Christmas Resources
Three Ways to Tie in Christmas with Easter
The joy of celebrating the Messiah’s incarnation can only be rivaled by the celebration of his death and resurrection. Without his sacrificial death on my behalf, I would be left only with a wonderful story of God coming to live with his people. That would be amazing and special, but carry no weight for my eternal soul. It is because of Christ’s mission to die for me, to take my place on the cross, that his birth on earth is so important. It is because of his powerful resurrection that I know he was more than a little baby in a manger, he was the Son of God. Without these key truths I would be left with no way to please God, no way to gain salvation.
Today I am going to share some practical ways to tie Christmas and Easter together as we celebrate these most wonderful of holidays.
1. Your Christmas Tree and Easter Cross
If you use a real Christmas tree, don’t simply toss it when January 1st roles around. Chop off a portion of the trunk and keep it for Easter time. During the season of Lent, fashion that trunk into two beams and make a cross. Use this cross as a centerpiece at your Easter celebration.
Using your Christmas tree to make a cross will remind you of the reason for celebrating Christmas- because the babe came to die for our sins.
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 ESV)
2. Advent Candles in Reverse
Just as we celebrate the light coming into the world at Christmas time, during the season of Lent, we remember the Light of the World’s sacrificial death. As Easter approaches, instead of lighting candles one by one, blow them out one by one, representing the death of the Light (Christ). Then on Easter morning wake your family to a house full of lit candles representing the miraculous resurrection of Christ.
“I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46 ESV)
3. Continue the Story of Your Jesse Tree
If you are partaking in the Jesse Tree tradition, let the story continue with a Passion Tree. Most Jesse Tree devotionals or suggested readings end with the birth of Christ (which is what we are celebrating at Christmas). A Passion Tree picks up at the birth and follows along with the life of Christ, preparing your family’s heart for the remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection. Click here for an example and even free devotional guide to a Passion Tree.
“The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:9-13 ESV)
Do you have any suggestions for tying in Easter with Christmas? If so, share them in the comments below!
This post is linked up to A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
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Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 3)
From my last two posts regarding Santa you might think I was raised with these convictions, but that is simply not the case. Like most children, I grew up believing in and enjoying Santa Claus. All season long I would anxiously wait for the gifts he would bring and every Christmas morning I awoke with the excitement of knowing that “Santa” had left these special gifts for me under the tree and would quickly rush to unwrap them. Even when I got older and understood that Santa was not real I enjoyed the tradition of having gifts say “from Santa” on them. I do not look back on those wonderful experiences and abhor them, on the contrary I find them very sentimental!
However, having experienced the joy and excitement of Santa as a child I can honestly say that I would have rather been taught how to worship and enjoy Christ instead. My parents tried their best to tell me about the birth of Christ, even reading the Biblical account, but I never really gave it much thought. In my childish mind I understood that these moments of thinking about Jesus were supposed to be the real purpose of our celebration, but in my heart I really only cared about getting to the part where we unwrapped the gifts from Santa.
You see, when my family and I became Christians and totally devoted our lives to Christ (starting around my sophomore year in high school) Christmas took on a whole new meaning. Suddenly it was a time to thank God for the miraculous gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, rather than a time to focus on material gifts. Every part of my life, including Christmas, became an opportunity to worship and adore the one who saved my soul from eternal condemnation. As a Christian, my heart’s desire is to glorify God in every area of my life (as much as humanly possible) and I desire to help my family do the same. I especially want to teach my children how to know and honor the Lord early on in their lives through our family traditions.
Christmas provides a special opportunity to take extra time to focus on Jesus and why he came to earth in the form of man. Rather than let this time slip through our fingers, Richard and I want to make the most of it. We have come to the conclusion that the best way to do this is to cut out anything (anything possible) that distracts from this message and add anything we can that will bring to life this message. For us, Santa falls into the category of unnecessary and even distracting traditions and because of this we have no need of him. Though it was emotionally hard for me to make this decision at first, I have found that the Lord quickly blessed our desire to focus our hearts and time on him alone. My prayer is that one day he will use our Christmas traditions to usher our children into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing to have a time so devoted to the Messiah! What a tragedy it would be if I simply let it slip through our fingers.
