Simple Family Advents to Make the Season Bright
It’s sure hard for little ones to wait for
Christmas. Here is a collection of ideas
to fill the waiting time with love and laughter, peace and goodwill!
1. Holiday Atmosphere
Dale and Lori have a special tradition. The night that they set up their Christmas tree, they
drink eggnog and then lay out sleeping bags next to the tree for all to sleep
there. It is so fun to enjoy the wonder
of the tree and its twinkling lights. Waking the next morning, the wonderful tree is still there!
Ann’s family has a simple tradition that brings
ambience and wonder to their December mornings.
It is simply a Christmas Candle. She
likes to paint 24 tiny white flowers on their long, tapered candle to
count the days until Christmas. Her
family burns the candle to the next flower each night as they read scriptures
about Christ. It serves as a reminder of the wonder of the Christ-child and the warm light He brought to our world.
Jan has hung
a string of small Christmas stockings, each with the letters to “Christmas.” Each stocking has a card in it with one
attribute of the Savior that goes with that letter. It is fun for the kids to get the card from the stocking
each day and read it. And Jan is glad to remind them of the traits they are all trying to develop!
Mark and I are blessed to have an advent calendar
with pockets, each of which contains a felt figure of the nativity. By Christmas Eve, all the figures are there,
and it’s time to put the baby in his manger.
2. Secret
Visitors
In Kamille’s family, a Secret Elf visits during the
night starting December 1st.
He leaves messages, sometimes written in chocolate chips! These memos tell the kids that he is watching
them, and so to be good! The Secret Elf sometimes
leaves treats, such as licorice!
Marci’s family also has a Secret Elf that comes in
December. He lives in the Christmas tree and
comes out to peek on the kids. This
secret elf friend is the source of imaginary stories that the family tell each other
about his antics and goings on deep within their tree!
Guy and Robbie have a secret friend as well—a Plastic
Pickle who wears a Santa Hat! Every
morning, Mr. Pickle is hiding a different place in their tree, and when a child
finds him, she gets to make a wish!
3. Silliness
and Fun
The Christiansen’s heard about the idea of a Santa
Look-Alike Contest and chose to use whipped cream to make everybody a Beard! Yum!
Bethany made a little series of advent boxes, to
help the kids countdown until Christmas.
Each has a slip of paper with activities or treats to make the time pass
filled with fun.
Sara loves simply making red and green paper chains
counting down to Christmas. Each night,
one can be torn off. As the chain grows
shorter, Christmas is closer! Sharon modified that idea to make it even better: Each member of the family wrote one "Christmasy" thing they wanted to do on several strips of paper, such as "Visit Uncle Tim and Aunt Shelley" or "Go Caroling at the Senior Center" or "Watch a Christmas Movie and drink Wassail." The strips were anonymously stapled into their chain. Then, each evening, there was a Christmasy activity to do together!
Michael had a fun idea. He wrapped a Christmas gift in 12 sheets of
Christmas wrapping paper! Every night
after Family Prayer, for the 12 days before Christmas, someone unwraps one of
the layers. At last on December 24th,
the gift is revealed! The kids love
it! It doesn’t matter what the gift is,
it’s just the unwrapping that is so thrilling.
4. Service
Miranda’s favorite tradition is her
"Giving Tree". She simply makes
a large paper tree and tapes it on a cupboard.
Whenever her kids do service for someone during the month of December,
they got to write that service on an ornament and put it on the giving tree! Her kids were so excited to come home from school
and write what the service each had done that day!
Troy and Chara had a "manger"
and straw for "hay". Anytime anyone served others, they could
put a piece of the hay in the manger, and the goal was to have a
soft bed for the Baby Jesus before Christmas Eve.
Each of the last two times we have moved, someone
has surprised us with the 12 days of Christmas. From December 13th until the 24th,
there was a trinket at our doorstep! What
a wonderful gift, to be remembered each night--and to be welcomed to the new
neighborhood that way. It was so fun to
receive a treat or a decoration or anything, with such an aura of mystery and
excitement! Since these gifts were
anonymous, we have wondered through the years who did it. Everyone became a suspect, so good feelings
for all abound!
The Hendersons love to Carol at different doorsteps
at Christmastime. Sometimes, they sing
only, trying to add a little harmony.
Other times, they might play a simple melody on their set of Christmas
Chimes—metal pipes cut to the right lengths to be the notes of the scale. Or they will use their set of “Bonkers”,
plastic tubes that play the different notes as they bonk! Regardless, the Hendersons conclude with “We
wish you a Merry Christmas!”
5. The Christ
in Christmas
Hillary’s family reads a scripture about the Savior,
sings a Christmas hymn, and tells a Christmas story for their devotionals in
December. It gets everyone in the
Christmas spirit.
Tamra’s very favorite tradition is their advent
wreath. They use it to celebrate like
they do in Germany, lighting one candle on the first Sunday night in
December. Then two candles are lit on
the second Sunday, three on the third, four on the fourth, and the fifth candle
is lit on Christmas Eve. Each time, they
dim all the other lights in the house, and sit together drinking warm cider and
cookies and listening to a different account of the Christmas story each time. There is the one from Luke 2, the account in
Matthew 1, the Christmas story in 3 Nephi 1 and many other stories of Christmas
miracles. It’s a special time together
to worship the Savior at Christmastime.
Steve and Marta have a large Nativity that they set
up in their home at Christmastime. It is
here where their wrapped gifts are laid.
Yes, they do have a Christmas tree, and Santa leaves a gift under it for
each of them. But the main focus is the
gifts placed near the manger. They teach
their kids that just like the Wise Men brought gifts to the Christ child, we
give gifts to each other too. It helps
their family focus on the reason for the Christmas season.
May your Christmas season be filled with love and joy.
Please comment below to share your Christmas traditions.
Labels: Holiday: Christmas Traditions
