Luminarias - Lighting for Christmas Eve

Make your own luminarias (lights) or farolitas* (small paper lanterns):

Gather a handful of brown lunch bags, a bucket of play sand, a trowel, white votive candles, and a candle lighter. Open bags, fold over the top edge to shorten the height, flatten the bottom, scoop in some sand to weight the bottom and double as a fire retardant and nestle a candle in the center. Lay out your filled bags to flank the outside entrance, or line a path to the door. When darkness falls (or at the appointed hour and before guests are expected) carefully light each votive with a long handled lighter.

Beautiful, festive and very easy!

Image for inspiration: Holiday Open House at Spruce Tree House, an ancient Anasazi cliff dwelling at Mesa Verde National Park near Durango, Colorado

*Farolita is the diminutive form of farola, the Spanish word for streetlamp.