As Christmas approaches we start to fill our calendars at an amazing rate. Weekends have long been booked up and we’re starting to spill into mid-week merriment. That’s ok; we love this time of year. The hustle and bustle doesn’t bother me because our family makes it a point not to lose focus over what we are celebrating and why we honor Christmas day. We still have presents, a Christmas tree and Santa to look forward to but we also have the ‘why’.
When Grace was 5 she asked me if Santa was real. In a panic and without hesitation I replied, “YES! I believe in Santa.” Then she told me her friend Mia shared with her that it was YOUR parents do all that. They are the ones who put the presents under your tree. Grace was so relieved that I assured her there was a Santa. She even tried to explain to Mia that there was NO WAY her parents could do ALL THAT to ALL THE KIDS in ALL THE WORLD in one night, as amazing as her parents are. Santa lives on in our house. Not sure how much longer but I’m going to enjoy it while I can!
Last week, Faith told that there is a boy in her class who has an elf living at his house. The elf relays messages to Santa for the family. He also brings back messages from Santa all month long! She wants to go to this boy’s house. Clever family fun is going on in that home. I wish I would have heard about elves coming out after Thanksgiving and leaving sweet messages around when my kids were smaller. That sounds like it could be fun.
What we do is an Advent Devotion for the whole family. It’s called the Jesse Tree. I love it and it focuses our entire month around the anticipation of Christ’s birth. This is a link to the site I use for our nightly readings https://www.rca.org/sslpage.aspx?pid=1628. We start on Dec 1 and do one every night. The girls will take turns reading the story and scriptures out loud then we talk about what they’ve read. At the end of the devotion they get to hang an ornament that represents that day’s story. For you crafty people out there, some sites have patterns you can create your own ornaments from. For people like me, I find myself rummaging through all our possessions for something close to the story that I can tie a string around and call it an ornament. We have really weird things hanging off our tree. To top off the night, somehow the girls have linked this tradition with the Starbucks Advent Calendar that we fill with chocolate kisses. It was given to me the same year we began the Jesse Tree devotions so they think it’s all one big thing to do together. I’m not complaining, after all who doesn’t like a kiss before bed?
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