That is our motto for this time of year.
If you want bunches of ideas for celebrating Christmas, you should probably go to Pinterest. We are more about cutting out a lot of the hoopla -- going for special and memorable (yes) but simple. It is Jesus' birthday; so, we focus on Advent ("waiting with hope", although now we are waiting for His second coming) and then throwing a birthday party for Jesus. Simple as that. Although, we also like to enjoy the 12 of Christmas (after Christmas Day) and Epiphany on January 6th. This was the fourth year we were home on Christmas Day! Here is what we did this year—
Devotionals: We were not able to do one together as a family this time, but Aolani did the Truth in the Tinsel devotional/activity for toddlers with Raphael. We just set out all our other devotional books for the kids to look at whenever.
Hung in our kitchen
Church City (two villages from Ricky’s grandma and two from our neighbors)
Presents: This was our seventh year of doing it differently. We want to teach our kids that just as they get presents on their birthday, Jesus gets the gifts on His birthday (see Matthew 25:45) -- just keeping it simple (and imitating St. Nicholas!). After I had collected like a dozen (charitable) gift catalogs over the past month or so, we spread them out, allotted each person an equal amount of money, and let them go! Yet, we do buy a few gifts for ourselves as a family and some friends that are to encourage in the upcoming year, which we are going to do on Epiphany (January 6th this year). [Yes, our kids get gifts from us throughout the year as does Jesus, but we all know that birthdays are special for the birthday person ;)]
Christmas Day activities and traditions: This has quickly become my favorite day of the year! This year, we ended up cooking our big meal the night before and that morning before our guests arrived (breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, applesauce and banana bakes). We pray much beforehand about who to invite -- poor, needy, lonely... This year, we got to share our celebration with our adopted grandma Mimi. After we ate brunch, and we watched Buck Denver Asks, Why Do We It Christmas? Then, we went outside to talk about gifts from God this past year to give him thanksgiving. Afterwards, we all napped and then did our annual scavenger hunt. This was so much fun again! This year we had nine clues, and the theme was Spiritual Weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) — Scripture (Hebrews 4:12), Faith (1 Timothy 6:12), Praying in tongues (Jude 20-21), Praise (Psalm 22:3, 2 Chronicles 20:22), Joy (Nehemiah 8:10), Prayer (Ephesians 6:16), Words (Proverbs 18:21), Action (1 Peter 5:9), and the Blood of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:11). Then, we ate the gingerbread house that Aolani had made,sang Happy Birthday, and shared with each other what we had individually selected for gifts to give Jesus (we had written down our selections on paper and put them in tins under our little tree; Aolani got to choose for baby Morgan). Ricky and the three older kids went to the airport to pick up Ricky’s mom (who came to visit for a week) while Mimi helped me put Morgan to bed before leaving herself. It was a great sixth Christmas-at-home doing what we wanted and look forward to next year!
Hope you had CHRISTmas joy in your celebrations and preparation for the coming of the King!
Activities: Sometime in the course of each day, we:
- Read a Christmas book. I arranged and stacked all of the Christmas books we own according to our schedule (I usually get some new ones every year). Then, Aolani would get one out each day. The big kids typically would read them out loud.
- Schooling: We took the month off!
- The Truth in the Tinsel devotional/activity for toddlers
- This year we did an Advent Activities Calendar. I came up with 24 things to do, one for each day leading up to Jesus' birthday. I adjusted the calendar so that the daily activities suited our monthly plans. We always end up altering or switching some days as plans change. The list of this year's activities are below.
- Decorate our home and puppy tree while listening to new Christmas album
- The Chosen Christmas show with Mimi
- Little Guatemala coffee cart with friends and neighbors
- Dance to Christmas music
- Watch Home Alone 1&2 with hot chocolate
- Celebrate St. Nicholas Day by making fudge, reading his biography, and watching the Veggie Tales about him with family friends
- Make a pillow bed on floor and watch Christmas cartoons
- Make snowflake window art
- Make pipe-cleaner poinsettias
- Watch Christmas movie marathon and share popcorn
- Board game marathon
- Puzzle
- Make and decorate gingerbread houses with Mimi
- Make a birthday meal for Micaiah
- Pick out and wrap Jesus’ birthday gifts
- Fancy dress tea and luncheon with friends
- Plan and prep for birthday party
- Micaiah’s birthday party with friends and cupcakes
- Watch The Star at Mimi’s
- Act out the nativity story with friends
- Make Puppy Chow
- Watch The Nativity Story movie under blankets
- Family Christmas dinner party
- Make breakfast casserole for Christmas Day brunch
- Throw Jesus a birthday party!
Decorations: We chopped down our own little Christmas tree this year (from a neighbor’s yard) and decorated it with my 29 puppy ornament collection and a homemade paper star. We also have other items (ornaments, stockings, nativity sets...) on display and hanging around. We so enjoyed hanging icicle lights from the ceiling of our hallway! We keep the Christmas music playing. Also, we simply hang the Christmas cards we receive on ribbon with clothespins.
Our homemade Jesse tree ornaments
Church City (two villages from Ricky’s grandma and two from our neighbors)
Treats: Our treats were almost daily this year -- popcorn and M&Ms, hot chocolate and chai tea, sugar cookies, gingerbread houses, cupcakes, Puppy Chow, mini cheesecakes, mint chocolate mousse, peppermint bark, all kinds of chocolates and other goodies...
Christmas Day activities and traditions: This has quickly become my favorite day of the year! This year, we ended up cooking our big meal the night before and that morning before our guests arrived (breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, applesauce and banana bakes). We pray much beforehand about who to invite -- poor, needy, lonely... This year, we got to share our celebration with our adopted grandma Mimi. After we ate brunch, and we watched Buck Denver Asks, Why Do We It Christmas? Then, we went outside to talk about gifts from God this past year to give him thanksgiving. Afterwards, we all napped and then did our annual scavenger hunt. This was so much fun again! This year we had nine clues, and the theme was Spiritual Weapons (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) — Scripture (Hebrews 4:12), Faith (1 Timothy 6:12), Praying in tongues (Jude 20-21), Praise (Psalm 22:3, 2 Chronicles 20:22), Joy (Nehemiah 8:10), Prayer (Ephesians 6:16), Words (Proverbs 18:21), Action (1 Peter 5:9), and the Blood of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12:11). Then, we ate the gingerbread house that Aolani had made,sang Happy Birthday, and shared with each other what we had individually selected for gifts to give Jesus (we had written down our selections on paper and put them in tins under our little tree; Aolani got to choose for baby Morgan). Ricky and the three older kids went to the airport to pick up Ricky’s mom (who came to visit for a week) while Mimi helped me put Morgan to bed before leaving herself. It was a great sixth Christmas-at-home doing what we wanted and look forward to next year!
Hope you had CHRISTmas joy in your celebrations and preparation for the coming of the King!