And so this is why Richard and I have chosen to not include Santa in our Christmas traditions. Not because we think Santa is evil, or that other parents who tell there children about Santa are evil, but because through prayer and counsel we honestly believe that the best way to help our children love Christ more is to show them that we love Christ in every area of our lives, including our Christmas traditions. Through our joyful celebration of the Messiah’s birth it is our prayer that they too will come to have a similar joy and excitement when the season approaches. I am so very grateful that our God is worth celebrating every moment of every day, and that we have a special opportunity to do so in even greater abundance during the season of Christmas.
So, in answer to the question “Why Not Santa?” I simply want to say “Why not Jesus?”
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11 ESV)
You may be wondering what you would do during Christmas without Santa. If so, I would love for you to read the recent series “Cultivating a Christ-centered Christmas.” Just click here to learn about many Christ-centered traditions you can implement in your family!Photo Credit
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 2)
If the world wants to celebrate a fictitious person then so be it. However, when Christians begin to embrace Santa and try to meld him in with their celebration of the birth of the Messiah, I fear that we have lost our grip on reality. When well meaning parents explain that they simply want their kids to be able to experience the “magic” of the season I wonder if they, themselves, truly understand the incomprehensibly profound act of God becoming man so that he could save the world from the power of sin. Is there anything more magical, more incredible than that? Is there any need to celebrate or focus our hearts on anything but this mighty act? Claiming that your children will “miss out” on the fun and excitement of Christmas without a mythical character at its center is paramount to saying that Jesus isn’t enough. Perhaps the true problem is that you, yourself, don’t believe that Jesus is enough to bring joy and excitement to your child’s Christmas celebration.
I am not trying to make the case that Christmas has always inherently been about Jesus and that there is no room for other celebrations. I am well aware that Christmas finds its roots in the long celebrated Winter Solstice and that it was only when the Pope declared December 25th to be the anniversary of the birth of Christ that it became a Christian holiday. What I am trying to say is that as Christians our celebrations should be inherently and distinctly Christian.
There should be an obvious difference in the way we rejoice in and experience Christmas when compared to unbelievers. Let the world raise their children to believe in Santa Claus while we raise our children to believe in the Christ, the Son of God! Let the world teach their children that Christmas is a time when you get glorious gifts while we teach our children that Christmas is a time to celebrate the most glorious gift of salvation!
I understand that tradition is hard to break and that it is emotional. But if you love the Lord and desire for your children to experience that same love, diverting their attention to a mythical being may not be the most helpful exercise. There is One who is greater, lovelier, and much more gracious than even Santa and his name is Jesus. I wholeheartedly believe that the children who miss out on Christmas are actually those who’s attention is divided between Santa and Jesus. There is no way to whole heartedly appreciate and be excited about an Invisible God when at the same time a visible, tangible, and physical, gift-giving man is also being endorsed and encouraged by your parents. But this, I think is the problem. It doesn’t so much bother us that our children might be half-heartedly excited about Jesus (or even a fourth-heartedly for that matter). We just want to see the smiles on their faces as they awake to see the presents that Santa left for them under the tree.
Ultimately it comes down to our hearts as parents. What do we value? What do we want our children to value? What do we want the world to see that we value? Are we content with teaching our children to have divided affections? Are we satisfied with our Christmas celebrations knowing that, though we tried our hardest to make “Jesus the reason for the season,” our little children were too caught up in the magic and excitement of Santa to really care? We have to ask ourselves if we really care.
I have heard parents say “they are only children once, let them have some fun and enjoy Santa while they can!” My only response to that statement is this: Children are only children once! You only have one opportunity to instill in them a love and adoration for Christ; use this time to teach them how to find their joy and excitement in the eternal God who never changes and will never fade.
Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of “Why Not Santa Claus?”
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 1)
Please understand that I am not saying it is absolutely impossible to cultivate a Christ-centered Christmas that includes Santa. Rather, my hope is to challenge you to contemplate the purpose of including Santa in your celebration as well as the benefits and consequences of including him in your celebration.
In the next few posts I will be sharing my heart for why I believe it is most beneficial to the the spiritual formation of our children to focus solely on the incarnation of Christ rather than mixing Santa with Jesus. I pray that, even if by the end of this series you disagree with me, you will at the very least be encouraged to be purposeful in how you shepherd your children’s hearts during this wonderful season.
