at one of the Christmas sales. There’s no need to be extravagant, just decorate the tree simply (my cousins hang Pokemon toys on the tree) and end off with a cute tree topper.
#03. Pack your house/room.
This is especially important if you’re hosting this year’s Christmas party. Start tidying the place, wipe the dust off your 100 figures and have them welcome relatives and friends in exotic postures. Pack your manga and VCD/DVD shelves and hide any items that you need to leave good impressions.
#04. Start booking or pre-ordering.
It’s difficult to find a nice and comfortable restaurant spot, or any spot, on the day itself. If you’re gonna go romantic mood with your special one, start booking that place now!
#05. Try out the various Christmas specials.
Often, shops will come up with promotions to sell their products that are “in-synced” with Christmas. Have you tried Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha Frappuccino yet? Better yet, challenge yourself to get the FREE palm size version that they’re distributing along Orchard Road.
I do not work for Starbucks but I worked for Spinelli Coffee XD Oh the irony!
#06. Get into the Christmas mood.
Visit places that are hyped with Christmas decorations and people so as to get into the Christmas mood. Sometimes the crowd might not be so bad after all when it comes to hyping up the mood. Visit places that are crowded and is nicely decorated with Christmas decorations (especially those with a Christmas tree). Do you know that Takashimaya has a Christmas tree? Go pose with it!
Qn: Guess where the below Christmas tree can be found in Singapore?
#07. Make plans to celebrate Christmas with family and friends.
Imagine home alone with a soda and a pack of chips in hand on Christmas itself. Sooo sad. You really need a life dude!
Book your family and friends and make an effort to spend time with them on the day itself. Be it a home gathering or just hanging around outdoors; spend some quality time with your loved ones!
#08. Volunteer for a good cause.
Christmas is the season to share and to give. There are still the poor and under privileged around and they might not be fortunate enough to celebrate Christmas.
Don’t be lazy and sit at home all day just to accumulate fats. Get out of the house and volunteer for a good cause. If you’re able to afford it, donate a little to charity, if not you can contribute by helping out. It’s the effort and thought that count and anime fans can give too, just like what Gordon did!
“The greatest gift is a portion of thyself” by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
6/8 ain’t bad right?
I gotta start working on a Christmas theme header and make it 7/8! ^_^
53RG10´s last blog post..Skip Beat! – MOAR LOVE
thanks for the mention in #08. i’m enjoying myself at the same time doing a bit for charity. win win situation. ^^;
hmm, considering your suggestion, i’ll perhaps add a christmas hat to my blog mascot soon.
gordon´s last blog post..One Zero Zero Zero Zero Zero Hits Get (Again?)
Nice hand.
Panther´s last blog post..AFA 08 Part 4 – Figures & Models
#04. Start booking or pre-ordering.
I thought of figures when reading this….Dear God Noone is ever gonna help me !!!
Blowfish´s last blog post..Tripod get!
You forgot “write a wishlist”! :P
Kiri´s last blog post..Review: DOGS (manga)
Chrsitmas doesn’t start for me until I officially go on holiday in 2 weeks. Until then, BAH HUMBUG. Also, title and number of tips don’t match. Confusing~
Omisyth´s last blog post..To Aru Majutsu No Index 9: Higurashi Levels Of Emo Facial Contortions And Violence.
Like Omisyth, Christmas doesn’t start for me, really, until my plane touches down in the US on the 20th. Until then, it’s rushing around on the job because now is a busy time and it’s quite stressful.
About Tip No.4: That would be a bad idea if the person is taking his dakimakura for a date.
The Sojourner´s last blog post..The True Test Of Your Loyalty To Macross Frontier
Christmas is the time for me to catch up on sleep missed from the final month of fall semester college.
FFVIIKnight´s last blog post..Random Catchup
@53RG10
Other than Christmas theming your site, which is the other point that is stopping you from getting a full 8/8 score?
@gordon
You’re welcome gordon, and congratulations for hitting another 100k hits again! I should sign myself up for some charity work soon.
@Panther
On behalf of my friend, I thank you. The hand is hers.
@Blowfish
You OTAKU! Fret not, you can still pre-order figures over the Christmas period. Are there Christmas only special figures out there?
