We spent some quiet time leading up to Christmas, each thinking and praying about what we could give. I had to help Little Man with some ideas, as this is somewhat abstract, but he came up with a great one all on his own! After church Sunday morning we came home and had our own family worship time. We thanked God for giving us the gift of His Son, and then we each wrote on a slip of paper what we wanted to give back to God during this next year. Those who wanted to, shared what they wrote (Little Man's was "to obey mommy and daddy right away." ~ one I heartily approved of!). Then we sealed them in an envelope and will pull them out again next Christmas so we can evaluate how we did. I'd like to keep all the envelopes for posterity. It will be fun and hopefully meaningful for the children when they are older, to remember all the gifts they have given to Jesus over the years.
Then we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and had birthday cake for lunch!
What does your family do to help you focus on God's gift at Christmas time?
4 comments:
Oooh, I like it. Just like I like almost all of your ideas! Actually, I can't think of one I don't like but I hate to use the word "all" when I can't be certain. ;-)f
Great idea!
I've been reading all these and I like how you separate the two parts. We do the same type of thing but flip flop. We focus on Christ's birthday on Christmas Eve, by having worship time. We do readings from the Bible, poetry, play instruments and sing. Then we follow with a fruitcake (no alcohol) and candle with singing "Happy Birthday to Jesus." I was suprised that with an 18 and 16yo they would still want to do this. I like to relax in the worship on Christmas Eve. It so so beautiful.
Then Christmas morning we continue a tradition from my family. We get dressed first and have a family breakfast. The kids deliver the presents, one at a time and we open them one by one, showing gratitude and thanks for the thoughtfullness of the one who did the gifting. Then we all share in clean up and cooking and games and family time together. I was in so much pain by evening, that the family gifted me with time to lay down on the couch while they cleaned up. What a deal! Then we had game board time together.
Blessings,
Laurie
I love your new tradition of giving something back to Jesus! We too made a happy birthday Jesus cake. I rather liked having Christmas fall right on Sunday this year. It was nice to have all the kids in their Sunday best :)
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