The topic of Santa Claus is very interesting to me. How is it that a fourth century bishop who was known for his generosity to children, the poor and the destitute became the center of a an entire holiday season? When and why did people feel the need to mold this real and supposedly God-honoring man into an idol?
The word idol may sound harsh. I am not proposing that everyone who participates in the Santa Claus tradition is an idol worshiper, but I fear that the vast majority of Americans are in fact teaching their children to worship an imaginary man (imaginary because the historical St. Nicholas of Myra is vastly different from the one we celebrate now).
Think about it for a moment, how is the way we encourage our children to worship the true God any different from the way we teach our children to relate to Santa Claus? We teach them that Santa is all-knowing (after all he can see you when your sleeping and know when your awake), he is omnipresent (he somehow can be everywhere at once in one night), and he rewards good behavior while punishing bad behavior. We actively ingrain in our children the validity of Santa, reading them stories, teaching them songs, taking them to “meet” Santa and more. We remind them throughout the year (especially as Christmas gets closer) that the gifts they get on Christmas will depend upon their obedience or disobedience making Santa an authority in their lives. In many ways, and in many homes Santa may seem more “real” than God himself!
Of course we know that we are basically lying to our children so that they can have some childish fun, and they will find out sooner or later that it was all just an elaborate story meant for their enjoyment, but they don’t know that yet. In their childish minds Santa is the coolest man on earth! Who could be better than Santa? I mean goodness, all I have to do is make a list and he will give me all my little heart desires come Christmas morning!
It should not surprise us to find that Santa has grown into such a phenomenon, for we know that man’s heart was created to worship. As humans we were created to have a relationship with our Lord. In fact, our hearts and minds are fitted to worship (though this natural inclination is skewed as a result of the fall). No, it should not surprise us when we see the world grasp at any and all earthly idols as they search for joy and spurn the one true God, but it should surprise us when the Christian community embraces the worship of a fictional character with little more thought than “I want my child to have fun.”
You may be wondering what you would do during Christmas without Santa. If so, I would love for you to read the recent series “Cultivating a Christ-centered Christmas.” Just click here to learn about many Christ-centered traditions you can implement in your family!
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday and A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Resources and Link-Up
In this series we have looked at our MOTIVATION for practicing a Christ-Centered Christmas, practical ADVENT traditions, simple ways to MEDITATE on our Savior, practical ways to WORSHIP our Messiah King, and wonderful ways to IMITATE our Savior this Christmas season. I pray that you will be able to implement some of these ideas in your own celebrations and that the Lord will be glorified through our desire to honor him and praise him for the miraculous gift of the incarnation!
As we bring this series to a close I would love to hear what it is your family does to keep Christ the central focus of your Christmas. Do you practice any of the traditions I have shared with you? Do you have any traditions that haven’t been mentioned that may be beneficial to DV’s readers? What are your favorite, specific ways to spread the love of Christ to your neighbors, coworkers, church family, etc…? Do you do any special projects with your children or grandchildren? Please feel free to leave a comment with your favorite traditions below or link up a blog post that is related to cultivating a Christ-centered Christmas!
Today Becky, a most beloved DV contributor, is going to share some helpful resources that will help you to focus deeply on the incarnation of our Lord. I know you will find this list very beneficial; I can’t wait to order a few of these things myself!!!
Christmas Resources
by DV contributor Becky Pliego
Jessalyn has shared many practical traditions that we can put into practice to cultivate a Christ-centered Christmas.
Advent is around the corner (it starts the last Sunday of November) which is why today, as time approaches, I want to suggest to you several resources that have been a blessing in our home as we wait, as we sit around the family table, and read about His glorious coming.
Noël Piper says about Advent,
“For four weeks, it’s as if we’re re-enacting, remembering the thousands of years God’s people were anticipating and longing for the coming of God’s salvation, for Jesus. That’s what advent means—coming. Even God’s men who foretold the grace that was to come didn’t know “what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating.” They were waiting, but they didn’t know what God’s salvation would look like.” (source)
Our Favorite Books:
Treasuring God in Our Traditions
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus: Experiencing the Peace and Promise of Christmas.
The Incarnation in the Gospels (one of my favorites)
Songs of the Nativity: Selected Sermons on Luke 1 and 2; by John Calvin (Excellent)
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room: Daily Family Devotions for Advent
Our Favorite Christmas Music:
Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart
Savior: Celebrating the Mystery of God Become Man
Handel’s Messiah: The Complete Work
More Christmas music can be found here.
