Keeping Christ the Center

As a Children's Pastor, I'm all about keeping Christ the center of the Christmas season.  Some may think I go to an extreme with it - - I don't let Santa in the house - - but it works for us.

My family is new.  It's actually our first Christmas with a child this year!  So we're still feeling out our traditions and seeing what works for us.  I imagine that any traditions we start may change as our little boy grows up, but for now we're just getting started.

I read a fantastic post by the Money Saving Mom at her blog this morning (it's an old post, I think) that gave me some great ideas.  I love her idea about giving a gift to her kids the day after Thanksgiving that will help them keep Jesus the reason for the season.  This will be great when my little one is older.  Her Christmas breakfast idea is fantastic, too!  Instead of taking the time to bake a birthday cake for Jesus, she throws a candle in their Christmas breakfast and they use that to sing happy birthday!  Genius!

Here's what we do now, and as the baby gets older we'll implement more of the kinds of things that Desiré does.

December 1: Advent begins.  We're still working out what we are doing for our Advent calendar.  I'm really hoping that next year we'll have it down!

December 24: Christmas Eve Service.  Our church offers a family service and a later service on Christmas Eve.  Circumstances nwo dictate that we attend the family service.  They do a children's message, too!

December 25: We read the Christmas story (perhaps we'll start reading it from a picture bible for baby's sake) and open gifts at home.  Then we head over to grandma and grandpa's farm to spend time with my family.

Sometime after Christmas: This year is the first that we have been a long distance from Phil's parents.  We will be having our Chritsmas celebration with them when they come up on the 29th this year (we're so excited!!).  I'm guessing this will turn into a tradition, but we'll see!

Keeping Christ the center of Christmas is very important to me.  I'm so excited for when my baby is a little older and we can start some traditions just for him!  For now, I still believe it's important to instill this message in him.  We put the Little People Nativity Set on his Christmas wishlist (that's what extended family buys from) so we can have a nativity set that he can interact with.  We play Christmas music other than Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells - - songs that actually celebrate the birth of Christ.  We'll attend the family service this year, and even though he'll likely be in the nursery, we will be starting that tradition of attending church on Christmas Eve.

What do you do to keep Jesus the center of your Christmas celebration?