Christmas is almost here! If your children are like our children, once the “ber” months roll around they are constantly asking how close we are to Christmas. I admit, I get almost as excited about holidays as my children do, and it has been even more exciting to celebrate now that I am a mother and can experience the joy that our children have during the holidays.
Our family has developed some wonderful traditions over the years for the Christmas season, and we start our celebrations during the season of Advent. Since Advent has been called a “mini-Lent” and should be more of a penitential season in which we await the coming of the Savior, we do save our major celebrations for Christmas.
Here are some fun and special ways in which we get ready for the birth of Our King:
Prayers
After dinner, our family gathers around our Advent wreath and my husband will light the candle or candles and will read prayers from an Advent book.
We also read one story each day starting on December 1 from the book “Advent Storybook: 24 Stories to Share Before Christmas” by Antonie Schneider. This book is perfect for all ages, and each short story brings a sweet little bear on his voyage to the Christ child.
Books
When I was a young girl, each year at Christmas, my mom would get me a new Christmas book. I still have my Christmas book collection from childhood that our children now get to enjoy. My husband and I have adopted the tradition of giving our children a new Christmas book each year. For ideas, I have included some books in my Amazon storefront. https://www.amazon.com/shop/catholicmomri. This is my affiliate link, and I do receive compensation.
On Christmas Eve night, our children receive their new Christmas book along with other surprises in their special Christmas Eve box. (Read more below!)
Jesus is the best present
On the second or third week of Advent, we begin putting our Nativity scenes up around the house. However, we do not put the baby Jesus in the manger at that time. Instead, I wrap the baby Jesus figurines in tissue paper, put them in a small box that I pre-wrapped with Christmas wrapping paper and place the box in their special Christmas Eve box. Then, on Christmas Eve, right before we go to bed, the children get to give baby Jesus a kiss and place Jesus in each manger so that He will be there for them to sing Happy Birthday to in the morning.
Special Christmas Eve Box
Each evening on Christmas Eve, our children get to open their special Christmas Eve box of goodies. In the box is their new Christmas book, the box filled with the baby Jesus figurines from the Nativities, Christmas Pajamas, a new ornament to add to the tree and hot chocolate.
Feast Days
There are many great feasts to celebrate during the month of December. Some include Saint Nicholas (December 6), the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin (December 8: a Holy Day of Obligation), Saint Juan Diego (December 9), Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12), and Saint Lucy (December 13), to name a few. Each feast is a great way to anticipate the great excitement and joy that the Christmas season will bring.
Christmas Lights
A fun inexpensive way to celebrate the Christmas season is by simply driving around looking at Christmas lights and listening to Christmas music. It is a great way to explain to our children that Jesus is the light of the world. EWTN.com writes of the Advent wreath, although it can be applied to the Christmas lights, that “people lived in spiritual darkness, waiting for the coming of the Messiah, the Light of the world.” Just as the Wise Men followed the light of the star, we, too, can follow the light of Christ to get safely to heaven.
Cookies
When I was pregnant with one of our littlest loves, we started our tradition of starting to bake our Christmas cookies weeks before Christmas. Starting in October, each Sunday we bake a double batch of different Christmas cookies. One batch goes into the freezer, and we enjoy the second batch on Sunday. Not only does this save me time and energy by baking Christmas cookies ahead of time, but it also allows us to have a small celebration each Sunday leading up to Christmas.
I hope you enjoyed reading about our family’s Christmas traditions and remember, Christmas doesn’t start and end on December 25. It really is an entire season, and I encourage everyone to celebrate it as such. Depending on what you want to consider the Christmas season, it can last until January 1, the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God, or until January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, or it can last until January 13, the Baptism of Our Lord, or it can last all the way until February 2, Candlemas.
Christina Frye is a lifelong Rhode Islander, wife, mother and founder of Catholic Mom Rhode Island, www.CatholicMomRI.com.