Do you have any other books, sermons, or music you would like to suggest us for this season?
We would love to hear about them!
What a beautiful privilege we have, as children of God, to celebrate the Incarnation of our Lord and to announce the excellencies of His Name throughout the nations.
Let our hearts rejoice and our mouths be filled with His praises.
Halleluja!
Becky
And now it is your turn ladies! Share your Christ-centered Christmas recommendations (from books to music to traditions to charities to projects) in the comments or by linking up your own blog post. I look forward to reading your suggestions and personal stories.
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!
Make sure to link back here so that others can benefit from the ideas shared!
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Imitate)
We have looked at many different practical traditions that you can make a part of your family’s Christmas celebration, today we are going to look at the most important ways that we can glorify and honor our Lord at Christmas time. By imitating the heart and love of our Savior we will point others to the most wonderful of Kings, the one who can give them true and lasting joy. I hope that you will prayerfully consider making service and giving the biggest part of your Christmas, rather than parties, gifts, and shopping.
Imitate Our Messiah King
Care for the Orphans and Widows- Imitate the heart of our Savior by paying special attention to the orphans and widows around you. Consider who around you (or around the world for that matter) you can show the love of Christ to. Is there a nursing home near you? Is there an elderly, home bound member of your church you could spend time with? Can you volunteer at a shelter? Will you participate in Operation Christmas Child? Is there a needy family that you are aware of whom would be blessed by your generosity during Christmas? Look for ways to serve and give to those who are the most alone and needy this Christmas, for this is undefiled religion, this is what our Messiah loves to see his redeemed doing. Photo Credit
Care for the Church- Find special ways to honor those who serve faithfully in your church family. People who may not be recognized often are nursery workers, set up crews, sound and tech crews, small group leaders, and youth workers. Take the time to thank them for serving our Messiah King and bless them in some special way (keep in mind that a personal note of thanks is probably more appreciated than a baked good even… and more economical too). Also remember to honor your pastors and their families during this time. They will be especially busy during this season (many will be unable to spend their Christmas with extended family as they serve the church). A practical way to serve these busy people is by offering to prepare dinner for them one night during the Christmas season as they may be too busy to come over to your home for dinner. A good meal that is already prepared is a very special blessing! Gift cards to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target, etc… would also be excellent blessings as pastor’s families often operate on small budgets. Don’t forget those you do not see! Send Christmas cards and gifts to missionaries you have been praying for and supporting throughout the year.
Care for the Poor- Consider spending less money on gifts for your family and more on gifts that will make a lasting impact on those who have nothing. (Talk to your family about this goal before making any drastic changes to your gift buying; make it a family project). Perhaps you will begin supporting a child through Compassion, or you will donate money to an organization that provides clean drinking water to those who are dying without it-one such organization is Living Water International.
Care for the Persecuted Church- Look into different ways your family or you personally can encourage and strengthen the persecuted church. Check into the many opportunities that Voice of the Martyrs provides like filling an action pack for persecuted Christians, collecting blankets for Sudanese Christians, writing a letter to a Christian who has been imprisoned for his faith, or simply giving money.
Invite someone over for your Christmas Eve/Christmas day celebration who doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Let them be a part of your family and participate in your traditions. Show them that your family is different, that your family serves the Lord and not the lust for material possessions. People you might not think about are college students (especially students from other countries), elderly neighbors, and seminary students/couples.
While we were in another state for seminary we were very blessed by a family in our church who “took us in” for Christmas and allowed us to enjoy their feast with them.
Be Set Apart- All of the traditions we have discussed throughout this series are meant to be distinctly Christian. We want the world to see that we have something incredible to celebrate, something that is beautiful and wonderful and exciting, something that they will want to partake in too. Think about Christ’s character and make it your aim to display that to the world around you this Christmas. Keep spare bills in your wallet so that you are ready and able to give to The Salvation Army, to beggars on the street, to buy your friend lunch. Be prepared to share the gospel with your coworkers, fellow students, and neighbors. Make baked goods for your neighbors to show them the love of Christ and personally deliver them. Invite people to church with you on Christmas to hear the good news. Carry your faith into every aspect of your Christmas (that includes your Black Friday shopping!).
