December equals Christmas. The time for giving, sharing and families coming together. You can make an enjoyable and memorable holiday without spending a lot of money. Honest, you can.

Let’s start with a tree. If you have kids or grandchildren, a real tree is a must. Never mind that you’ll be picking up pine needles until July. Shop around for the best tree at the best price. Make sure that you keep it well watered after you set it up. (Keep tabs on how much water the dog drinks.)

Decorate the tree with the help of little hands. If you don’t have any of those, I’m sure you can borrow some somewhere. Buy some red, green and white construction papers and, using a ruler, measure and cut them into equal strips. Roll each strip in a circle and glue the links together. I strongly suggest that you help put the chain on the tree, after you wash all glue or paste off of hands, clothes, hair, table and faces.

Save a few sheets of the construction paper to fold and cut into hand-sized cards. Trace the kids’ hands with a pencil and then cut the shape out. (If you cut them, they will at least be recognizable.) Use crayons or colored pencils to decorate. You can have the kids cut pictures from magazine or catalogs to use also. Here comes the paste; get out the washcloth. Magic markers are out of the picture - way out. Trust me on this.

The folded cards with the hands pasted on can be hand delivered to the special people in the kids’ lives, or tied onto Christmas gifts with yarn or string.

And last, but not least, we come to cookie baking. The kids will love this, as it involved making a mess, and doing something creative. When I was divorced and raising six kids on my own, money was tight, but I managed. When I grocery shopped, every two weeks I would start in September to buy cookie fixings. One time, I’d buy a bag of walnuts. Another time, a bag of chocolate chips. Next would be red and green sugar, a box of raisins, or a jar of maraschino cherries. All would be safely locked away, as kids will eat this stuff without cookies underneath.

Two weeks before Christmas on a Friday night, when the house is quiet, I mix a double batch of sugar cookie dough and pop it into the refrigerator. The next morning, after breakfast is cleared from the table, turn the oven to the right temperature, get out the Crisco can, cookie sheets, rolling pin, cookie toppings and your dough. Hours later, the house smells good, and the kitchen’s a mess, but we have plates of Christmas cookies made with love.

Christmas. Sharing and coming together to celebrate. I miss that.