Another reason I'm not feeling like writing is that I'm still trying to figure out how to make the holiday's more holy and I'm still trying to figure out how to go about it. This is the first year that we won't be spending Christmas at my mom's house or with everyone at our house (all of my side of the family will be in Florida, but Rock couldn't get enough days off of work so that we could go - and it would have been very expensive even though they all offered to help us out). So I really want to make it special and memorable with all of the right kinds of special and memorable things. I want to do service, but we need to find some way to do so. I don't want a focus on presents or on Santa. The kids are okay with not doing Santa at all this year. Should we go with it? I want to do homemade presents for each other. I want to spend the day being together and not on playing with mindless toys. I want it to be a day where we turn our hearts to Christ - a birth in our hearts. I'm struggling as I try to figure out how to make it all happen. Does anyone have any traditions that they love that really help bring the Christmas spirit?
I have a couple of kids trying to get my attention so this is a short blog post, but here are some pictures from our weekend:
Decorating the Christmas tree on Saturday:
I took my Activity Day girls (and Bud) to Music and the Spoken Word on Sunday.
It was neat to be there! We need to make it out there more often.
Okay, no one should put their tree up before Thanksgiving!! As for ideas for bringing Christ into Christmas traditions, I don't have any specific ideas but I do have this book that we try to read every year with the kids. It's called. A Christmas Treasury for Latter-day saint Families. It's by Lloyd and Karmel Newell. It has a story to read for every day of December up through Christmas day. They are really great stories. There is also a book that I saw in the Deseret Book catalog and I actually thought of you. It was called....A Christ Centered Christmas...Seven traditions to lead us closer to our Savior. There were a couple more that I saw too. You should check them out if you haven't already!
ReplyDeleteI have thought about giving each other homemade presents but what can the children make that wouldn't end up being more junk? They have all learned how to knit and crochet so I suggested that instead of making things for each other (things we don't really need) we could knit hats for babies at the hospital.
ReplyDeleteLast year we did very minimal gift giving and it still didn't feel right. We have talked about doing absolutely no gifts for ourselves this year but we still haven't decided exactly how we want to celebrate Christmas.
One idea I had was to write a letter to each person in our extended family telling them how much and what we love about them and it could include good memories we have of them or even old pictures we have taken of them. Who wouldn't want a present like that??
All I know is that children love to give and we can either encourage it or we can suffocate that desire with STUFF until their giving hearts turn to greed and selfishness.
Hi Karen, I love your blog- please stay motivated to keep writing and posting! I homeschooled last year and loved it, but had to send the kids back to public school due to health reasons. Our kids were in Heralders last year and we loved it! Your tree looks beautiful. We are putting ours up the day before Thanksgiving. I enjoy the blog: christcenteredtraditions.blogspot.com. I am always amazed at how much you get done. Don't get down on yourself. You are an amazing Mom and Teacher!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lara about kids making homemade stuff that ends up being junk. What about encouraging the kids to do service for one another or give service coupons of something like that.
ReplyDeleteWe have a homemade Christmas devotional book that we read each night of December leading up to Christmas. It has a Christmas story from a church magazine, scripture, and song to sing each day. This year I am excited to add the "Names of Christ" unit study to it (Someone shared a link in the comments on Misfit).
We never encouraged or pretended Santa, although we always had stockings (how silly is that!). My kids all decided to believe in Santa anyway because all the other kids in the neighborhood did. It took a lot of talking to teach them the truth.
Last year I got a great book from Deseret book called "The 12 days of Christmas". In it the grandma author shares ideas of centering gifts around a theme, such as following the Savior or family. Some of her ideas miss the mark, but reading it gives me good ideas. Last year all the gifts we gave were centered around Christ and christlike attributes (service), except for maybe one toy per kid. It was great! This year I am really excited about it. I have decided to use Elder Uchtdorfs conference talk as the theme for this year. Giving and getting gifts is fun and I believe you can still give gifts and stay focused on the Savior.
Your tree is BEAUTIFUL! I, too, am in the process of trying to figure out how to turn our holidays into holy days. I am worried that my children won't understand the sudden shift in traditions, so I'm pondering how exactly to approach it with them so that they'll be comfortable with it.
ReplyDeleteI have a few other Christmas ideas, but I think I'll write another post on my blog rather than take up the space of a novel in your comments field. =)
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of discipline and follow-through: I love the 1% principle- and the scripture James 3:4. I think we'll be surprised one day to find that even our smallest efforts, consistent or not, amount to great things.
I agree, though, I sure would love to be able to implement everything perfectly and consistently... I'll just keep trying, and remembering that the process is just as important as the outcome.