Oh how I LOVE Christmas time – even more so now that I have children than when I was a child. It’s exciting to see my children getting excited, to share and begin traditions with them, and to share the message of Jesus Christ coming as a baby as our greatest gift ever.

It’s been a busy month for us, we’ve already celebrated 2 birthdays this month – thus the lack of posts by me.

I thought I’d share a few random Christmas tidbits from our family – hopefully bringing cheerful laughter as we see this season as a child does.

Our oldest son is now 5 1/2, and he and his sister have learned a few Christmas songs – from my playing and from church. DS1’s favorite song would be “Angels We Have Heard on High”, but the words in the chorus are slightly difficult for him. So, if you hear this song at our house, it would sound something like this…

“Glor——–ia, and He shall be praised – o.”

Another song he latched onto this year was “The 12 Days of Christmas”. The other day, this was coming from the other room…

“On the 1st day of Christmas my children said to me…”

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Our Traditions

We’ve been so busy with life that I haven’t got up the nerve to do Christmas crafts this year as we have in years past. (These can get pretty messy with 4 little ones.) I did find a gingerbread house on sale for $6 last night, so we’ll be putting that together soon.

Some other traditions besides this that we have done in the past would be:

1) Read “The Christmas Story” book. This is a simple version of the Christmas story, with cute illustrations. It’s brief, but just right for children 1 to 4 or 5. 

2) Act out the Christmas story using a nativity scene

3) Make Christmas star ornaments. Paint Popsicle Sticks, then glue 3 of them together making a star pattern. Use a paintbrush to spread glue on the sticks and then sprinkle with glitter. These ornaments remind us of the star that shone over the place where Jesus was born.

4) One of my favorite traditions/ keepsakes is a family picture ornament. I love to go into Restoration Hardware after Christmas and snatch up their photo frame ornaments at great sale prices! Each year, we find a photo that marks an important event for that year and place it in the frame. When we put up our tree and ornaments each year, we look back and smile at all of the memories – such as a new house, new babies, our marriage.

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Extra Craft Ideas

For young preschoolers, you can draw an outline of a snowman on a sheet of paper. Have your child pull out the cotton balls and glue them on their snowman. To learn a little – count the cotton balls!

For 3 to 4 year old preschoolers, you can take cereal boxes and cut into 6 inch squares. Cut out a circle or square (2 or 3 in.) in the center, making a picture frame. Paint and decorate the frame, then glue a piece of ribbon to the back. Once it’s dry, place a picture of your child on the back and hang on the tree – or give as a gift! Be sure to write their name, age, and year!

Older preschoolers would enjoy helping make batches of cookies to give as gifts! Let them decorate gift tags – made from 1″ by 3″ strips of cardstock. You can also have them decorate index cards in a festive way which includes the recipe to give along with the cookies.

Look for a post coming up with a wonderful gift idea!! For this, you’ll need to buy a canvas, some primer and acrylic paints, and a brush. I want to find a picture we took, but you’ll LOVE this idea – we did this for my husband’s b’day last week.

Have a wonderful Christmas season!

Mrs. Candace