The day after Thanksgiving marks the beginning of the Christmas
season in my house. On that day we spend
hours “decking the halls” with all of our Christmas decorations. Putting up our trees and bringing a very
festive feel to our home. My Children
look forward to this day because it is a day that we are all together, no TV, no interruptions, and they have a creative say
as to how to decorate and put up the tree and lights.
Now that my girls are a little older I can see the excitement
and joy in their eyes as they come to understand Christmas. Of course I know that what they are looking
forward to are presents, food and lights, but I also know that as they grow
they will come to understand December as a time that we really reflect on the
birth of Christ.
Excited for new winter coats
As a Christian I know that Jesus was not born on Dec 25th. At first this bothered me, I was raised
Jehovah’s Witness and therefore the
entire idea of Christmas was something that I have had to learn as an
adult. My husband and I talked and
decided that we will continue a Christmas tradition in our home with our Children
for two reasons, First it is something to look forward too. It is a time that we all are anticipating fun
activities, church services, festive parties and wintertime fun with each other. I feel very strongly that
traditions make life worth living. They hold
us together when life gets hard, they are the light at the end of the tunnel
during the trials of our life. Secondly it is a time when we focus on Jesus,
from the beginning of Dec all the way through Easter. Many people will argue that Christmas is a
retail holiday; it is highly Pagan, and so on.
But I believe that it is whatever you make of it. In our home we discuss the sacrifice God made
by sending his son.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he GAVE his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
We discuss
the purpose of this sacrifice and I have even found a Bible app on my phone
that gives us fun activities that bring to life these heavy topics so that the
kids can understand through participation.
I have learned that Rome was not built in
a day and so is true for our family. We are a very new family and since I didn’t
have Christmas traditions growing up to draw from we are really creating our
own now. Last year was really when we
started implementing Christ more in the entire month, this year we will be
putting an emphasis on giving, by taking toys to Child Haven, I am excited because
we will be having Donovan pick out toys both from home and from the store for others
then we can discuss the importance of giving.
Last year Donovan and his friend started a tradition of their own by
walking around the neighborhood singing carols the Saturday afternoon before
Christmas. Yesterday he asked if he
could make cakepops to give to the neighbors while they Carol, he said “I love
giving things to people” my heart rejoiced hearing him say that because in the
midst of all the receiving, I wanted to make sure to instill in him a spirit of
giving as well.
Oh and I can’t forget our newest Christmas traditions. This year we were visited by a tiny friend
that we call Zandric (the kid named him).
I had heard about Elf on a Shelf through Pinterest but honestly I really
was not interested in starting this one up with the kids. It just seemed creepy and weird. A few weeks ago though, Donovan came home and
asked us why we didn't have an elf. He
explained what the elf was and that he wanted an elf “really really bad”. I went into mommy mode and couldn't tell the
child “No”. Minutes later after a text
to my neighbor, I was next door meeting the neighbor’s elf Chris and getting
the scoop from them. After a week and a
frantic search through every Target in my area, we were visited by our
elf. The kids LOVE him. It’s like Christmas morning every morning for
them. They walk up early, run down
stairs and search the house to see what Zandric has gotten into this time. It’s the first thing they talk about in the
morning, I love to see how their faces light up with excitement and laughter
when they find him or talk to him. As stressful
as starting up the elf tradition was, I have
to honestly say that I am glad we have a Christmas elf to bring just a little
bit more excitement to the entire month of December.
Finally, what is Christmas without sweets? Cupcakes, peppermint cakeballs, homemade
candies and Cocoa, are just some of the sweets we look forward to making
together and eating together. It seems
to be a new tradition in my husbands shop at work that I make peppermint
cakeballs for him to bring because I keep hearing about it. Which reminds me, I have a few dozen cupcakes
and cakeballs to make by tomorrow, yikes!
This is my Favorite Picture of Christmas last year
Whatever your tradition is, keep it, your kids will thank
you for all of the wonderful memories they can draw from during the hard times,
something to look back on and remember how much fun they had and to look
forward to at the end of each year.
Happy Celebrating!
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