@Kiri
I can’t believe that I’ve forgotten about this! I have to send my wish list to Santa! I want the 5Cs
I visited your site and peeked into your portfolio; nice pieces you have there. I especially like the ones titled; “Chibi Axel & Flareon”, “Feel Better” and “Drawing100Final”.
@Omisyth
Sorry for the confusion Omisyth, it’s probably due to the bullets for the sub points not showing under point 2. Oh you can start planning for Christmas and hit the stalls when you’re officially on leave!
@Caitlin
Awww…Work is important but take good care of yourself! Don’t fret, 15 days more before you can party on the 20th of December.
@The Sojourner
That Otaku who dates his Dakimakura needs a life, a real one!
What!?! Why the Dakimakura of all human for a date?
@FFVIIKnight
C’mon buddy, get some Christmas card and start posting. You can’t be sleeping for the whole of Christmas.
Im too busy to do those stuffs. ;__;
Kairu Ishimaru´s last blog post..Oh shit! New WP Dashboard Design!
OMG Starbucks Dark Cherry Mocha Frappuccino!! Gotta have one now :D The part I really like about Christmas is… shopping XD!!!
kanzeon´s last blog post..Vampire Knight Guilty: 09 – What A Feeling!
Anyone wants to make a guess as to where that Christmas tree can be found in Singapore?
I have to make sure I buy that copy of GTA IV for my mother that she wants so bad, instead of buying myself more stuff. But it makes sense to get her that, since she enjoyed San Andreas so much.
I’ve set up my Christmas tree and decorated it with the traditional Christmas-Angel-With-A-Hole-In-Its-Head-Because-I-Dropped-It-Last-Year, as well as some lights. My PS3 I won in the SMH Blog comp is now wrapped up after I had a go on it for a day when my bro wasn’t hogging it.
Asperger’s Anime Blogger´s last blog post..Yep, it’s an Update
oh mah gawd they’re giving out palm-sizes at Starbucks?! I needs must rush to Orchard Road within the next 24 hours!
#2: ’tis a lie that xmas trees don’t fit in HDB flats. my friend has managed to do so every year, don’t ask me how she does it, it’s a most high miracle considering she lives on the 20-ish floor.
#6: are you referring to the teddy bear xmas tree at the entrance of Takashimaya? that was one fantastic tree. as to the picture, it looks like it’s at the airport. i’m making a wild guess.
revolemina´s last blog post..winter 2008-9 anime lookouts: surely there’s more than this?!
@Asperger’s Anime Blogger
Traditional decorations are more pleasing! I have to hang pokemon and digimon key chains on my tree to please my cousins because they have something for those anime characters.
@revolemina
Yup, beside the awesome tree at Takashimaya, check out Ginza Plaza! Though the tree there is nothing as compared to the one at Takashimaya, the whole place is nicely decorated with Christmas ornaments everywhere. Since it’s newly renovated, the mall is so different from before that it was O-M-G unbelievable. They have Fish & Co., New York New York, Star Bucks, etc….
And you’re right, the photo was taken in Changi Airport Terminal 1 but no prize for guessing it right…wait, perhaps some popcorn?
Cheapskate! Just kidding, that will do. *munchmunch*
revolemina´s last blog post..winter 2008-9 anime lookouts: surely there’s more than this?!
In terms of Christmas spirit in the blogosphere, I actually prefer Drastic’s falling snow (no idea how they did that) over the general Christmas banners, but maybe that’s just me and my snow obsession >_>
ETERNAL´s last blog post..Touhou Doujin Anime with Mai Nakahara and Rie Tanaka!
The Let It Snow! plug-in? Download, install, activate and you’ll see snow falling for self hosted WordPress blogs.
@Hynavian: #04 – Booking and pre-ordering, my family doesn’t go out for Christmas since everyone usually gathers at our place during most holidays…
@53RG10: Your family is hosting the event? Catering or home-cooked feast?
Granny usually caters because we don’t want to trouble her to cook for a truckload of people on Christmas. We already placed our orders last week, just in case. I call this Kiasu-ism.
We have home-cooked meals. On Christmas we {yes, I help too} make tamales and on New Years we make menudo! Though sometimes we interchange them…