Christmas traditions!

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a special Christmas edition of Works for Me Wednesday where people can share hints and tips related to Christmas. When I heard about it, I knew I wanted to participate. My family had a couple really cool traditions while I was growing up that I think really helped me enjoy Christmas more while keeping my focus more where it should be. (Thanks Mom & Dad.)

The first tradition is a family Christmas Eve service. While the details have changed over the years, the basic premise remained the same. Each Christmas Eve we (my sisters and I) would get ready for bed and pretend to go to bed. Mom & Dad would get things set up downstairs, then come caroling to our rooms by candlelight. They would give each of us old enough to be responsible for it a candle, and we would carol to the next room and then down the stairs to where the nativity was set up. Dad has a copy of the Christmas story which combines the accounts from all the Gospels in chronological order. We would read through this, singing an appropriate carol between each part of the story. (For example - O Come, O Come Emmanuel for the prophesy portions, Angels We Have Heard of High when the shepherds are told of Jesus’s birth, Away in a Manger when Jesus is born, etc.) Now here’s a very important part of our tradition – Mom & Dad have a nativity set where baby Jesus is separate from the manger. When they would set the nativity up for Advent, the manger would be empty. It would remain empty until the family Christmas Eve service when we came to the part of the story where Jesus was born. At that point, Mom or Dad would give the figure of the baby Jesus to the youngest child old enough to do so, and she would gently place him in the manger. We would then finish the story, having the shepherds leave the nativity to tell others what they had heard and seen. Incidentally, the wise men were always set up on the opposite side of the room since they didn’t come to the manger, but later came to see him at the house where they were staying when Jesus was a toddler.

The second family tradition is about how we would open gifts. I’ve never heard of any other family doing this, but I think it’s a great idea. After the family Christmas Eve service when everyone had gone to bed, mom & dad would hide all our gifts. Christmas morning when we came downstairs, we would open our stockings and then have a yummy, special Christmas breakfast of sticky buns and orange juice served in special glasses that were only brought out at Christmas. We kids would quickly eat our breakfast then wait (impatiently) while dad finished his. While we were waiting, we could enjoy the goodies in our stockings and try to see if we could find any of the hidden gifts. When dad had finished his breakfast or when he thought we had waited long enough, he would dismiss us from the table and the hunt would begin. We would look for the gifts. Whenever one person found one, everyone would stop and gather together while the person who the gift was for opened it. That person could then take their time to appreciate and enjoy their gift while the rest of us hunted for the next one. Chances are, the next gift would be for someone else. I don’t think it ever happened that everyone was still enjoying their gifts and the hunting would stop, but if it did that was okay. What I love about this besides it being a unique tradition and a fun game is that it slowed things down. It allowed each person time to really enjoy each gift before moving on to the next one. Somehow it helped develop a spirit of gratitude in us for each thing.

Situations have changed, and my family no longer practices these traditions in the same way. Mom & Dad still do the Christmas Eve service, but it is now for their whole church. Also since now we’re adults and due to the logistics of trying to get everyone together, the gift hiding is no longer practical. But as my son grows old enough to understand, these are a couple traditions that I hope to revive.

Oh, I almost forgot one other great tradition – each year at church, someone would bring a birthday cake for Jesus. The kids would gather round and sing happy birthday to Jesus. They and their families would then placed wrapped gifts all around the cake. (Inside each wrapped package was a special offering which would go to some special project or mission outside the church.) So simple – but it was a great way to remind everyone, especially the kids, that Christmas is a birthday party for Jesus.

The final idea I wanted to share is something new I am doing this year. I am hosting a Christmas card making party at my church where the ladies are going to get together this Sunday afternoon to make cards for missionaries and their children. I bought several kinds of fun scrapbook-type card making supplies for this and also plan to recycle the cards I received last year, cutting out good graphics and maybe even phrases to use on the new cards. My hope is that not only will this be a fun community-building activity for the ladies in my church, but that it will raise their awareness of how God is working in the world outside America, and that it will be an encouragement to those who are serving God far from home.

I am looking forward to Advent and the celebration of Christmas this year! I hope these ideas help get you excited about it too.