Holiday traditions.

Posted by Tracy Zdelar on December 10, 2009

This year, not necessarily unlike other years, I’ve been thinking about holiday traditions for our family. As a Christian mom I want to emphasize Christ in the season. I also want the holiday season to be one that my kids look forward to every year for other reasons than what they will get under the tree on the 25th of December. I want fun activities and traditions whether its making our own tree ornaments, decorating cookies or celebrating Jesus.

This year I’ve been researching the Jesse Tree ( you can Google or Swagbuck -for points “Jesse Tree”), we haven’t done this activity before but I’m thinking about it. I know it would be a late start to do it now but the lessons are timeless and we could actually do this activity anytime. Our kids do learn about God every week at church as well as in our home on a regular basis. You can read a little more about what we believe by clicking here.

Starting a new tradition…and some other ideas.

My oldest insisted on making at least a few paper ornaments this year- thats what he is working on in the first picture.

I did already tell my boys we would bake Jesus a birthday cake this year. They liked that idea.

I love to read about other family’s traditions. My brother and his wife might have been the first family I’d ever known to do the birthday cake thing to celebrate Jesus’ birthday. I think that idea can really bring some “reality” to a child’s understanding that Jesus is real and was really born- though he isn’t physically present for His party (He is there spiritually though).

I also liked the ideas I read on another blog shared by one of my Facebook friends. This family-blog collected magazines from Christian charity organizations such as Samaritan’s Purse, Compassion International and others and then the kids picked out a gift to give each day. You can read more about how they celebrate by clicking here.

Another idea for an Advent Calendar by clicking here.

Our boys had a fun time decorating the tree. This was the first year they both really got into the decorating…and as you see below, they gravitated to the same spot. *See the paper ornaments in there too