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Worship)
So far we have looked at the Motivation for a Christ-Centered Christmas, Advent Traditions, and Ways to Meditate on Christ. Today we are going to turn our attention to practical ways we can worship Christ during the Christmas Season!
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us.
Worshipping the Messiah King
Christmas Eve Service- Make your church’s Christmas Eve Service a focal point of your Christmas tradition. If you have children, build up the excitement of going to the special Christmas service where you will worship the Messiah King with your church family. Make time for the service and plan your other activities around it, so as not to be rushed and simply adding more “activities” to your night. Candlelight Service Photo Credit
Incorporate Christmas Hymns into your family devotion times and play Christ-exalting Christmas Carols in your home throughout the Christmas season.
The First Gift Tradition- Wrap a box that can be used every Christmas and fill it with white index cards that read “Jesus blessed me this year by…” (or something to this effect). Fill out as many cards as you want individually and then place them in the box on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning open the box and read them out loud to one another reminding each other of the many blessings our Messiah King has bestowed on us. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to our giving Lord for all the many gifts he has given us (including the gifts you are about to open). Pray that he would cultivate thankful and mindful hearts in each of us. Open each other’s gifts with the desire to bless others because we have been so richly blessed.
Save the cards from each year by tying them up in ribbon and leaving them at the bottom of the box. Throughout the Christmas Season take a peak at old cards!
This is the first year we will be incorporating this tradition into our Christmas. I plan to write “Jesus I thank and worship you because…” on each of the cards so that our gift to Jesus is filled with praises to him (what he truly desires).
Rejoice! Make Christmas morning a very special and exciting day by making a lavish breakfast lighting lots of candles and singing loud worship music to the Messiah who has “arrived.” Consider waking before your children wake up (I know…) so they can see that you are thrilled to celebrate Christ’s birth. In this way you can capture their hearts and minds before they even begin to think about presents. Burst into their rooms singing “Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul, and voice; Give ye heed to what we say: News! News! Jesus Christ is born today; Ox and ass before Him bow; and He is in the manger now. Christ is born today! Christ is born today!” Then lead them to your tree to give Jesus your gift of praise!
Shepherd’s Pouches- Cultivate a giving spirit in your children’s hearts by encouraging them to collect spare change or allowance money (provide opportunities for them to earn money) during the Christmas season. Hang “Shepherd’s Pouches” rather than stockings and allow them to fill them up with money for Christ (their gifts of praise to him). Tell them that you will put all of the money together when Christmas arrives and donate it to the church, a charity, a needy family you know, or use it to send your Compassion child a special Christmas gift. Christmas Eve night, exchange the money for small trinkets that you would normally put in a stocking.
Don’t forget to have a Shepherd’s Pouch for Mom and Dad too! Let your children see your desire to worship Christ as well. Giving your money to someone or sending it off to a charity on Christmas day would be an excellent way to make the experience more realistic to younger children (even if the Post Office isn’t open you can put it in a drop box). Leather Pouch Photo Credit
Consider limiting the amount of Christmas gifts you give to your children in order to help them focus less on material things. Some use a “three gift” rule mimicking the frankincense, gold, and myrrh brought by the wise men to Jesus.
We have a one present tradition, that we hope to build on as our children grow and are able to make/buy gifts for their siblings (we also ask that extended family use temperance in their gift buying).
Some larger families have a “Night of the Giver” for every person in their family where each person is assigned a night when they are able to give the gifts they have made/bought to each of their family members. (If you have four members in your family you have four nights of gift giving.) This helps to cultivate an attitude of giving rather than receiving. Christmas Eve and Day are then reserved to celebrate Christ, our ultimate gift and no gifts are exchanged.
Cut out Santa- I will share more on Santa during the month of December, but for now let me just say this: Allow your children to be thankful to the true Giver of Gifts rather than a fictitious person who will only distract from your worship of the Lord. Use the gifts from family and friends to teach your children about our great God who blesses us, so that we can in turn bless others.
Click here to take a look at ways we can practically imitate our Messiah King this Christmas season!
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up at The Encouraging Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Meditation)
Yesterday we looked at Advent activities that will help you and your family focus on celebrating our Messiah King during the Christmas season. Today we are going to look at some practical ways to encourage meditation on Jesus throughout this sometimes hectic and distracting time.
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us.
