Call me corny, but my heart melts each year as songs like “have yourself a merry little Christmas” fill the air; my eyes well up. It never fails! There is just something about this time of year that gets me all choked up.
Could it be the reminder that another year has come and will soon be gone? Perhaps.
Just as a certain scent takes you back to a specific time and place in your mind, the same thing happens for me when Christmas tunes start playing, snow flurries hit the ground, lights are strung up,
I must be getting older, but I don’t every feel like it this time of year. I feel like a kid, a big kid; wide-eyed with excitement.
I believe in starting your own traditions with your family. If you do not have any to recall from your childhood, start some new ones with your family God has blessed you with now.
One of my very favorite memories about this time of year takes place on Christmas Eve. Our family would always build a warm, blazing fire, pick our favorite foods to eat, read the Christmas story, and open one gift around the tree.
What are some of your memories/traditions that you took part in as a child? What traditions have you started with your own family?
One I stared last year was baking a birthday cake for Jesus with Riley. It is so important for children (and for ADULTS, for that matter) to know the REAL reason for Christmas.
So this year, won’t you keep it simple?
Ever feel overwhelmed with all the “to-do-lists” of the Holiday season? Throw out the list, and just enjoy one another and praise your Heavenly Father for the gift of Jesus.
Sound too simple? It’s not.
Here are some ideas for some traditions you may enjoy starting with your family:
1. Advent Calendar and Jesse Tree
2. On December 1st, make 25 paper rings out of construction paper, and string them together. Have your child rip one each day until they reach Christmas day!
3. If you have little girls, make some popcorn and watch Little Women together.
4. Bake something special (like my friend Danielle makes warm cinnamon rolls from scratch and hot cocoa) as you decorate the Christmas tree together. You may also like to pick a certain Christmas CD that you only play each year when you put up your tree.
5. Make an ornament with your children.
6. Read Christmas Bedtime stories during the month of December.
7. Is there a family in need of some comfort this Christmas season? Pray as a family who might need a special meal, some caroling, etc. and take your children to their home. It is so important that our children see us having a servant’s heart. Pray each year that the Lord would cultivate this heart in them, also.
Now I want to hear from you! What are some of your ideas?
Shelli @ Hopefully Devoted says
After years of only thinking about it, this year we bought an advent wreath and had our own family advent devotion on Sunday night. It was a precious time and we are looking forward to it each week.
3 Dudes and a Diva says
At our house we have LOTS of traditions because it id my favorite time of year! We decorate gingerbread houses, choose a less fortunate child from a local organization to buy Christmas gifts for, read the Christmas Story on Christmas eve,all our children sleep in our room Christmas eve so we can all wake up together, we listen to Christmas music starting Thanksgiving, we watch Rudolph and the Polar Express, make cookies and make special ornaments for family and friends. It is such a special time of year I like to make the most of it!!
Jamie @ Six Bricks High says
You’ve got great ideas! We always enjoy driving around and looking at Christmas lights with a thermos of hot chocolate in the car. My kids always spend a night under the Christmas tree too.
Jenilee says
thanks for the fun ideas!
Missy says
It is so hard to keep the balance between simplicity and doing everything I want to do with my kids during the holiday season.
Danielle Makri says
Awww..Trace! I am a mush at Christmas time too! I love listening to Christmas music, but it gets me teary eyed too! I got choked up watching the kids decorate the tree, thinking how quickly they grow and how I want them to stay little forever and how I cherish the memories we are making with them. Another Christmas family tradition we’ve started (besides the YUMMY cinnamon rolls and hot cocoa) is after the kids are on Christmas break, we pick a night to stay up late and watch ALL the Christmas movies we can.. eating popcorn, hot cocoa, cookies, etc. then the whole family camps out in the living room by the Christmas tree…which we leave on all night. The kids LOVE it! There’s never too many Christmas traditions and memories to make.
Melissa Lea says
We also open one present on Christmas Eve.
I would like to have an advent wreath in my own home one day.