Again, I have decided to pare back our Christmas activities. Or maybe, more accurately, I have decided to stop pressuring myself to do. it. all. I have also been trying to hit a balance of being more Christ-centered and using Advent as a time of anticipation and not being all “Christmas-ed” out by 12/25. That being said, here are the top 10 things our family does for Christmas EVERY YEAR, no matter what.
1. Giving to Others.
We start our Christmas celebration in the summer actually. In July, we hit up the summer toy clearance sales at Target, Walmart, and such to purchase toys for Toys for Tots. We also look for small items suitable for the shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. Although the deadline for OCC has already passed this year, you can get together a list of things to look for throughout the year ready now. We also plan other giving for Christmas that directly helps the poor such as the Salvation Army bell ringers.
2. Decorate gingerbread houses.
No stress or perfection for us. I buy the pre-baked, pre-assembled kit every year. I do the construction & icing and my girls decorate with candy. This year, I purchased the kit with 4 little houses instead of one big one so that my 2 year old could help & not cause fights.
3. Jesse Tree.
A few years ago, I made some Jesse Tree ornaments and I wasn’t real happy with them. I later purchased a Jesse Tree DVD from Holy Heroes and it included printable ornaments which I colored in and used Mod-Podge to put over the old ones. Do we hit every day? No. Do we sometimes do a whole week at once. Yep. Do they get it all at 3 and 1? Nope. Does it put Christ and the bible back into our Christmas preparation. You bet!
4. We delay “Christmas.”
By that I mean, we don’t go gangbusters as soon as Thanksgiving dinner is put away. First we put away the fall decorations and bring out the plain old winter ones (Advent colors, snow, etc). Then we get out the Advent wreath and Jesse Tree supplies. Usually the tree is put up the 2nd or 3rd weekend in December and I try not to decorate it with ornaments until the 3rd Sunday of Advent (besides the Jesse Tree ornaments). Around that time, the nativity comes out (minus Jesus & the 3 wise men). It’s not easy but we REALLY try to stretch it out.
5. Christmas Movies.
We have a GIANT list. My parents taped every Christmas special on VHS circa 1984. We usually watch that and it has all the biggies – Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch, Charlie Brown, He-Man, & Garfield. We also add Mickey’s Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life. Sometimes we make a movie night of it with hot chocolate & popcorn and other times it’s just sprinkled throughout the day.
6. Truth in the Tinsel.
I think I’ve seen this mentioned before, but my almost 5-year old loves crafts and so working on Truth in the Tinsel is going to excite her to NO. END. this year. There is never enough crafting for her. Ever. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a hands-on preschool/early elementary program that has a bible reading, an ornament project, something to talk about and something more you can do. All of it can be done as much or as little as you want and she even has alternate schedules so that you don’t feel compelled to do it every day. And she has a set of printable ornaments this year, too, for those busy, no time to craft days!
7. Cook.
We pick one or two items that is not directly associated with a meal. For instance, there is a cake that I always attempt (and fail) and we ALWAYS have Dessert Squares. This is for items that aren’t considered essential, but just fun. I try to put Chex Mix (the original) as one and then something baked for the other. Nothing fancy, but just to get us in the kitchen & cooking together.
8. Advent Wreath
We let the kids light the Advent wreath each night during Advent. It totally depends on their maturity/spaz level, but my oldest was doing it at 3.5 years old with MUCH supervision. My current 2 year old will probably have to wait a while longer than that.
9. Make something
I try to make something with them each year to decorate the house. In previous years it has been foam sticker photo ornament kits. This year, I might teach my older one something more ambitious. We will see. We try to keep it low pressure.
10. Celebrate during the season
Since we try to mostly anticipate Christmas, we do relieve a little celebratory pressure by celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. You could pick a day from your family’s heritage (like St. Lucy’s day – Scandanavia) or some other event that you do EVERY YEAR.
What are YOUR Christmas traditions?
This post will be linked to Top 10 Tuesday @ Many Little Blessings.
Veronica
27 November 2012 at 10:47 PM (11 years ago)When I was growing up we always made and decorated “Happy Birthday Jesus” cakes with my grandma. She was a very talented cake decorator (one of her many talents) and had all the fun tools to make frosting designs and shapes and we got to decorate our little cake how ever we wanted 🙂
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