It's Tradition!

While reading a friend’s blog post about her many Christmas traditions, I began to wish that my family had more. Sure, we have certain things that we do year after year but they didn’t seem as exciting as some that I’d heard and read about. Then God stopped me in my tracks as I watched my youngest son take a Hershey’s Kiss out of the Advent Calendar and name something that he was thankful to God for. Why did I constantly compare myself to others and decide that I fell short? What about the things we DID do?

We actually have many fun traditions that “it would not be Christmas without.” Here is our list:

• Putting a creative twist on the Advent Calendar (Last year I slipped a verse or Christmas quote into each slot along with a treat and Nathan had to read it before he got the candy. This year he is thanking God for something before eating a Hershey’s Kiss.)
• Each of our sons gets a special ornament so they’ll have a collection to take with them when they move out.
• Putting the nice Christmas China in the cupboard at least a week before Christmas so we can use it several times instead of just on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning
• Making Russian Tea Cakes (We aren’t Russian, we just like the cookies.)
• Watching A Christmas Carol, It’s a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story and The Polar Express
• Setting aside an evening to wrap gifts while watching Little Women
• Pasta for dinner on Christmas Eve
• Attending our church’s Christmas Eve service
• Leaving a cookie for Santa even though both sons know who really eats it as soon as they go to bed
• Reading the verses and quotes taken from the Advent Calendar, before opening gifts on Christmas morning (This we started last year and I saved the verses.)

I often wonder what my kids will pass on to their own Children. What will they think up on their own?

What are some of your traditions? How do they make celebrating Christ’s birth even more meaningful?

Merry Christmas

Some Christians think we should contain Christmas in a little square box and only allow things "holy" into the activities of a "true Christian." But doesn't that go against Jesus coming to the world?
I agree that the commercialism around the sacred holiday is annoying, but the act of celebrating contains exuberance. So when I see Christmas homes decked with snowmen, reindeer, gingerbread houses, and other "secular" items, I relish the creativity, both cute and beautiful, and let the joy bubble in my heart. I think for those of us who are secure in the real meaning of Christmas can deal with the difference between the sublime and the ridiculous.

In my own house as the kids were growing up, we celebrated the tradition of Santa Claus from the day after Thanksgiving until Dec. 6th, which is St. Nicholas Day. We hung stockings the night before. After giving the jolly fat man his due, and also studying the different Santa Claus traditions of the world, we put him away and concentrated on the birth of Jesus for the rest of the holiday season. My children loved it. They not only got Santa Claus, but they got him early. The rest of the kids had to wait until Christmas Eve. And I told them from the very beginning that if they followed Christ and developed His gift of love and generosity, they would grow up to be somebody's St. Nick!

I'd like to invite you to the Christian Author Holiday Home tour. You can begin at my blog:

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