Creating a Christ-Centered Christmas for Your Family
When thinking about creating a Christ-centered Christmas for your family, your thoughts may first turn toward all of the wonderful activities your family can do. While those are important, and I will definitely touch on those, it is important to first make sure our own hearts, as mothers, are in the right place.
Now, I’m probably speaking to the choir, but it’s so easy for even the most devout of us to let all the hustle and bustle of Christmas activity draw us away from what is most important – Christ. As you plan out and carry out your plans for this Advent and Christmas season, remember that no activity is worth the cost of God’s peace.
Creating a Christ-centered Christmas for your family starts with you.
As you set out on planning activities for your family, I challenge you to first start with some ways that you can grow closer to Christ. This might include adding in some time for prayer during your day or adding in a new prayer to your current prayer routine.
One of my favorites is the St. Andrew Christmas Novena. It’s a little different than a typical novena that spans 9 days. This novena starts on November 30th, the Feast of St. Andrew, and ends on Christmas Eve. Each day you pray a short prayer 15 times each day. Some people like to spread the prayers out throughout the day. Personally, I like to say it all in one sitting. I tend to forget to finish the novena if I spread it out. If you search for the St. Andrew Christmas Novena app in the App Store, there is a really handy app that helps you keep track of how many times you’ve prayed the prayer throughout the day.
As the mom, you set the tone.
While carrying out your fun activities for creating a Christ-centered Christmas, it’s inevitable – something is going to go wrong. Whether a child has a bad attitude or you’re out of patience, it’s easy to feel defeated. The whole point of doing these activities was to help point towards Christ, but you start to feel like they are causing nothing but headache. Here you have a choice: you can give in to those feelings, or you can choose to make the best of it and move forward.
My bet is that you would want to move forward. Did you know that you can get one step ahead of these Christmas activity mishaps and set the tone for a more peaceful Christmas?! In the moment, our minds are busy dealing with the situation and will snatch the first idea that comes to it. You can help your brain by having already thought of how you would want to peacefully handle the situation ahead of time.
As you write out your plans for creating a Christ-centered Christmas, include some scenarios that may come up and then write out how you would like to handle them. You can also include in your plans the general feelings that you would like the activity to bring and what you would like your kids (and even yourself) to learn from it!
Now that you know how you are going to prepare yourself for Christmas, you can now plan out all of the activities that you want to do as a family!
So much of our cultural traditions around Christmas have religious roots. It is our job as moms to discover and share these traditions, and the stories behind them, with our family. Below you will find Christ-centered Christmas activities that you can do leading up to Christmas, in Advent, on Christmas day, and even as you continue to celebrate our Lord’s birth into the Advent season!
Christ-Centered Christmas: Advent Activities
Advent Wreath
An Advent wreath is a great way to slow down and reflect on our Lord’s upcoming birth this Advent season! Look up the Christian symbolism behind each part of the wreath as you put it together. Then gather around your wreath each day, we like to do it before dinner, to light the designated candle(s), say the prayers, and reflect on our Lord’s coming!
Jotham’s Journey
Jotham’s Journey is about a young shepherd boy in Jesus’ time. Follow his adventure as he learns some big lessons and find out how he ends up at our Savior’s birth! Follow the affiliate link for more details!
Fill Jesus’ Creche
This activity is particularly great for young children! All you need is a container to serve as Jesus’ manger and a bunch of straw pieces or paper made to look like straw kept in a jar. Every time a child does a good deed, have him or her place a straw in the manger. The idea is that your child(ren) are creating a warm place for baby Jesus to sleep on Christmas.
The Christmas Tree
There is a lot of commercial hype around Christmas trees these days, but like the Advent wreath, they are also full of Christian symbolism. Use the experience of getting and decorating your tree to learn more about what that is. As your family decorates the tree, read to them about the significance about what it symbolizes.
The Family Nativity
As we approach Christmas, you will see many variations of the nativity scene in front of your local churches. If you don’t have your own small, personal nativity scene for your own family, I highly encourage you to get one and place it in a prominent spot in your home. My family has a Fontanini Nativity Set that holds up well with small children! You can also get a kids’ nativity scene for your children to play with! Follow the affiliate links to see if they will work for you!
Look at Christmas Lights
Like many things, Christmas lights have become a huge commercialized ordeal. But they don’t have to be. Pack up some hot chocolate and go out and look at all of the beautiful Christmas lights with your family. This time, however, take some time to point out how the lights symbolize how Jesus is the light of the world and what His birth means to us as Christians.
Advent Angel (Gift-Giving)
Participating in an advent angel gift exchange is a great way to help your children think more of others during this season. As they sacrifice thinking about their own wants and needs by thinking about another’s wants and needs, they get to have a very small taste of Christ’s sacrificial love. As with a secret Santa exchange, let each child secretly choose a name from a hat. They will be getting “their person” a gift for Christmas. But that’s not all. All through the Advent season, they have the opportunity to do small acts of love and service for “their person.” Truly becoming an Advent Angel.
Christ-Centered Christmas: Christmas Day Activities
The Christmas Story
If you haven’t taken some time to read The Christmas Story to your kids during the Advent season, there is no better time to read it to them then on Jesus’ birthday! You can read it directly from an adult Bible, or choose a Children’s Bible to read from.
Sing Happy Birthday to Jesus
Early on Christmas morning, before anyone gets to open up any presents, we gather around the nativity. Then the youngest child gets to place the infant Jesus into his manger as everyone sings Happy Birthday. It is such a beautiful thing to hear those voices sing to Jesus on his birthday.
Attend Church
What greater gift can we give to God than our presence?! Long before Christmas is upon you, decide as a family which Christmas Service or Mass you will attend. Some prefer to go on Christmas Eve, others love the solemn Midnight Mass, while others like to go before or after some Christmas gifts have been opened.
Christ-Centered Christmas: Christmas Season Activities
Follow the Wise Men
Did you know that the wise men didn’t actually visit Jesus on Christmas? Many nativity scenes come with the 3 wise men or have the option to add them on. On the days after Christmas leading up to Epiphany (January 6), have your children move the wise men around the room until they finally make it to the infant king.
Books about the Wise Men
Read to your children about the wise men. Then talk about the significance of the gifts that they brought.
Celebrate Ephiphany
Some people like to celebrate the Epiphany with an Epiphany cake! Spoiler alert: Tradition holds that you hide a baby Jesus figure inside and the one who finds the figurine gets to bake the cake next year. Whatever you decide to do, celebrating Epiphany helps us remember that the story of Jesus’ birth doesn’t end with Christmas and that our Faith is meant for every season.
Learn the Story Behind: The 12 Days of Christmas
Legend has it, the song, The 12 Days of Christmas, was used to pass on the Faith in the 16th century during a time of religious wars. While this song is often played during the Advent season, it is actually talking about the 12 days of Christmas from Christmas day to Epiphany. Click here to learn the hidden meaning behind the seemingly nonsensical lyrics of The 12 Days of Christmas.
Here’s a little something to help with planning your Christ-Centered Christmas!
This planning worksheet helps bring it all together so that you can stress less and have more fun with your family.