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I dearly love giving gifts. So, as a thank you to my readers, I’ll be having three giveaways this month. Starting today, one each week, Wednesday to Wednesday and ending up with the last giveaway on Christmas eve.
This week I am giving away a CD from Vision Forum called How to Keep Children from Becoming Bitter by Dr. S.M. Davis.
Dr. Davis is one of the best Biblical teachers for parents (and children) that I have ever heard. This CD will convict you to even greater diligence in training up your children in the way they should go.
Time for some rules, dontcha think?
- One entry per person.
- None of this, “enter me!” To enter tell us a Christmas tradition that you enjoy with your family. Don’t have any? Shame on ya! Think of one you plan to implement this year and tell us about it.
- I’ll announce a winner next Wednesday the 10th.
- Limited to the lower 48.
And to start things off, I will share a new tradition to debut this year on our ship.
Christmas Crackers for after our delicious Christmas dinner of Tamales and Chili.
No related posts.
We started a new tradition this year. We always get a live Christmas Tree, but this year, we moved near mountains. Now, we can buy a tag from the state, and go up and cut our own tree out of the forest!! We did that yesterday, and everyone decided it would be an every year thing! For one thing, the tag is only $8. For another, we had SO much fun! We were able to get a 9′ tree, which DH is going to cut the bottom off of so that I can use the lower branches for decorations, since ours are still in storage in our previous state.
Way cool giveaway!!
We eat a breakfast casserole on Christmas morning…we only eat it at Christmas! My family did this tradition when I was a kid and now we are passing down the tradition to my kids.
We also read the nativity story while my kids act it out with the Fisher Price nativity set.
We don’t have a set “tradition” except for doing an advent calendar every year. A friend of our got it for us a couple of years ago to put on our wall and so it has become something the children remind us of every year. Typically we are out of town for Christmas but this year it looks like everyone is going to come to us instead. Yeah!!
Sometime between Thanksgiving and the start of December we write names of loved ones on slips of red and green paper and make a Christmas paper chain that matches the number of days left until Christmas. Each evening at supper time, we remove the next chain and pray for the person/people on that slip of paper. We enjoy praying for all of our loved ones and the chain is a wonderful visual of the amount of days left until Christmas. The last slip of paper always contains the name “Jesus” and Christmas morning, as we eat breakfast, we thank God for the precious gift of His Son.
We roast chestnuts over an open fire, well, a fireplace in the living room. They are delicious.
I love seeing what everyone else does for Christmas. We started reading the story of St. Nicholas(before he was considered a saint) and we give our boys a stocking on St. Nicks day which is Dec. 6th. It’s just for fun but the story explains that Nick gave out of a love for Jesus. We want our kids to give of themselves out of love for our Savior.
Your Christmas dinner is tamales and chili?
Must be from the south, I tell ya.
(BTW, this isn’t an entry…we already have and LOVE this CD, and can vouch for SM Davis any day!)
Every year we buy a Christmas ornament for each child. We use a Sharpie marker to write their name and the year on each ornament. We also buy a “Jesus” ornament – a Nativity type ornament for our family. As my children have left home they received their box of ornaments for their own Christmas tree. After they leave home they receive a Nativity ornament each year.
One of our traditions that the children love is going shopping for a new CHRISTmas ornament. They each get to pick one out and it’s theirs to keep.
We also make a CHRISTmas Rice Pudding and put one almond in it. Whoever gets the almond is the first to share thier blessing. Kind of like going around the table at Thanksgiving time (of giving thanks)
Thanks for this contest.
Merry CHRISTmas,
Linda<
http://www.homeschooling6.com
We’re doing a Jesse Tree this year, I joined an ornament swap on MOMYS, and sent 26 “Prince of Peace” doves to receive an assortment of 25 handmade ornaments to countdown to Christmas while learning about the ancestry of Jesus.