Meditating on The Messiah King
Names of Jesus Ornaments- Create a collection of tree ornaments that display the names of Jesus and their references. As you “trim your tree” or decorate your home read them out loud to each other and look up some of the verses they are found in. This is a wonderful exercise that allows you to remind yourself of who Christ is and to teach your children that Jesus was so much more than a little baby in a manger. It is also a wonderful way to continue to meditate on Christ throughout the Christmas season as you sit next to your tree and read through all of the wonderful descriptions of our Lord. You may also use one ornament a day to focus your personal devotions on.
We began this tradition two years ago when we decided to make our Christmas Tree our Jesse Tree. The Sunday after Thanksgiving we put up our tree and decorate it with ribbon, lights and simple names of Jesus ornaments. We made ours by writing the names on pretty ball ornaments with paint pens. Then every night we hang a new Jesse Tree ornaments (see yesterday’s post) until the tree is filled with the story of Christ. Out of all of our traditions the Names of Jesus tradition is my favorite. It is such a blessing to read through all of the different descriptions of Christ together as a family.
Read through a Christmas Devotional such as “Come Though Long Expected Jesus” during your personal devotions or as a married couple to help focus your heart(s) on what you are celebrating.
Make use of Symbolism- Use deep red ribbon to decorate your Christmas tree in order to symbolize the blood that Jesus planned to shed for us even before he came to earth as the baby in the manger. As you decorate your tree with twinkly lights, remind yourself and your children that Christ came to be the Light of the World. As you decorate your home with lights, talk about how God calls us to be the light to a dark world. Just as our homes shine brightly in the darkness, we should seek to live holy lives that are different from the sinful world around us.
Further use of colors representations: Red for Jesus’ blood, Green for everlasting life, White for purity (both in Christ and in how he makes us white as snow), Gold for Christ’s Kingship. Remind yourself of these truths as you decorate and make sure to verbalize them throughout the holiday season for the benefit of your children. Meditate on a verse for each of the colors throughout the season. Decorate your home with angels who are “announcing” the coming messiah. Use a star to top your tree symbolizing the star that led to the baby Jesus in the manger. Consider waiting to place it on the top of the tree on Christmas Eve.
Gingerbread Gospel (For families with children)- There are a couple ways you can use the traditional “Gingerbread House” to focus on Christ. The first is by building a traditional house and relating it to the gospel message. Here is a way one mother does so:
“Can you imagine what it would be like to live in a life-sized gingerbread house? What would your favorite candy house be made out of? What would you use for beds, chairs, pillows, toys? (let the children offer ideas) That would almost seem like the perfect place to live, wouldn’t it? Well, the Bible tells us about a real live “perfect place to live.” It’s called Heaven. Long ago, that’s where Jesus lived. But God decided to send Jesus from His perfect house in Heaven to Earth. (John 6:38) What was the first house Jesus lived in on Earth (pause to let children answer)? It was a stable. What is a stable? (a barn) What would have it looked like? What would have been in that stable? What would it have smelled like? And Jesus’ first bed was a manger. What is a manger? (A feeding trough for animals) (Luke 2:1-7) Was it anything like the perfect place Jesus came from? Now, why do you think that God would send His own Son from a perfect house in heaven, to a dirty, smelly, cold place like a stable? (let children offer answers) Because He loves you very much! He wanted you to know Him and so He sent His Son to tell you and to show you all about God. Jesus did just that. He taught us about God, and the things that He taught are all written down for us in the Bible (John 3:16) One day, when Jesus was still a young man, He left His home on Earth. He died for all the bad things we’ve done. And now He has a new home. Do you know where that is? He wants to live in our hearts. He will come and live in our hearts if we ask Him to, and forgive us all of the wrong things we’ve done! (John 14:15-17) Now, why do you think He would want to live inside us, and forgive us of our sins? (pause for responses) He does that because He loves each one of you so much! He wants to always be close to you, and help you. Finally, the Bible says one more important thing about houses. It says that Jesus is preparing a house for each one of us in heaven! He says that one day, we can all live forever with Him there in that perfect, wonderful place! (Luke 1:31-33; John 6:38-40; John 14:1-3) Can you tell me what houses we have talked about that Jesus has lived in? (heaven, stable/earth, our hearts, and heaven again) Now, I want you to remember how much Jesus loves you every time you look at it. And I want you to remember that Jesus wants to live inside you, and to have you live with Him in Heaven someday.” Gingerbread House Photo Credit
Another way to use gingerbread to focus your children’s hearts on Christ (and your own for that matter) is to build a gingerbread nativity scene rather than a house. There are nativity cookie cutters that can be used for this and as you bake and decorate the different characters you will be presented with another opportunity to share the story of the incarnation with your children. Gingerbread Nativity Photo Credit
Play Nativity Sets (for families with children)- use a children’s nativity set to act out the nativity story with your children over and over again during the holiday season. Let them keep the nativity in their room and play with it at will.
