New Traditions

This year Justin and I were hoping to fill our home with more things that pointed us in the direction of the true meaning of Christmas.

I read a couple of very helpful and insightful books.......

A Christ Centered Christmas by Emily Freeman

and

The Christmas Experiment, 6 ways to include Christ in your family Christmas by Denise Wamsley.

After reading these books, praying for guidance and pondering the things I felt would help my little family in this endeavor of a Christ centered Christmas we decided to do a count down to Christmas that would help us achieve this goal.

We called it 25 days to bring Christ into Our Christmas......

When Justin and I talked with the kids about our idea I was surprised at their response. They thought it was a great idea to not focus on gifts and the list of things they wanted Santa to bring them. Their response made me even more excited about the weeks leading up to Christmas this year!

Our list for this year...........

1. Watch a Christmas Movie while eating some "Ooey Gooey Goodness!"

2. Learn of Mary............while coloring heart chains.

3. Do a Secret Elf to, shhhhh we can't tell it's a secret. Go to Walmart buy stuff, wrap up the gifts and put some money in a card..............then after dark leave it on the doorstep...............and RUN!

4. Go watch Kiersten's dance performance, get everyone a hot chocolate and watch the Light Parade.

5. Learn of Joseph...............also watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional @ 6:00.

6. Jingle Bell Day............put the jingle bell on your belt loop and throughout the day when you hear it jingle do something nice for someone else!

7. Read "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" and have a dessert.

8. Go to Kids musical & violin concert.

9. Snuggle up in Mom & Dad's bed as Dad reads a Christmas story........"The Three Gifts"

10. Start the Service Snowmen and have snowmen treats tonight!

11. Learn of the Angel and go Christmas Caroling with your violins............then end with Hot Cocoa around the fireplace.

12. Learn of the Shepherd.............make shepherd staff cookies............do lighting of candles as we share our testimonies of Jesus Christ.

13. Get a treat, candy or ice cream and drive around and look at Christmas lights.

14. Family Dance............dance to Christmas music playing loud throughout the house and enjoy popcorn and hot cocoa.

15. Learn of the Wise Men.

16. Family Game Night

17. Rake or clean some one's yard or do some kind of service as a family for someone else.

18. Go to Kiersten's Dance Recital and then out to dinner.

19. Begin the "Gift's for Jesus" box under the Christmas tree and Learn about the Lamb. Also begin the Tender Mercy Tree for the following week!

20. A Wise Men Night with a Jerusalem Dinner.................come in the costumes provided for each of you! (Remember your gifts for Jesus)

21. Decorate Gingerbread Houses while listening to Christmas music! Each of you can invite one friend. (Remember your gifts for Jesus)

22. Go to Grammie Cluff's for Famous Cluff Waffles, kids gift exchange and sharing of Doyle's sock.

23. Go caroling with violins again

24. Read the "Gift's to Jesus"...........Learn about the Christ Child..........now pick ONE of the "gifts" you have written down and put in the box for Jesus this past week..............just pick one and promise that you are really going to work on giving that gift to Jesus over the next year. Place those papers in a special envelope to be read next year. Can go look at Christmas lights!

25. Be grateful for all that you received and tell your family and friends throughout the day how much you love them! Say a prayer of thanks to our Heavenly Father for the gift our Lord and Savior has given each of us.

Things didn't aways go as planned...........many times it was just the kids and I as Justin worked a lot...........we even caroled with the violins without him and some people couldn't believe I would take 4 kids by myself to do that. But that is just my life and I am not going to not do things because Justin has to work. Now when he didn't get home on Christmas Eve until 7:00 I was a little upset, but what can you do?

All in all this new tradition made our December one to remember and made our Christmas a Christ centered one................so in my book it was a success!

We also decided to do things a little different when it came to our kids exchanging gifts with each other. It the years past I have bought things and then let each kid come into "Mom's Store" and pick something to give to their siblings...........they have to pay with chore money they have earned, but I felt this way the kids weren't picking out junkie toys.

This year we decided to do "Gift's of TIME!"

It was amazing to me the impact this simple thing had in our house. Instead of constantly talking about what toys and things they wanted for Christmas, the kids kept talking about the Christmas Date they planned for the person they drew.

We decided that everyone would take Mr. Grant on a Christmas date and then that the three oldest would draw names.

Mr. Grant

He was taken to the Safford park to play, then the kids walked him in the stroller to the DQ where they all got an ice cream.

Hunter got Logan.

Hunter took Logan to go shooting and then to Daddy's work to drive the big tractors. They ended their date with an ice cream from DQ.

Kiersten got Hunter.

She took him shooting, and then bowling. They ate lunch at the bowling alley and had a great time.

Logan got Kiersten.

He took her to some shops on Main Street and bought her a couple of little necklaces. He then took her to the movies.

It took more time on mine and Justin's part but the reward was ten fold! The kids each discovered that it was like they each got two gifts this way. This is a tradition we'll continue to do. It was so fun to listen to each kid plan something fun for the other and it filled our home with many selfless acts of kindness and thoughtful conversations as they each had to think of what the other person enjoyed.