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") 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 month:
Devotions: We are usually more structured with this, but we traveled a lot and had company and other obstacles preventing routine, so I just set out three devotionals that we have used in years past to choose from. Ricky most often read from Christmas Around the World by Mary Lankford. I, also, gave the big kids storybooks to read during Advent (Ishtar’s Odyssey and Tabitha’s Travels).
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 were only able to complete two weeks of half days this month (equivalent of one week of school)!
- Our Advent devotional in the evening with Daddy (depending)
- 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 missed some days, but ended up working them in and just doubling up on other days. The list of this year's activities are below. Sometimes I told them beforehand.
- Play hide & seek in a tree lot
- Decorate puppy tree
- Make popcorn garland
- Cooking Day
- Hot drinks & look at Christmas lights
- Celebrate St. Nicholas Day by reading his biography and watching the Veggie Tales about him with friends
- Invite family over to watch Christmas Veggie Tales movies in jammies
- Make and decorate gingerbread cookies
- Paint pine cones and make centerpiece
- Watch Christmas movie marathon
- Make No-bakes
- Farewell party
- Make paper snowflakes
- Make a birthday treat for Micaiah
- Make Grandma’s Mix
- Make a pillow bed on living room floor and watch Christmas cartoons
- Make glitter globes
- Listen to Focus on the Family’s radio drama Christmas Carol in the car
- Celebrate Micaiah’s birthday party and watch The Nativity Story movie under blankets
- Watch The Star movie and drink hot chocolate while playing games
- Pick out Jesus’s birthday gifts
- Make Puppy Chow and deliver coffee to neighbors
- Act out the nativity story with friends and deliver coffee to neighbors
- Make a birthday cake for Jesus
- Throw Jesus a birthday party!
Decorations: We got a Christmas tree this year (a cute 3-4 ft tree) and decorated it my 28 puppy ornament collection and a homemade paper star. We also have other items (ornaments, stockings, nativity sets...) on display and hanging around. We keep the Christmas music playing. Also, we simply hang the Christmas cards we receive on ribbon with clothespins. This year we decorated our house on the last day of November instead of the first day of December.
Treats: Our treats were almost daily this year -- popcorn and M&Ms, hot chocolate and chai tea, sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, Grandma’s Mix, Puppy Chow, molten lava cake, coffee cake, raspberry mud cake, 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 that morning before our guests arrived (breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and fruit salad). We pray much beforehand about who to invite -- poor, needy, lonely... This year, we got to share our celebration with our Filipino neighbors. After we ate brunch, 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 did our annual scavenger hunt. This was so much fun again! This year we had seven clues, and the theme was Newness — new house, new town, new yard/trampoline, new baby, new job, new man (we are new creatures in Christ!) Then, we ate cake (Aolani had made a raspberry mud cake for Jesus’s birthday cake the night before), sang Happy Birthday, and shared with each other what we had individually selected for gifts to give Jesus (Aolani got to choose for baby Morgan). Our neighbors had to leave afterwards. We had leftover lasagna for dinner and played board games until the wee morning hours. It was a great fifth 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!
(The week after Christmas Day, we continue to celebrate by watching LOTR and The Hobbit extended editions together as a family, looking at baby pictures, eating goodies, doing a jigsaw puzzle, and listening to Christmas music.)