Act Out the Nativity Story (for families with children)- Many families put on a little Christmas pageant of there own where each member of the family plays a role (Mary, Joseph, an Angel, etc…) reenacting the Christmas story either on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Creative people can even make costumes!
Watch “The Nativity Story” as a family during the Christmas season.
We love this movie for the sole purpose of showing the reality of real people (Mary and Joseph) with real faults and fears being used by God during this miraculous event. I cry when Christ is born every time we watch it! We usually watch it on Christmas Eve.
Read the Biblical account of Jesus’ birth before opening presents. This simple tradition may have a tremendous impact on your children’s hearts as they learn to control their desire for presents and put Christ first in all things. Don’t rush through this activity and make sure that you are visibly excited to spend time with Jesus as a family on this very special morning-your enthusiasm will make a huge impact on their view of the activity.
Decorate with the Glory of God in Mind- So often we take our decorating cues from the world rather than thinking through our purpose in using such decorations. What do your decorations say about what you are celebrating? Reindeer and snowmen are not evil and can bring glory to the Lord, but they also may not be the most helpful for focusing your heart on Jesus. What’s worse, your children may grow up believing that Christmas is all about those things rather than the Holy Son of God. Let’s decorate our homes in a way that worships the the Lord! Try to make and find decorations that remind you of the miraculous event we are celebrating. Names of Jesus Frame Photo Credit
Click here to look at practical ways to worship our Messiah King during the Christmas Season!
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up at The Encouraging Home
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Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Advent)
Yesterday we looked at the motivation behind celebrating a Christ-centered Christmas. If you haven’t already, I would encourage you to take the time to read yesterday’s post before moving on to these practical suggestions for Christ-centered traditions.
Now that you are considering how you can cultivate a distinctly Christian Christmas celebration in your home, let’s look at some practical ways to do so. Keep in mind that no family should do all of these things. Trying to do too much during the holiday season, even good things, can result in a loss of the meditative spirit we are hoping to cultivate. Many of these traditions overlap and some of them cannot be done at the same time. Choose the traditions that are the most meaningful to you or use these suggestions as inspiration to create your own Christ-centered traditions.
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us. Today we will start with advent activities.
Anticipating the Messiah King Through Advent
Advent: The coming of the Messiah
Advent Wreaths/Candles- There are many ways to use candles during advent. You can simply have 25 tea light candles which are lit one by one as the days get closer to Christmas or you can celebrate with the traditional Advent Wreath, which also makes a great centerpiece for your table!
An advent wreath is very easy to make and is a fun activity for your family to collectively participate in as you look forward to celebrating the coming of the Messiah. It consists of four candles placed in the vines of a wreath and a white “Christ” candle in the center. The four colored candles are lit each of the Sundays before Christmas one by one until they are all lit. (The first week only one candle is lit, the second week two are lit, etc…) This is meant to symbolize the coming of the Light of the World. Traditionally three of the candles are purple and one is pink (the purple symbolizes royalty and the pink symbolizes the anticipation of Christmas, thus it is a mixture of the purple and white candles). The center candle is larger and white. It is lit Christmas Eve or Christmas day to symbolize Christ entering our world. You can easily encorporate this tradition with nightly or weekly devotions that focus on the coming Messiah. Advent Wreath Photo Credit
In the past we have only used advent candles around our nativity scene, but this year we are looking forward to using an advent wreath that I have made. We will be using four red candles to symbolize the bloody sacrificial system that was used up until Christ, the Lamb of God, who’s sacrifice sealed our pardon for all of eternity. We have one very large, beautiful white candle to symbolize the pure and holy Christ entering our world. Each night that we light a new candle we will read a prophecy that pertains to Christ from the Old Testament.
