When your kids look back on Christmas in twenty odd years, what do you want them to remember?
I would love for them to get warm fuzzies about two things: lots of fun family quality time, and celebrating and connecting with Jesus Christ, the reason for the season.
With this in mind, my husband and I have committed to five goals as we prepare for a simple and intentional Christmas with our young family. These are:
- Involve the children. It is much easier to crack on with Christmas admin alone. But memories are made in the shared moments. I try to shift the kid’s focus to giving (their time, thought as well as money) and not just receiving, by finding little, manageable ways for them to help me. This year we’ll be making simple Cookie Dough gift rolls and hot chocolate gifts together that they can give to their teachers or special friends. They’ll pitch in with the wrapping by decorating plain gift tags or plain wrapping paper with their sweet scribbles. And we’ll bake little treats together for any playdates we have at ours in the lead up to Christmas. In doing so, I want them to latch on to the idea that no matter how young they are, they are important members of our family with their own responsibilities and parts to play in our festive preparations. And I hope and fill their little love tanks with lots of quality time together in the process!
- Create a culture of togetherness. We are starting to adopt a small set of Christmas family traditions with our young family that are built around our goals of quality family time and remaining Christ centred. To date these include involving the kids as much as we can in preparations as already mentioned, opening a simple family box on Christmas Eve with a book, hot chocolate, cookies, a movie and a game we can all enjoy, and proceeding to snuggle on the sofa all together to watch The Nativity Story. We’ll be baking and decorating a birthday cake for Jesus that we sing “Happy Birthday” around on Christmas morning, and look forward to an early morning Christmas Day walk together. Throughout advent, we also make it a point to read the Christmas story to our girls every day. Mainly to help reinforce the narrative in their hearts, but also because we all enjoy a snuggle over a good book.
- Spend sensibly. I love giving presents, making presents, wrapping presents and making cards. It’s a love language I picked up from my mother. I do have to remind myself that Christmas is not about out-giving everyone or going OTT, and that my commitment to live simply and intentionally should apply to the festive season too. Two years ago I gave myself permission to only spend what we can afford and to get creative within that. I start saving for Christmas in January, plan before purchasing, make what I can, and try to start shopping early to avoid impulse or panic buys and unnecessary postage fees. If you are struggling to reign in your christmas spending, do check out this great post on the 12 Budget Tips of Christmas.
- Shop strategically. I have evolved into quite the minimalist and believe that less is most definitely more at home, particularly in the toy department. This means thinking outside the box a little bit when it comes to Christmas gifts for our children. We’re exploring options like experiences (e.g. theatre ticket vouchers or kids classes) to insure against clutter and invest in quality family time instead. Friends swear by craft subscription boxes like toucanbox.com, but I am struggling enough as it is under the weight of all the arts and crafts our older two bring home from school and nursery! I have definitely decided that I will only buy toys that encourage open ended play, and are versatile enough for all three of our girls to enjoy. This article on Holiday Toys by Danaye from Simple families is a must read on why. I am also happy to invest in their imagination with great books and music we can all enjoy- this year the girls will be unwrapping the beautifully illustrated The Christmas Promise and God’s Very Good Idea, and this genius Slugs and Bugs CD – or games the whole family can play together.
- Keep Christ at the Centre. Father Christmas is a nice enough guy. But as a Christian family, our main man this time of year is Jesus Christ. The key message we want the kids to pick up and get excited about is that He came to to earth in the most humble of circumstances to rescue us. Everything else is secondary. So we turn the volume up on the Nativity narrative at home, and keep any other messages, particularly the more commercialised variety, low key.
- We use an Activity Advent Calendar made and given to us by a local church playgroup. It includes a bible scripture that tells the Nativity story one day at a time, and a little activity related to the reading that we can do together. Our older two girls love it!
- We intentionally pick out books that bring the real reason for the season to life and reinforce a strong a strong biblical narrative in their hearts. One we keep coming back to is “My First Story of Christmas” – it’s simple, sweetly illustrated, and makes a great link between between giving Christmas presents and Jesus being the best gift of all.
- We dance and get very silly after supper to some great Christmas tracks that reinforce all of the above, like Colin Buchanan’s uber quirky King of Christmas.
- In a nod to my Maltese roots, we’ve also set up a crib scene together using a wooden play set we invested in this year. It’s fast become one of their favourite playthings and is proving super helpful at bringing the Nativity to life in their little imaginations.
So there you have it. Five things we are doing to try to keep Christmas in our family simple, intentional and fun.
How do you celebrate Christmas as a family? What are your prioritise for your family during the festive season? What traditions do you look forward to every year? Do let me know in the comments box below. I’d love to hear from you.
For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
(Isaiah 9:6-7)
PS: For more ideas on how to make Jesus the focus of Christmas with a young family, check out this great post by The Imagination Tree.
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