Should be fun! Oh yes, we’re also re-reading “Jotham’s Journey” (which has been republished, so it’s cheap again, yay!)
Our family has a tradition that started a couple of generations back in my father’s family. It’s a game, of sorts. The goal is to be the first person to say “Christmas Eve Gift” the first time you see each family member on Christmas Eve. Supposedly, if you say it first then you have won a bonus… a Christmas Eve gift. However, in my lifetime, I don’t remember anyone actually ever receiving a Christmas Eve gift. It is just about the race to “get” the other person… before they “get” you. No stumbling bleary eyed toward the coffee pot on Christmas Eve, or you’ll be had. Gotta be alert and blurt out “Christmas Eve Gift” to the early risers. And watch out for Dad who has a way of coming in from outside and declaring “Christmas Eve Gift” before you even know he’s there! Now that we are all spread out over the country and not always together on Christmas Eve, it’s a little tricky. You might hear several of us answer our phone with a “Christmas Eve Gift” instead of “hello”! Some of the cheaters have tried text messaging, but that was declared no good
This probably sounds really dumb all written out here, but over the years it has brought a lot of smiles and laughter into our holidays together. I like smiles and laughter
Like Lisa we also do an advent book from the Jotham Trilogy- this year we are doing Tabitha. That is a huge hit around here. Another tradition we have done since the kids were little is on the 30th of November we wrap up 24 books- as a count down to Christmas. On the 1st they unwrap one and we do an activity with the book. For example, if we read Legend of the Candy Cane, we make candycane cookies, eat a candycane, or make pipecleaner ornaments, something simple, but still memorable to the the kids. When I first started I was wrapping up library books, now I have plenty of books on my own.
For the last two years we have done a Jesse Tree. The children enjoy it and even littles can get a lot out of it. If you are interested there are many online (free!) resources…just google Jesse Tree.
We take the kids to a cut it yourself lot up the road from our house. They pick the tree, daddy cuts, and they help him drag it out. We are going this sunday and I am so excited.
I continue to add to our traditions each year. This year I’ve added activities to our Advent calendar. Each day we are doing one fun thing. We also do an advent reading (Jotham’s Journey) & light our Advent candles. I try very hard to take the focus off of “me! me! presents! presents!” & place it firmly on Jesus – the whole reason for the season.
Our tradition is that we get our Christmas tree on Dec. 17, our anniversary. We used to wait until Christmas eve- we try really hard to keep Advent separate from Christmas–but a couple years there weren’t any trees left. So we made a new tradition.
Thanks for entering me.
One of my favorite things to do with my kids is to decorate gingerbread cookies. We do homemade cookies, use cookie cutters for fun shapes, bake and then frost. We have all sorts of candy and fruit decorations. It is so fun and then we give them to friends and family!
Our Christmas tradition is actually an Advent tradition. For the four weeks of advent, each family member’s name goes on a slip of paper and into a hat (or bowl, or whatever is readily available!). Then, we draw names. Whomever you “get”, you become a “secret angel” to for the week. The rules are pretty simple – you must not be “caught”, and you must not spend money! You can give gifts (if they are your belonging and you want to part with them), or you can do something nice for the person (a chore that is assigned them, or some special note, etc…). Each Sunday, we then put all the names back into the hat, and draw again. The idea is to teach “servanthood” – which goes deeper than buying something (the traditional way to show “love” at Christmas, it seems!), and for 12 years, it has definitely been working!
I’m starting a new tradition this year. In the twelve days of Christmas, starting Christmas day, we will open an envelope containing a small story or reading plus an action to take (for example, on day three we will read “the Richest Family” http://the-life-and-times-of-jess.blogspot.com/2008/11/richest-family.html and each choose three things to give away to someone more needy) The readings and actions focus on responses of worship, prayer, thankfulness and service. On the twelfth day we will have a bit of a party to finish off any “Christmas food” and take down the decorations – that is if I don’t go into labor!