Guest Post by Jennifer Roskamp
{Week 2: An Advent Celebration Series}
*It is with a happy heart that I am sharing Week Two of this December blog series highlighting the Advent celebrations of real families! Four real moms are sharing four diverse ways to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Each woman is beautifully wise. Friends, you will be blessed by their hearts and their passions for our Savior.
I’m beaming with excitement as I welcome fellow blogger, Jennifer Roskamp into my little blog home today! Jennifer is an innovative, resourceful, Jesus-loving mother of seven (soon to be eight) children! Her brilliant blog, The Intentional Mom, has an abundance of tips and ideas to encourage women in the season of motherhood to parent with purpose. If you haven’t met Jennifer before today, it is my honor to introduce you! You are welcome, sweet friends!! *
**Sidenote: Coincidentally, the past two guest posters have had nearly the same name. This might confuse some readers and therefore is worth pointing out. I highly recommend reading the wisdom of both Jennifer Rothschild and Jennifer Roskamp. These mothers are both full of Godly wisdom and Christian encouragement, yet their writing styles are uniquely their own as they fulfill the different callings God has placed on their hearts. I hope you will get to know each of them! …and I assure you that my next guest poster is not named Jennifer.**
20 Holiday Traditions Your Family Will Love
Traditions within a family are always so much fun, but I think there is something so special about them during the Christmas holiday season. Here are 20 amazing traditions that your family will absolutely love!
1. Christmas tree hunting
Every year since I was a young kid, my family has gone Christmas tree hunting over the Thanksgiving weekend. Living in Michigan, we have done this in every kind of weather you can imagine, and for years when I was a kid we were joined by another family, too. We continued this tradition after my husband and I got married (so it was then my parents, sisters, and the two of us), and it has only grown to include all of our kids as well as my sisters and their families when they happen to be in town.
2. Ornament hanging
After we put the lights on, the ornaments are always a big deal. When I was growing up my grandparents got their grandchildren an ornament each Christmas, and my mom was always diligent in writing the dates on the boxes. It is always fun for me to guess which year I received various ornaments.
When we started having kids, they received ornaments from my grandparents too, and this tradition has been carried on by my parents now that my grandparents are gone. This means that my kids all have a ton of ornaments, as well.
Each child gets to put their ornaments on the tree, one at a time. As you can imagine, this ornament hanging process takes a long time. It is something we always look forward to, however, and it is one of our favorite traditions.
3. Learning about Christmas
This is one of our favorite books The Adventure of Christmas: Helping Children Find Jesus in Our Holiday Traditions
4. Christmas caroling
At times we have done some Christmas caroling in nearby neighborhoods. This is really fun to do with another family.
5. Donating to needy families
Some years we choose an organization to donate toys for children in need. This is always a family affair as we are all involved in the buying, wrapping, and drop off of the gifts. It really is a special and memorable experience.
6. Wrapping, opening, and reading Christmas books
Over a period of a few years, I collected inexpensive Christmas books. I wrap them all up, and we pick a new one to read each night between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A new kid unwraps one each night, and we read them together. It is always fun to guess based on the size and shape what book is in each one since many of them we know. This is the only time each book is read. Then at the end of the Christmas season, they are rewrapped and ready for next year. We add new ones as I find them. Here are a few of our absolute favorites.
Bear Stays Up for Christmas (The Bear Books)
Polar Express 30th anniversary edition
7. Driving around to look at Christmas lights
This is really fun to do when neighborhoods come together to put on a spectacular light show, but just looking is fun. We try to make it extra special by having popcorn, candy, or hot chocolate to drink while in the car.
There is one house we are sure to go to every year. It is a bit of a drive, but they have an amazing display that is set to music, synchronized and everything. It is so cool to see every year!
8. Making homemade decorations
Sometimes my older girls and I will make homemade Christmas or winter decorations. They aren’t always all that much to look at, but they sure are fun to make.
9. Baking Christmas cookies
We have certain cookies that are reserved for this special time of the year. As much as we love them, we do our very best to only make them during this season.
10. Making homemade items for family, friends, or neighbors
Sometimes we do food items, but we have also done homemade drink mixes, soaps, decorations, or cleaners. These are usually things that we make as a family, and they vary from year to year. However, it is always more blessed to give than it is to receive.
11. What God Wants for Christmas
If you have never done this with your kids, you need to stop what you are doing and get this right now! It is that good.
What God Wants For Christmas: An Interactive Nativity for Children (Book and CD)
This is put out by Family Life, and it is an amazing accounting of the Christmas story and the role that each person plays, even the things we often don’t think of such as Gabriel. There is a new present to open with each added character that comes into the story, and the anticipation for each new box is always the best part to watch, especially with the younger kids. There is a cute poem and a little page or two reading about each character. Kids as young as 18-24 months love to participate and learn.
12. Christmas specials on TV
In fact, we love them so much that we have an old VHS tape of the classics that we watch every year. They have been our favorites since our kids were little (some of them were even around when I was a kid), and as long as we have a VCR to play them on, we will continue to play this old, raggedy tape. It’s ok if the kids stay up way too late sometimes!
13. Going to a nearby mall to watch their awesome train display
This actually started with my dad since he loves trains, but it is something that we have done on our own, too. Malls can also be a great place to see some fabulous decorations and really get into the holiday spirit.
14. A community service project
We have gift wrapped, visited hospitals and nursing homes with different groups to sing or perform, or volunteered time in various ways. Giving of your time with as many family members as you can is a great holiday opportunity and a way to remain focused on the spirit of giving.
15. Visiting a holiday display at a local museum
We have a botanical gardens that is simply beautiful, and during the Christmas season they have traditional trees from countries from all around the world on display. There are plenty of festivities, too.
16. Attending a community concert or performance
Band concerts, plays, and even major productions like ballets are so fun to do during this time of year. These events can be pricey or they can be free, but there is nothing like it!
17. On Christmas Eve we love drinking eggnog
Some years we have made our own and some years we just buy it, but Christmas Eve eggnog is a fun family tradition.
18. Reading of the Christmas story in the Bible
We often do this while drinking our eggnog, but we do this as a family with all of our readers taking part. This can take awhile, but it is always such a memorable time. This is best done with everyone wearing their pajamas!
19. The three gift rule
We have done this since our oldest was a baby. We choose to give each of our children three gifts, just as baby Jesus received. Our gifts also follow this same pattern: a new Bible, one thing they need, and one thing they want. We also do typical stocking stuffers, but with only three gifts for each kid, we can maintain a budget, and our kids savor each gift.
20. Wrapping up the Baby Jesus
Another longstanding tradition has been that we remove a Baby Jesus from one of our nativity scenes and wrap it. Then, one of our children receives this gift as one of their three presents. Everyone looks forward to seeing who will get it each year, and we do our best to creatively wrap it so that it remains a mystery until it is opened. This has been a great reminder to our kids of what really matters on Christmas…that Jesus is the ultimate gift, and that it is His gift of life, death, and eternal life that we celebrate.
Hopefully you have gotten some new ideas for holiday traditions in your family.
Some of these are simple, but they do make such a huge impact in our kids’ memories, both now and in the years to come!
Find some you want to try and have a great holiday season with your family!
J
ennifer Roskamp is a busy, homeschooling mom of seven (almost 8!) who enjoys keeping a home, living an active lifestyle, and loving the little and not so little people in her life. Her mission is helping other moms find contentment in living intentionally every day over at her blog, The Intentional Mom.
[…] You can read more of this post by clicking on this link. […]