I'm thankful to have a blog where I can actually say the word "Christmas." It seems that everywhere you look these days, people are replacing "Christmas" with the word "holiday" and it's so very disappointing. As the room mom for H's second grade class, I was forced to send out a "winter" party informative letter to the other parents. Really? Don't even get me started.
Each year, I'm trying to do a better job about showing my boys the true meaning of Christmas. We talk a lot about the birth of Jesus and they love their Little People nativity set that sits under our tree. I know it's a process, one that will take a while for them to truly understand. It's something that does take intentional effort since our society has turned it into such a commercialized holiday.
However, I certainly want to enjoy the other fun aspects of Christmas with them- especially since they both still BELIEVE (and who knows how much longer I have with H) so I try to do fun things with them throughout the month. I'm a big believer in traditions! Here are some that we do around here:
1. We have a "cookies for Santa" plate that we use each year. We make cookies and place them on the plate on Christmas Eve night.
2. The boys get new Christmas jammies
3. Read books by the tree. I have a big stack of Christmas/winter books next to the tree and we gather around the tree and read together before bed. This doesn't happen every single night (some are just crazy nights) but this is a favorite for them!
4. Make crafts or ornaments together
5. Drive around to see lights
6. Make a gingerbread house with Grammy.
7. Watch Christmas movies- throughout the month we watch some favorites like The Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, Polar Express and a few others.
8. The Advent Countdown calendar. They love doing this each morning and it's a great visual for them to see how many days until Christmas.
9. Elf on a Shelf- we've had "Cronko" (named by our then 3 yr old H) and he's been a highlight in our home for 4 years now.......when I can remember to move the darn thing.
10. Decorating the tree together.
11. Listening to Christmas music
12. Praying for families as we get their Christmas card
(I'm sure there are others but this is all that's coming to me right now)
What traditions do you have with your kids?
we have many of the same traditions...although I buy jammies now instead of make them..Matt is TOO TALL!
ReplyDeleteI hope yours was a wonderful holiday!