Passionate Homemaking

Christ­mas is such a won­der­ful time of year! A cel­e­bra­tory time to reflect upon the arrival of Christ into our fallen human world. He came to estab­lish His king­dom on this earth, and although He is not phys­i­cally present, He con­tin­ues His work of bring­ing about His king­dom and it will be com­pleted at His return. It is inter­est­ing how humbly He came. Have you ever thought it funny that the kings came and brought gifts and the shep­herds heard and wel­comed the Messiah…but then we do not hear of these men any fur­ther. As far as we know, they did not go about and declare this good news! It is not until thirty years later that people finally start acknowl­edg­ing the Savior. And even then He is put to death only three years later. Praise God that although He came and lived in such humil­ity, He is now reign­ing in heaven as the Lamb that was slain for the sins of the world!

Here are a few resources and ideas that we have found helpful:

Advent Read­ing - This year we have been read­ing through Watch for the Light by a com­pi­la­tion of dif­fer­ent authors (C.S. Lewis, Diet­rich Bon­ho­ef­fer, etc.) on the advent and mean­ing of Christ­mas. It is very good and insight­ful. We have our advent wreath as our cen­ter­piece at our table, but we don’t nec­es­sar­ily always read around it. We bring the book with us in the car to read while dri­ving or in our bed­room before turn­ing out the lights. I rec­om­mend it! It may be a little deep for little ones, but then it gives our hubby’s oppor­tu­nity to truly teach and expand upon it. Aaron has had to do this for me many times already. This is a pic­ture of our advent wreath. I bought the wreath and a simple gar­land that I stuffed in it after Christ­mas last year when every­thing went on sale. I like the red and white candle theme, although many people do purple, pink and white.

Jesus Gift - I men­tioned this a little while ago. This is a spe­cial way to min­is­ter to a spe­cific need in your church body this Christmas!

Thank­ful­ness Box - a few year back our family des­ig­nated a basket through­out the month of Decem­ber in which we would write down spe­cial mem­o­ries that had tran­spired through­out the year. Every time a memory came to one of us we would write it on a slip of paper, fold it up, and put it in the basket. As we took turns open­ing gifts on Christ­mas morn­ing, we would each read one of the mem­o­ries and reflect on all the bless­ings that God had poured out on us through­out the year. It was a time to rem­i­nisce and remem­ber times together as a family. It was wonderful!

Neigh­bor Gifts - Last year, a few close friends and I got together and made cook­ies for each of our neigh­bors. It was a fun event to do together and so much easier that way! In the past, my family has also made simple table arrange­ments with fresh green­ery and dec­o­ra­tions. A very nice gift for the neigh­bors and friends. It didn’t happen this year, but I was think­ing today that I would still really like to do some­thing, but I was dis­cour­aged because I thought it was too late. Never! Even if they arrive after Christ­mas, it is the thought and love of Christ that we are shar­ing. I am set­ting aside some time on Sat­ur­day to make some simple lemon bread in little loaves for our neigh­bors. It doesn’t have to be extravagant…I just want to com­mu­ni­cate the true mean­ing of the season! True joy comes from giving and not receiv­ing. Giving the gift of life!

Local Hol­i­day Events - I love going to dif­fer­ent hol­i­day events! This year we went to a live jour­ney through Beth­le­hem put on by a local church. Tomor­row evening we are going to the Grotto Fes­ti­val of Lights, which is actu­ally a catholic event, but they have a really neat retelling of the Christ­mas story as you walk through their beau­ti­fully dec­o­rated and lighted grounds and hear dif­fer­ent groups sing in their large chapel (beau­ti­ful acoustics). Pow­er­ful! We have invited a neigh­bor couple to go with us. What events take place in your town? Maybe you can invite your neigh­bors to par­tic­i­pate?

Christ­mas Day - Gin­ger­bread Pan­cakes at our home for break­fast (I used a sim­i­lar recipe, although I replace whole wheat flour for the white flour and I don’t use the cocoa powder or nuts). We started this spe­cial Christ­mas break­fast last year and the hubby loves them! Make a spe­cial family break­fast and read the Christ­mas story together. We kept our gifts simple this year: stock­ings only. I loved it and think we will keep this as a tra­di­tion for the future.

Orna­ments - each year we are aiming to find a orna­ment that rep­re­sents a sig­nif­i­cant event that hap­pened in our life through­out the year (birth of a child, vaca­tion, etc). My husband’s family did this while grow­ing up. Each child would get a new orna­ment that rep­re­sented the year or some­thing they did together as a family, etc. to add to their own per­sonal orna­ment col­lec­tion. When they got mar­ried, they could take their col­lec­tion with them. So this year we added “Karis’ First Christmas” to our collection.

Check out my friend Kimi’s blog for some other resources for Hol­i­day Ideas.

Merry Christ­mas to you all!