Christmas is CLOSE and we are preparing for CELEBRATING the holiday!
We have VERY few priorities this month and this keeps us from becoming too frazzled during the holidays.
Each family is different, special and unique.
Each year we celebrate that uniqueness in our family traditions. We started some of our December traditions leading up to Christmas very intentionally.
Others just happened, worked for us and we keep doing them year after year.
Story of Jesus
There is no better time to share with your children the love that Jesus has for us.
The whole Christmas story is full of love and wonder. Wrapped up in a wild story of a child being born in a BARN are dozens of teachable moments about how a BIG God came to earth. The drama and danger that surrounded the baby Jesus when he was a baby can teach even the youngest about sin and why we needed a savior.
Advent Calendar
When our kids were really little we used old Christmas cards to made our own advent calendar. It has survived 20 years. Last year was the only year we didn’t put it up. This calendar has pointed us to Jesus’s birth and created anticipation in all of our children each year.
Each year we would cut up paper to cover each picture and the kids would get to write the dates on one side in “their” color. They would choose the dates of the pictures they liked best. Then when that date came they knew it was "their" day to pull off the paper taped over it.
Megan always chose the date that was “hers”(birthday) and the rest were totally random.
On Christmas morning, we pull the last paper off before checking out the filled stockings. It created anticipation but gave a very concrete way for little people to know “how long it was until Christmas.”
When to put up the tree
Let’s face it. When your birthday is in December Christmas can be not as much fun.
Megan has never felt that way because we’ve tried to make it special for her. Once she was old enough to know how close her birthday is to Christmas, we’ve let her choose if we put up the tree before or after her birthday.
She has almost always chosen before. She likes that her birthday pictures can be in front of the tree.
No other kid in the house gets to do that. It turns a downer for her into something special.
Homemade Stockings
My mother-in-law started the tradition of homemade stockings at her house. She has 49 stockings up now. Grandma & Grandpa, 4 kids, 4 spouses, 33 grandkids & 6 great grandkids. CRAZY fun!!!
We continued that tradition and made our own. Our family is growing with 7 stockings now to hang up each December. This year we need to make a new one for little Cecily!
Decorating the house
We might have a new tradition in the works this year.
The past two Christmas’s my girls have decorated the house together. Every time I walk through the living room and kitchen I get a little thrill of JOY over the beauty of the decorations. They did such a good job and had a BLAST singing and being silly while they decorated.
What are some of your December traditions? What are your favorite ways to get ready for Christmas? Share in the comments, I’d love to know!
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