Advent/Jesse Tree- This tradition is typically reserved for those of us with children, but I would encourage even those without children to use the advent readings as you prepare your heart for the celebration of Christ’s birth. (Here is a sample list of readings, there are many different options online, and even devotional books you can purchase.) The Jesse Tree is named after Isaiah 11:1: “A shoot will spring forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots.” It is a vehicle to tell the Story of God in the Old Testament, and to connect the Advent Season with the faithfulness of God across 4,000 years of history. The “shoot” or “branch” coming from Jesse’s lineage is a symbol of the hope Israel had in a coming Messiah. Each ornament hung on a small tree, or in many homes a branch, or for some on a banner, represents a particular moment in salvific history. For instance the first ornament would be something like a globe symbolizing creation and then perhaps a fruit symbolizing the fall. Each night leading up to Christmas you read a section of scripture related to one particular moment in the history of Christ’s lineage and then hang a corresponding ornament. Most people make their own ornaments with their children, but you can also buy kits. Jesse Tree Photo Credit
Our Jesse Tree is our Christmas Tree. Rather than having a separate tree that is more “spiritual” or Jesus focused, we decided to make the main purpose of our Christmas tree to celebrate the Messiah. Each night we add an ornament to our Christmas Tree and read the corresponding scriptures which takes the place of our usual family worship. This year I have finally gotten around to making my own ornaments that are a bit nicer than our previous paper ornaments. I chose artwork that featured the actual scenes or people we would be reading about rather than symbols and decoupaged them into ornament frames. I used red ribbon to hang them with to symbolize the blood of Christ which runs through all of redemptive history.
A Growing Nativity- Nativity scenes are an obvious way to decorate your home with the Gospel message. In fact, Noel Piper collects nativity scenes from their travels and fills her home with them on Christmas! Another way to build anticipation for Christ’s coming is to slowly build your nativity scene over the advent season rather than setting out the whole thing at once. You can either set it out piece by piece every couple of days (depending on how many pieces you have) or you can simply save Jesus for Christmas Eve/Day. Either way leave Jesus for last to represent the “wait” for the Messiah.
Advent Calendars (for families with children)- We are all familiar with Advent calendars, which can be a fun way for children to count down the days until Christmas. Rather than a calendar with Santa art on it, look for one that focuses on the nativity or create one of your own.
I am hoping to one day create an advent calendar with our Jesse Tree ornaments either by hanging them on a board under corresponding numbers or by hanging them in little numbered pouches over our “future fireplace.”
Advent Books (for families with children)- Let Christmas be a special time to bring out all of your Nativity centered books and books about the Christian Christmas message. As you build your collection or find new books to check out at the library wrap them like presents and mark them with numbers counting down to the days until Christmas. (If you only have three such books this year start three nights before Christmas, let the countdown get larger as your collection of books grows.) Try to find at least one new book every year to either add to the collection or replace another book once your collection is big enough. Open one book each morning as a special way to prepare your hearts for Christmas. Reserve the newest book for Christmas Day and let it be the first present you open and read together before opening all the other presents. Advent Books Photo Credit
This is the first Christmas that we will have more than three Christmas books, so I am very excited to get this tradition going-especially now that Elliot and Hudson absolutely LOVE to read. Let me just warn you, it IS very difficult to find books that focus on Christ rather than Santa, but it is indeed possible! Especially as children grow and can handle more lengthy stories.
Click here to look at practical ways to encourage meditation on our Messiah King!To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up with Time Warp Wife’s Titus Tuesdays, and Raising Homemakers’ Homemaking Link-Up, Frugally Sustainable, and the Encouraging Home
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Christmas Printables are Here!
*Note: If you are reading this post on your phone, the printables will not appear correctly. Make sure to stop on by on your computer to see them with the correct formatting.
I am so excited to share some new printables with you today. I realize that it is only just October, but you can never start planning early enough-especially if you want to keep your Christmas season stress free! My mother-in-law has 17 people in our immediate family to buy for so she has already started her Christmas shopping! I hope these Christmas Organization Printables will be a blessing to you as you prepare for that wonderful time of the year when we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior! Each printable has a color and black and white version.
Stay tuned… there may be more to come!
Feel free to download as many printables as you find helpful. And… if you feel so inclined, you can leave a small donation (99 cents?) by simply clicking on this Paypal button:
Christmas Gift Planner Breakdown Printable
Christmas Baking PlannerChristmas Budget
Merry Christmas Planning!
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