NEW Christmas Traditions :)

This year, Christmas took on a new meaning along with new traditions.  I grew up celebrating the birth of Christ, but hit college 9 years ago and lost my way.  Christmas for me then became all about finding the perfect present for family and friends.  It was tedious, exhausting and stressful!  Well, my husband and I have been attending Church for 12 months and the reason of Christmas has completely changed.  It was no longer about presents, food or parties...but about the birth of Christ.  And celebrating his birth transformed our entire holiday...in the most wonderful of ways!  We still looked at local Christmas lights, put out reindeer food, had a tree, followed my New Years Resolution of purchasing gifts by the end of October, attending Christmas Eve Service and all the usual traditions...but this year we added three traditions that put Christ at the heart of our season.

1.  We volunteered on Christmas Eve morning.  With three children under three, we decided not bring the entire flock of littles, but rather take our 7 year old.  Braylon and I went for 2 hours to the local homeless shelter to help pack small Christmas bags for the men and women at the shelter.  He joyfully worked very hard and was at the perfect age to and understand what and why he was helping.  We took a tour of the shelter/tent camp and he "got it."  It was a bittersweet experience knowing how all the men and women were struggling to get by, yet how thankful they were to be receiving donated blankets and wrapped thermoses.  We will be selecting a charity every year to volunteer at on Christmas Eve and I hope this commitment to community stays with my children for their entire lives.  Giving to the world, as Jesus did, really makes you smile and aligns your priorities to celebrate the holiday for the right reasons, not obligated reasons.

Braylon feeling very proud of his hard work but sad that they had no homes.  It was a humbling experience and we are so grateful for what we have.  God was working in our hearts on Christmas Eve.

2.  Praying for our friends and family through Christmas cards and pictures.  We have started to say Grace at the dinner table and during the month of December, while we were receiving all the beautiful Christmas cards and pictures, we incorporated them into our evening prayers.  Each night, the kids took turns selecting a Christmas card/pictures out of our basket, and we said a prayer for that family.  It was a wonderful way to incorporate our loved ones and it also served as a lesson for our kids how to pray for our friends and family.  They really had a great time looked forward to selecting a card every night.

Our December Prayer Basket

All the photos got put up in January.  I plan to keep them on the frig the entire year.

3.  Reading Luke on Christmas Eve.  After attending Christmas Eve Service, we gathered the kids on the couch and read Luke, chapters 1&2.  This served as a reminder before they went to bed that we were celebrating Christ's birth, not presents.  I believe this really spoke to them since they flooded us with questions about baby Jesus, the barn and manger.

What new traditions did you incorporate this year?