Christmas Traditions

I love, love, love this time of year.  I can honestly say I love it more now as a mommy than I did as a kid!  It came fast this year, I can't believe how fast it went from Summer to Christmas.  It feels like yesterday I was complaining it was too hot for the kids to go outside to play and now we are buying Christmas presents and putting up the tree. 

I wanted to post about Christmas traditions.  Justin and I have put much thought into our Christmas traditions and they each have special meaning or intention.  Traditions help our children remember pieces of their childhood.  Consistently done things burn into a child's memory and help to create a foundation for growing. 

I own a book called Parent's Guide to the Spiritual Growth of Children.  In this book it says, "When it comes to spiritual growth, each child has an empty photo album tha needs pictures...from the first moment you hold them you are adding to their album and forming their picture of the world."  I LOVE this!

One of the ways to add to their album is through traditions.  Traditions become the icons of our family legacy.

Santa Claus
My first order of business in establishing traditions was to remove Santa Claus as a "true" story from our home.  Jusitn and I decided that Santa Claus was just going to represent the spirit of Christmas.  We decided we would tell them that St. Nicholas was a generous man who went around doing good for the poor and unfortunate.  And, we thought the best way to be sure they knew the spirit of Christmas was to make sure we did the same.

Angel Tree
Thus, we do a Christmas Angel and make sure we look for others to bless during the holiday season.  Our children will be more involved in that as they grow but for now we take them shopping for someone else, and each other and allow them to bless another instead of focusing on themselves.  Cole knows that the Angel Tree is for little kids who don't get as many presents as they do.

Incorporating Christian Symbols
We have decided to incorporate many Christian Elements to the countdown to Christmas.
1. Making a Jesse Tree and reading about the symbols while placing them on the tree.
    They are only able to focus for a short time so we make the stories quick and they color pictures of the      
    symbols. I give them a few words to describe each one.
2. Family Advent-we purchased a book that has all kinds of Family Advent goodies, but for now we just say the
    prayer with them each day.
3. Reading the Christmas Story on Christmas Eve
4. Making Jesus a Birthday Cake on Christmas day
5. We give each child 3 gifts to symbolize the 3 gifts Jesus was given by the wise men. (this also keeps us from going overboard.)
6. Attending our church Christmas Eve service as a family

FUN Traditions
1. Watching a Christmas Movie on Christmas Eve
2. Opening our Christmas Jammies on Christmas Eve
3. Christmas Countdown
4. Making cookies and handing them out to neighbors (ring and drop)
5. Reading the Legend of the Candy Cane and Room for a Little One (all leading up to Christmas and on Christmas Day)
6. Going to look at Christmas Lights.

It know it seems like a lot but as a family it is so much fun.  I don't put a lot pressure on myself to do everything perfectly or on the right day, etc.  We try our best.  Especially with little ones.

There are some great books out there on Christmas Traditions or should I say Christian Holiday Traditions--Family Nights Tool Chest: Holidays is the one I reccomend.

Again the whole purpose is to be teaching them about Jesus and incorporating lasting values into our homes.  Using our life as a teaching opportunity.

My prayer is that my children grow to love Jesus in ALL things and see His Glory in the small and the big!  I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!