The holiday season is here, and for How I Met Your Mother fans, that means an excuse to re-watch every great Christmas episode of the show. There are seven Christmas episodes of the show, officially, but HIMYM does something a little different - and for many of these, Christmas takes a bit of a back seat to the main story. There are a lot of Christmas sweaters and snow falling, but actual holiday traditions are a little thinner on the ground.
That said, there are still plenty of amazing moments in the How I Met Your Mother holidays that fans can borrow for their own celebrations. Maybe don't go stealing (ahem, borrowing) friends' decorations, like Barney, or getting into a huge fight, like Ted and Lily, but everyone can get on board with these.
Create A Winter Wonderland...
Lily loves to create a 'Winter Wonderland' in her apartment - as fans see in 'When Lily Stole Christmas'. She strings up lights, banners, and snowflakes, decorates a tree, wraps things in tinsel - she's even got reindeer! This is definitely someone who loves to decorate (after she moves the decorations back to her place when Ted upsets her, she puts tinsel around her baseball bat!), and it's amazing to see. There's no reason not to go overboard... after all, it's Christmas!
...But Leave It Until Christmas Eve To Decorate
Of course, what makes this really special is that Lily leaves her space undecorated until Christmas Eve! In this episode, Marshall first comes out with his eyes closed, because he doesn't want to see the Winter Wonderland until he is finished his last paper. In saying this, he calls it 'Christmas Eve Winter Wonderland' - and it's a fantastic idea to leave the decorations to the last minute. For many people, Christmas has started to inch ever-closer to July, so why not go Lily-style this year and leave it until everything else is done, and you can focus on celebrating?
Create A Symphony of Illumination
Lily isn't the only one who is incredibly talented with decorations. Later, in 'Symphony of Illumination', it's Ted's turn to show off how festive he can make the apartment when he lives there with Robin. She's having a tough time, coping with being alone and the realization that she cannot have children.
And although Ted doesn't know what is wrong, he knows that he wants to cheer her up... so he creates an indoor Christmas light show set to music, and it makes for one of the sweetest scenes in the whole series.
Carry A Beer To Settle Holiday Arguments
Buying a friend a drink to deal with issues isn't exactly new, unique to How I Met Your Mother, or holiday-specific... but it does pop up in 'How Lily Stole Christmas', and it's adorable. In this episode, Lily and Ted are fighting - over an old answering machine message, a name called, and a missing apology (not all from the same person), and they reveal that their classic apology is a hand-delivered pint of beer. It works with non-alcoholic beer too, of course.
Bake Special Holiday Cookies
This is already a tradition for many, but fans who don't have some kind of 'sinfully cinnamon' cookie recipe should find one in honor of Lily and her annual cookie-baking tradition. Just don't pull a Ted, and forget about them in the oven so they end up covered in fire extinguisher foam instead of delicious icing.
Give Money To Charity
In 'False Positive', Barney can't quite decide what to do with his (insanely large) holiday bonus from the company... and while his diamond suit may have been the furthest up he had ever suited, it wasn't quite in the spirit of the season. Leave it to Ted to remind him that this is the season for giving, not receiving, and convince him to donate some of his old suits to be used by those in need for job interviews. Even without having suits to donate, this is always an amazing time to volunteer.
Take A Gingerbread House To A Christmas Movie
Also in 'False Positive', the gang are going to see a Christmas movie together (which is a lovely tradition in and of itself), and Ted brings the best (if least practical) movie snack... an entire decorated gingerbread house!
This may seem a little ridiculous, but it's just once a year... and it's the perfect snack for a holiday movie. Even better, decorate one while you watch at home.
Hang Christmas Lights
In 'Symphony of Illumination', Ted isn't the only one hanging Christmas lights. Marshall is out decorating his new home in the suburbs, although he is out of luck when a local teen manages to trap him on the roof and use his house for a party! This is not part of the tradition that fans should take on... if anything, they should make sure that there are at least two adults (one on the ground) at all times when hanging lights. Still, creating a little festive brightness is always a good idea.
Make Up Christmas Songs
Barney may not seem like the sensitive, holiday tradition type, but even he has a couple up his suit sleeve... like making up holiday songs about Ted's sister. Now, it wouldn't be entirely appropriate to make songs as R-rated as Barney's, but making up silly holiday songs for friends each year is actually a fun game that anyone could enjoy.
Hang Ties on The Tree
Decorating the tree is an incredibly common Christmas tradition - but for a little HIMYM flavor, take a leaf out of Barney's book and decorate with red and green ties. This tree can just be seen in the corner of a few shots, but it's so quintessentially Barney that it deserves an entry all its own. If a Barney-style suited-up tree isn't your style, find another way to really put personality on your pine... just with your own decorations, not Ted's!