Christmas Traditions to Consider

1. First one out of bed puts on the Christmas music.
2. Prepare the same holiday food to eat every year.
3. Display your Christmas cards the same way.
4. You and your children make your Christmas gifts.
5. Host a Christmas slumber party for your children. Play games, sing carols by candlelight, pray together, and just have fun!
6. Make a video on your phone of each years activates. Have a child sing or play a song on the piano, read a verse or quote a poem, or each child tell what he got for Christmas. Play the video back the next year.
7. On Christmas morning, divide gifts by givers instead of receivers. One at a time, each giver gets to take a gift to its receiver. This custom keeps the focus on giving instead of receiving.
8. Read Luke’s account of the Christmas story before opening gifts.
9. Call Staff of a nursing home and ask for the name of a person without a family and request a suggested gift to give him.
10. On Jan 1, insert your Christmas cards into a basket. Before or after each meal, a family member draws out a card, reads the card, and offers a prayer for that person or family. This tradition can last well into the new year. An extra step (Send that person a note and let him know you prayed for him today)
11. Be a witness. Invite adult friends and children’s friends to your home to share a December evening with dinner or dessert. Plan songs, games, and read some pertinent Scripture. Let others observe your example of Christ’s love and the atmosphere of love in your home. Your family can follow up with prayers for the guests during the holiday season and into the new year.
12. Cut your own tree.
13. Adopt a needy family.
14. Hang JOY stockings during the month of December. Each family member puts his thoughts, prayers, and love notes into each family member’s “joy stocking”. On Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, pass out each family member’s “joy stocking” and let him read his notes.