I absolutely love Christmas, it is fascinating to me. Christmas has become one of the most magical seasons and loving on those dearest to my heart while learning more about them is so special. Most importantly, it’s a powerful time for reminiscing on the miraculous gift of Jesus!
Years ago, I established an ample amount of Christmas traditions that my family cherishes! Some of our traditions include:
On Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve, we host a party and cook everyone’s favorite appetizers. I get everyone (including our guests) matching Christmas pajamas and we play music, games, and have deep dialogue.
The kids participate in a Gingerbread house competition where they each build and decorate their own Gingerbread house. But don’t worry, everyone’s the winner!
Demario and I always sneak away at some point during the night for a special surprise. He dresses up like Santa and I dress up as his elf. We give everyone in the house a gift and then slip away, returning as ourselves again. The entire crew loves it and it is prosperous for us to make everyone’s eyes twinkle.
Before bed, we bake cookies to leave as snacks for Mom and Dad when we are working on getting gifts out!
On Christmas Day
On Christmas Day we begin the day by reading the birth story of Jesus. I want to make sure that my little ones understand what we are really celebrating. We exchange gifts, followed by a mouthwatering brunch. We end the day with a delicious Christmas Dinner!
Although we celebrate all the normal Christmas traditions, I DO tell the kids that Santa is a character (like Mickey Mouse), and he’s not capable of all the things we sing about. It is very important to me that they know the real history and facts about the reason for the season!
The Giving Manger
A couple of years ago, we added “the giving manger” to our Christmas traditions. This practice teaches the kids to serve others, be intentional about kindness, and prepare for baby Jesus to go on display in the manger. We read the book and lay out the manger. Each day they are able to add a piece of straw after doing an act of service for someone. Once we’ve added all the straw from serving others, we get to place baby Jesus in the manger.
This is a great Christmas activity because it reminds the kids of the true meaning of Christmas and the importance of giving back to others in Jesus’ name.
We did let go of the elf on the shelf. It was just too much to remember to move those things every night. But I may add them back this year!
Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!
