'Tis The Season

It seems that the yearly approach of the Christmas season continues to take me off-guard. I have such dreamy expectations of celebrating the holidays to their fullest, yet Christmas still arrives out of nowhere leaving me woefully unprepared. Not so this year, my friends. 

A few weeks ago I queried friends for meaningful Christmas activities and received some excellent responses. Coupling that with a hodge-podge of great resources found online and a little of my own originality I ended up with this: a great listing of holiday festivities for our family to brighten the season. I hope this sneak peak of what we'll be doing this year is helpful to you as you seek to make Christmas a meaningful time of faith, family and friendship. And in light of it all, may we never forget the real Reason for the Season. 

Merry Christmas!

A Mid-Western Family Christmas Celebration!

 

Putting Christ Back Into Christmas (Advent)

• Build a Jesse Tree (free devotionals and ornament prints, guide for doing it at home) or you can build your own and read one of the many Jesse Tree devotional books
• Make a birthday cake for Jesus

Simple Holiday Pleasures

• Put up Christmas tree & decorations
• Make a new Christmas CD & listen to it.
• Operation Christmas Mouse*, December 1^st
• Given: watch lots of Christmas movies and listen to lots of Christmas songs while sitting around the tree. :-)

Christmas Crafts

• Make a hand-print family Christmas tree (use as our Jesse Tree)
• Make a Christmas countdown chain
• Make candy cane playdough
• Make and decorate Christmas trees
• Make Christmas Ornaments (here, and some for Grandparents’ gifts here)
• Color Christmas sheets
• Make Baby Jesus in the manger

We won’t be getting to these this year, but here are two fun count-down-to-Christmas activity ideas:

Child’s Book and Activity Advent

Ornament Advent

Celebrating God’s Love

• Make Christmas baskets for our neighbors w/ Scripture (to include: candy cane play dough, Peppermint Popcorn Bark, Poor Man’s Toffee, Gingerbread men)
• Sort through toys and give a box away to Salvation Army
• Hang Shepherds’ Pouches on the mantle in lieu of stockings

   

Yummy Christmas Goodies

• Make marshmallow snowflakes and hot chocolate
• Make cranberry candy canes (breakfast treat)
• Make White Chocolate Peppermint Popcorn Bark
• Make Poor Man’s Toffee
• Make gingerbread men

 

Places to Go

• Visit Christmas in Canal Winchester, OH
• Attend church Lifegroup Christmas Party
• Attend Station #4 Firehouse Christmas Party
• Visit Wildlights at the Columbus Zoo
• Visit Dickens Victorian Village in Cambridge, OH
• The Fantasy of Lights at Alum Creek State Park
• Just a drive around town to look at lights

 

Special Christmas Books

We have appreciated this resource of quality Christmas books to read during the season:

The Legend of the Christmas Tree by Rick Osborne

The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg

The Legend of the Christmas Stocking by Rick Osborne

The Story of St. Nicholas: More than Reindeer and A Red Suit by Voice of the Martyrs

The Three Gifts of Christmas by Jennie Bishop

The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Hunt

The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey by Susan Wojciechowski

The Pine Tree Parable by Liz Curtis Higgs

The Gift of the Magi by O Henry

The Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (adapted picture book version)

The Candle In the Window by Grace Johnson

Jacob’s Gift by Max Lucado

One Wintry Night by Ruth Graham Belle

Christmas Carols for Kids Hearts by Sergio Martinez

Josie’s Gift by Kathleen Bostrom

We Believe in Christmas by Karen Kingsbury

The Indescribable Gift by Richard Exley

Also:

God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Bergren (Our all-time favorite)
The Birds of Bethlehem by Tommy DePaola
The Lion in the Box by Marguerite De Angeli
The Crippled Lamb by Max Lucado
All Is Well by Frank Peretti

*There are many variations of the Christmas Mouse. For our family, the Christmas Mouse quietly visits the bed of each child on December 1st leaving them a brand new pair of Christmas pj’s to wear for the season.