New traditions

As I shared with you last year, Toby and I have adopted a less than traditional approach to Christmas. We hope to teach our children that Christmas is foremost about Jesus and His gift of Himself...presents are secondary. Our goal is that as our children grow up, their behavior and excitement is not focused on material possessions, but rather on Jesus and others.

Haley is now 3 and starting to understand a little more, so we worked hard this Christmas to start some new family traditions. Because this is a different approach than how Toby and I were raised, we're kind of going with the flow and "making it up" as we go along. Sweet Jesus has been good to guide our steps.

My MOPS group held a cookie exchange a few weeks before Christmas and consequently we came home with far more cookies than any one family needs. So, we bought some cute Christmas tins, divided them up and set out to bless our neighbors. I know that one of the reasons God put us in this neighborhood was to develop relationships with our neighbors...I think we get a B...we've done ok, but we could do better. These cookies were a great reminder that it's not about the cookies at all. People are blown away that you simply thought about them.

A few weeks before Christmas we took the kids to a local church for their "Bethlehem experience." They had built a little city inside plywood walls and truly we were transported to another time. As we entered the city, they treated us as if we were traveling to Bethlehem for the census, 2000 years ago. Our tour guide showed us around town, introducing us to the local baker and carpenter, sharing rumors of a special baby that had been born. We experienced the town with all of our senses: feeling the swaddling cloths new mothers used to wrap their babies, smelling the spices commonly available, and tasting the freshly baked bread. At the end the innkeeper excitedly led us to his stable where the Messiah had just been born. When we stepped out the back door, I was sad to see it end. I had to remind myself that it was all just a reenactment, but for the briefest time we got a glimpse into Bethlehem on that fateful night.

On Christmas Eve, we recruited the family to help us reenact our own Christmas story. I found a great script online and edited it to fit the cast we had available. Haley didn't have a speaking part since she can't read yet, but rest assured she'll be stealing the show next year. She did, however, help with the props. She loaned two of her stuffed sheep to Pop, our shepherd. She helped wrap presents in birthday paper for our wise person, adorned with a Burger King crown, to bring Jesus, and she proudly wore a white princess costume to serve as our angel.

My mom and Bob, graciously served as Mary and Joseph.
(Note the "stable animals" in the background.)

In the spirit of giving, after our pageant we each took a minute to share what God had given us this year. Because He is the giver of all good gifts, I wanted us to focus on and give thanks to Him for blessing us beyond measure. These gifts ranged from a deeper relationship with Him to moving cross-country to financial blessings to health, healing and safety. As our kids get older, I hope to incorporate an offering of their talents in this tradition. I have visions of watercolor masterpieces and dance performances in my living room, all in an effort to serve Him with what He's already given us.

In future years I hope to move some of these celebrations to Christmas morning, but since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year we had to rearrange. This year we had the bonus of worshiping our Savior with our church family on Christmas morning. Before heading out to church we started the day just like we did on Haley's birthday...with birthday cake and candles. We sang happy birthday to Jesus and Haley anxiously blew out His candles. She was so excited, she could barely contain herself. And of course, because Jesus lavishes good gifts on us, we opened a few gifts too. For those of you who are curious, Haley's big presents were a baby doll bed and an art easel. I foresee hours of fun.

Haley proudly blowing out Jesus' birthday candles.

So there's our Christmas. We had a wonderful celebration and I pray you did, too. If you have any fun celebration ideas, I'd love to hear them. Please feel free to comment on this post or email me anytime. Merry Christmas!