Helping your family celebrate Christ at Christmas

For years I worried that I was turning into Ebenezer Scrooge. As soon as Thanksgiving was over, I started having panic attacks as Christmas loomed ever closer. I wanted to be the kind of mother that baked 12 kinds of cookies, found the gift that everyone secretly longed for, and decorated the house perfectly. But it never worked out, so I felt increasingly hostile toward the holiday.
My kids would give me their wish lists that were often impossible to fulfill, my baked-good ingredients would glare at me from the pantry as I shoved them aside to get dinner on the table, and my Christmas-card list just laughed at me. I hated it, and in the process, I began to hate Christmas—which alarmed me. Even in my flustered state, I knew that it was not a good thing to hate the holiday that celebrates our Lord’s birth. I didn’t want to be known as a “bah humbug” person: it made my children—and everyone else—avoid me.
Instead of worrying about the “perfect” holiday atmosphere, I’ve realized that I should be more concerned with how to keep my family focused on the true meaning of Christmas. Here are a few things that worked well for my household:
Use an Advent calendar: At the beginning of December, we purchased an Advent calendar that included Scripture foretelling Christ and explaining his birth. The kids would open a flap each morning at breakfast and we’d read it. It was a very easy way to keep the focus where it belongs and also led to some great spiritual discussions and explanations.
Make good use of a Nativity set: Instead of putting the Nativity scene out all at once, we’d set up the stable and then daily hide a piece that the kids would search for and add to the scene. When they found a piece, we’d discuss the part that character played in the story (we left Jesus for last). This helped our kids understand the real story behind Christmas, and it was fun too. If you have older kids, let them hide the piece for the younger kids to find.
Celebrate the 12 days of Christmas: Leave a small token at someone’s house anonymously each day leading up to Christmas (especially someone who is lonely or needs cheering up). We did this one year and it was as meaningful to the kids as it was to the person we were trying to encourage.
Give a gift to a needy family. I know someone who once gave a family in a developing country an entire farm for Christmas through World Vision. There are many organizations that do great work at Christmastime, and this is a great way to give your kids (and yourself) perspective on how blessed we are.
Create an Advent wreath: Use an artificial wreath and add four candles evenly spaced around it. Put another candle in the middle. Each Sunday before Christmas, light one of the candles and talk to your kids about the periods of waiting for a Messiah that the candles represent. (A great guide can be found here.) On Christmas Day, light the candle in the middle and read the Christmas story.
Read the Christmas story: Read the Christmas story in Luke 2 before opening any presents on Christmas morning. That reminds us all that this day is about Jesus, not our own selfish interests.
Make a birthday cake for Jesus: Especially when my kids were little, I made a birthday cake for Jesus (see, I actually can bake). Granted, I used a boxed cake mix and store-bought frosting, but it brought home that it is Jesus’ birthday we are celebrating and that the focus should be on him, not us.
Practicing these things not only saved me from turning into Scrooge but gave my kids some lasting memories, and gave all of us more joyful, meaningful holiday seasons.
Check out an earlier post by JoHannah here.
AMEN
Amen
Amen
Hey baby miss seeing you around
Amen
Amen!!
This is great, thanks for sharing!
I’m going to do this next year.
Great ideas to keep Christ in Christmas.
AMEN!
AMEN
Amen!
Amen
AMEN.. Beautiful !
AMEN
So true Amen
amen
Amen
Right now, I’ve slowed down to enjoy watching & listening to 3 of my granddaughters play, learn, & grow. Such a treat.
amen
Amen
🙂
right…slow down and look back did you accomplished anything?or it is just a fruitless endeavor….tread slow and you’ll see the results..they are so fulfilling too…blessings…
beautiful
So true
So true
Ask the Lord for inspiration. Like one time I was inspired by the Lord to create a kind of banner that I sewed onto it the scripture about “Unto us this day in the city of David a child is born….” and talked to some people at the obstetric ward at the local hospital and they helped me find a place to put it – it ended up next to the infant room, in the prayer chapel, laid under the Bible on a podium in the front of the room where all could see it when they came in! Me and my friend actually started going there to pray for a season, and years later, after we were gone, discovered a whole series of miracles that took place, that the nurses told us about. Wow, God is Good!
What I have come to over the years is to start praying and seeking the Lord earlier and get some plan to come to you through prayer and study, so you have time to put it to practice and make that part of the year a ‘gift’ to the Lord for reaching souls, while celebrating Him. like mainly the family, and the children. Other family members could join in and make it a family endeavor. Create together!
Also I being the grandma now, have taken each year’s Christmas pictures and edited them, and post them all together in different ways. You even can make a collage (on Power Point or ?) and post on Facebook.I can do this for birthdays, too.