Family Christmas traditions

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is special memories built through a variety of traditional activities we do as a family each year. Some of these started 30+ years ago when I was a child and some are things Adena and I started with our girls. Here are a few of ours:

  1. imageChristmas ornaments – Our Christmas tree is decorated from top to bottom with ornaments, including some which date from the year I was born. We add to this collection each year with tokens from special activities done during the year (2016 added several from our cross country road trip). The ornament pictured here was made when I was a child by one of my aunts. The girls call him the “kissy ornament” because his mouth holds a Hershey’s kiss. They wake up each morning and check to see if he has new chocolate for their enjoyment. We unpack our boxes of ornaments every year and reminisce.

  2. imageSpecial events at church – Our church hosts an annual talent night as well as a Christmas Eve service. These are special times together with our extended church family and the new memories are made each year. One of my good friends/co-workers donned Santa garb this year to read Dr. Seuss’s timeless classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. This year, Sarah Beth also performed, playing Up on the Housetop, which her piano teacher helped her select and prepare.

  3. imageFamily built gingerbread house – I stress family built on this one because it might be a lot easier if I hid in the other room while Adena and the girls did this. Somehow my “perfectionist” tendencies make it challenging to participate when the girls don’t share my need for symmetry or straight lines. But I have to drop all of that when the box opens up because a grumpy dad who only wants to do it his way might as well skip the project altogether. And what would be the fun in that? This year, one of my girls wanted to draw architectural plans for the house before we started. I may be rubbing off on them more than I realize.

  4. Screen Shot 2015-12-20 at 10.21.17 PMThe Syfrett Express – This year marks the third year of one of our most recent family Christmas traditions. Adena and I pick a night where we surprise the girls with two “tickets” to get on board the Syfrett Express for a trip around town to look at Christmas lights. We play the Polar Express audio in the van while we drive around, plus we enjoy hot chocolate and a snack. Decorating houses seems to be growing less popular than it was when I was a kid, but we can always find a few homes where the owners are going for a Clark Griswold style award to see how many lights they can use in their front yard.

  5. Christmas morning – Each year, we get the girls up and take time, before we openfisher-price-nativity-set-2327358-01 presents and unpack stockings, to read the Luke 2 narrative of Christ’s birth and remember the real reason for the season. Every year that goes by, December seems busier, the world seems more commercialized, and it seems harder to prioritize the thing that we know is most important at Christmas – worshipping Jesus. Setting aside this time, as well as others through Advent readings and a special calendar, is key to portraying a Christmas that is more about Him than about tinsel and tags, promotions and packages.

What are your family’s Christmas traditions? How do you help your children keep Jesus central to Christmas?

Related posts:

  1. The Neighborhood Christmas Parade is another of our highlights. (2016 Update: they hosted a Holiday Festival this year where Sarah Beth sold handmade bags.)
  2. Celebrating Immanuel: God with us
  3. Praying for Three Wise Gifts

O Little Town…

In addition to my own Advent Reading plan, we are doing one with our girls from the Jesus Storybook Bible. Last night’s reading sparked a connection for me that I’m not sure I ever made before.

In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel goes out, at God’s direction, looking for a new king. God sends him to the house of Jesse in Bethlehem. There he doesn’t find a king among Jesse’s mature, strong, handsome, older sons, but among the youngest, who was out caring for the sheep. David wasn’t even worthy to be invited to meet the prophet when he came to visit.

 

Much later, shepherds and wise men were told that a baby had been born in Bethlehem and that this baby would be the anticipated king, the Messiah They didn’t find him in a palace, but in a humble stable. Once again, Bethlehem provided the backdrop for a king who would be used by God to serve His people. And this time, it was for ALL people. Thank You, Lord!

Unlikely sources

Matthew’s Gospel tells the story of “wise men from the East” who came to worship Jesus and brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I was doing some research this morning on the “Magi” as these men were called.

I was initially thrown for a loop as Wikipedia cites numerous discrepancies in the traditional Christmas telling of the Nativity. I’ve known for years that Scripture doesn’t say there were only three and it doesn’t look like their visit took place at Jesus’ birth like the shepherds, but after Jesus was a little older.

But these men, who in my mind were kings from afar who came to show honor to a newborn king, are actually thought to be “astrologer-priests”, followers of Zoroaster. The Greek word here even ties to other Scriptural accounts of “sorcery” and connects to the word we use now as magic. WHAT? I don’t get it. Astrology, Magic, Sorcery? These are things which in my traditional background are considered far from God. Certainly, these men who bowed at the feet of Jesus were not involved in those affairs.

And even as I’m sitting on my couch, confused, it becomes crystal clear. God can and will use ANYTHING to lead people to Himself. I have a friend who felt like he met God over a physics textbook. I grew up in a religious tradition and knew God from an early age, but He used a girl’s t-shirt in a mini-mart during college to get me back on a path of pursuing Him completely. What did He use in your life?

“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen…” – Romans 1:20

Related links:
1. Praying for Three Wise Gifts
2. Obedience of Joseph
3. Humility of Mary