Seems like there is a common theme this season with my friends and bloggers. That is to keep our focus on Christ and have traditions that help us do that. Our family has many traditions that I have been evaluating and making sure they keep us focused. Here are some of ours:
1) Birthday cake for Jesus-this is one of our favorites!
2) Church on Christmas Eve. I would have to say that this is my favorite. The candle light service is beautiful and I always feel great after the service.
3) Christmas story-Daddy reads the Christmas story on Christmas Eve right before bed. This is a very special time for us.
4) Christmas books-some of our favorites are: The Crippled Lamb, Small One, Legend of the Candy Cane, Twas the Night Before Jesus Came, Tale of Three Trees, Benjamin's Box.
5) Christmas picture-this is the biggest hassle of the season-honestly! We have a picture taken with my niece Mandy and we have get our schedules, clothes, etc.. all together. While we are all dressed I get pictures of my kids for all my relatives. This year, I decided we would do our best and I would just chill out and take some myself to ease the hassle. After all, it is all worth it for our precious grandparents, aunts and uncles, etc..
6) Our christmas tree-I wrote in another post that we do not have a fancy tree. I love a simple tree that the kids decorate. It has all kinds of ornaments that we have collected over the years.
7) Christmas cards-I LOVE doing Christmas cards. I look forward to it every year as a way of looking back and thanking God for all he has done for us! It also helps me keep in contact with friends I don't get to talk to a lot. We also keep a basket on our kitchen table for the cards we receive. We pull one out at dinner and pray for the family that we picked.
8) Gifts-anyone that knows me can tell you I love giving gifts. It is a joy for me. I actually start the day after Christmas for friends and family. I enjoy buying for the kids and planning out their gifts. This year, Disney World was most of our Christmas so it has been pretty easy. Christmas morning we have 3 gifts for each child to represent the gifts that were brough to Jesus.
9)Nativity Set- this is the highlight of our decorating. We talk about the Christmas story and waht it means to us. Jenna is really into it now-the boys not so much. It's OK becasue there was a time when they enjoyed it and I have those memories.
10) Christmas at PaPa's and NaNa's-we just walk next door to a wonderful dinner and lots of fun opening presents. This year Daddy will be at the fire department so we are going to have to get creative!
3 comments:
You have awesome family traditions that your kids will always treasure! Great job!
Love all of the traditions. I might have the steal the one about the basket with all of the cards in it. I think that is a great way to keep up with the cards and then pray for the families! Thanks for sharing!
I like the idea of keeping a basket on your table for the Christmas Cards. I am going to go to Dollar Tree and find a cute one. I was wandering what to do with them all. I usually put them on my ledge (kind of like a mantle) but it gets so clutter looking and I didn't want to do that this year. Thanks!
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