If I don’t make a plan, then December just happens to me. If I don’t prioritize, then I wake up on the 26th and wonder if they really saw Jesus in all of these presents and outings.
We have choice in how to spend these fleeting 25 days. So with all the Christmas possibilities, I try to keep one question in the front of my mind. One question that guides what I choose to do with our time.
It may sound cliché but we celebrate Him. Granted I like my home to smell like evergreen and cookies filling the tins. But when I put all of these decorations back in the attic until next year, I want to know that I didn’t miss the point of it all.
Tons of ideas fill the internet on making this month meaningful. But our family chooses just a handful that aim to remind us of our Savior. I thought I would share them with you and how (most of) these things point us to Him.
Week 1:
- Fill Samaritan’s Purse shoebox and Salvation Army stocking. Love gives. Out of love Jesus gave Himself. So we give to show His love to others.
- Attend our town parade. Umm. I’m not sure that scrambling for candy being hurled from floats points to Him, but the kids love it.
Week 2:
- (Attempt to) assemble a gingerbread house. Jesus came to make His dwelling with us.
- Family Christmas movie night. The kids love to watch The Legend of the Candy Cane.
Week 3:
- Drive to see the live nativity and local Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate. Jesus is the light of the world. He came to take away the darkness.
- Make cookies (probably not from scratch). The sweetest gift was Jesus.
Week 4:
- Celebrate with our extended families. We read the Christmas story and the kids act out the manger scene.
And each night, we’ll celebrate the advent season this year with The Advent Jesse Tree devotions and ornaments.
The time flies. If we don’t stay purposeful, we’ll miss Him. I want my kids to think back on Christmas’ past and remember that we celebrated Jesus.
Fill me, Lord…
What do you do to stay focused on Him during this season?
I need to have a plan like this, we have a loose plan, but I need to write it down, I have already admitted this week how I risk blasting right through this season, this is reminding me to make a plan, to be intentional… thank you, Lara.
Writing it down really does help, doesn’t it? Praying your Christmas is blessed, sweet friend.
As I was having panic attacks yesterday looking at the calendar that is already filled, & then “glutton for punishment” starts squeezing in more ‘stuff’ to add…I had to stop & think. Is this what it’s all about? Wishing December were already done? Thank you for your message this morning…just what I needed! (of course, I think He knew that already 😉
Thanks, Caroline. We all have to purposefully stop ourselves or else we all get lost in the busy-ness. Blessings!
AAAH – great post. I feel the same way each December and I am determined to do it differently this year. I’m doing the “Truth is in the Tinsel” with my children this year- an ebook that (I think) is similar to the Jesse Tree. 🙂
I’m so glad someone mentioned Truth in the Tinsel! Amanda is one of my bloggy friends and her new eBook looks fabulous! For all you crafty people, check out truthinthetinsel.com
This year feels slower for us than most Decembers. I am not directing any choirs/concerts, so the month is free of stress for me. We’ll be baking for the local free store today, we’ve made Christmas shoeboxes. The other things in the works are: choosing gifts from the Heifer Intnl catalog, doing the Jesse Tree, advent wreath with The Advent Book, reading Bartholomew’s Passage, and a few other things. I love this time of year!!
I love this time of year too! Fun memories!
Love it and I’m in agreement. This is really the first year that I will be able to do memorable things as a family that they can participate in! (Kids are almost 5 and 2.5) Tonight we start with getting the tree up. I also plan on doing Samaritan’s purse, baking, decorating, and some giving however I need to get some of it nailed in stone! Thanks!
Have fun decorating your tree. (and all my readers need to make sure you visit Clare’s website. Just click her name above for the link. She will keep us all trim in spite of all these sweet treats.)
We are doing Random Acts of Christmas Kindness for Advent this year…..but I must admit I probably need to knock a few things off our calendar for sure!
That sounds fun, Jenn!
I just ordered this traditions pack for my sister…I mainly wanted the “What God Wants for Christmas” resource, but for $3 more, you can get them all right now…the “What God Wants…” thing is several “gifts” and kids unwrap them as the Christmas story is read…the “gifts” are the different figures from the nativity scene.
http://www.shopfamilylife.com/radio-offer-past-radio-offers-rainey-christmas-traditions.html
I haven’t heard of that! I’ll check it out.
Love your plan, especially how you show that they point to Him!! I wasn’t aware that there was a Legend of the Candy Cane DVD…but we’ll definitely be watching that now! We are doing Truth in the Tinsel too! We started a few days early because I knew there would probably be some days in Dec that we may not get it in. We do it in the afternoons and then my children show off their ornaments and retell the Bible passage to their dad when he gets home in the evenings. We LOVE it! It helps that we organized all the craft supplies into daily bags so that I don’t have an excuse not to do it…we just grab a bag and go! We are also pairing a kindness/giving activity with a fun activity each day…such as make someone elses bed and then sleep under the Christmas tree or donating toys and then having a family game night. Our goal is to make sure that our focus this season is on people and not things!
This is so important and requires a lot of intentionality or the world will happily and efficiently sweep you up in their worldly, materialistic, and diluted plan. You’ll wake up on Dec 26th and never know what hit you and how it all happened. We’ve found a simple calendar helps a lot. (The older the kids get, they keep us accountable, too.) Some days we are doing something more involved but so many times it is something very simple. I think for most the real battle lies in their own conceptions of Christmas. there is this hectic and crazy pressure to do so many things that are viewed as essential to making your children’s Christmas’ memorable, normal, and fun. SO many of them have nothing to do with the coming of our Savior and can go. It is okay to be different. We are called to be set apart and to be different in this world- in the world, but not of it. I found the sooner I released myself from that crazy little voice (from family, friends, strangers, guilt, etc.) the simpler and more meaningful Christmas became. Be brave, be bold, and encourage your sisters in Christ to do the same.
This was a new discovery to me this year. Lots of fun ideas… http://lillightomine.com/light-em-up—20.php