I enjoyed reading the post about the holidays a few months ago, and I am eager for the upcoming two months. As long as I can remember, my family put up our Christmas tree on Veteran's Day, in the middle of November. We did it for the ease of convenience because we had a day off of school. Our tree was up for a long time, and I loved it.
As I have grown to love Christmas even more, I have watched what I call Holiday Overload. My question echoes the questions posted by Jenn in September.
What do you do to keep Christ in Christmas?
I ask this sincerely with only a few ideas of my own.
As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter Day Saints, I was able to spend 18 months in missionary service. Christmas was by far the best day. We got to call our families, and spend even more time in reflection of the role Christ plays in our lives. I gained a greater love and deeper appreciation for the importance of my family and the true meaning of Christmas. Opening presents didn't provide us with the same joy as reflecting on having a Christ-centered life.
So again I ask:
What do you do to keep Christ in Christmas?
Here is what we do:
Our kids only get two presents. One from us and one from Santa. Even if we ever have the money to buy more, we won't. For us, two presents plus grandparents presents, plus one aunt/uncle from each family presents equals up to quite a few things to play with.
We start singing Christ-centered Christmas songs early in the year so our kids know Who we are singing about.
That's only Two Ideas-hoping-for-many-more in Tucson,
Brandi
I remember one year my parents had us write on a piece of paper what was going to be our gift to Christ that year. It could be something we were going to do better, a sacrifice we were going to make, or something we were going to give up. I don't remember what I wrote down, but we wrapped up our gifts to Christ and unwrapped the package the next year on Christmas morning. I'm sure it was great to be reminded of what the purpose of our gift was and why we celebrated Christmas.
ReplyDeleteEvery year we do a family project, the scope of which is determined by how much time we have to invest in it as a family (as I'm sure you know, some years are much busier than others). Our family projects are always of a charitable nature. We have anonymously donated to families in our ward and done donation drives. My favorite was our first family project, a donation drive for Sunshine Acres Children's Home. It was conducted on a pretty grand scale, and we dedicated a lot of time and effort to it. As our family focused more upon the needs of others, we lost ourselves in service and it was one of the most rewarding Christmases I EVER remember having. It's true what King Benjamin said: The harder we try to do good the more our Father rewards us. There is nothing we can do to be profitable servants, but He makes it so fun to keep trying!
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