7 Family Traditions - To Keep Christ in the Center of Christmas

Happy Birthday Jesus Party - Host a neighborhood Birthday party celebrating the birth of Jesus with cake and party decor. Tell the Christmas story, play party games and even ask the kids to bring a gift to be donated to a local charity.

Happy Birthday Jesus Cakes - Bake this simple birthday cake for Jesus and share with your family and guest the meaning of each part of the cake. Click here for complete how to bake and explanation of the Happy Birthday Jesus cake.

Nativity with out Baby Jesus - Set up your nativity set minus baby Jesus then on Christmas morning tell the story of the birth of baby Jesus and allow your children to place the baby Jesus into the manger

Advent Scripture Verses - Use daily Scripture verse telling the story of Jesus’ birth – from the angel telling Mary that she would be Jesus’ mom, to the three wise men’s journey with the FREE printable advent cards from Glittermagic. They also included some cute ideas on the 2nd page of what to do with the cards in case you don’t have an Advent Calendar. or you can use them all at once during your Christmas dinner and go around the table reading them. Click here to down load your cards now.

Room For Baby Jesus- Tell or read the Christmas story to your family then share an old Irish tradition of placing a candle or light in your window. It is a symbol of welcome to Joseph and Mary, who, despite their need, were refused shelter in the inn; the light or candle says we offer shelter to them and to their Infant, Jesus. The great Irish novelist Maurice Walsh said the lighted candle was ’a light to guide the blessed virgin home and she in her need’. Click here to read more about this tradition.

Christmas Cookies With A Meaning - Make Meaningful Christmas cookies. I found this idea over at Making It Meaningful.

You will need cookie cutters in the following shapes:*

Christmas Tree

Angel

Star

Heart

Cross

Dove

Church

Candle

You can either make your own sugar cookie dough or purchase it. As you roll it out on a well-floured board you can cut the shapes and, at the same time, share why those particular shapes have been chosen.

Christmas Tree –What goes under the Christmas Tree? Gifts! Jesus is the first, and the

best give anyone could ever receive.

Angel – Angels were sent to proclaim the birth of Jesus to the Shepherds.

Star – The Wise men followed the star and they found Jesus.

Heart –The heart represents love. Do you know that God loves you? In fact, He loved

you so much that He gave you a sacrificial gift. What is a sacrifice? That’s

when you have something that you really love and you give it away,,,just like God gave Jesus to us.

Cross –The cross which was used to bring death, became a symbol of life. The cross

represents Jesus. He went to the cross to die for our sins and when we believe in Him, He forgives us our sins, allows us to have a relationship with Him, and gives us eternal life.

Dove – This represents the Holy Spirit. The Spirit comes to live in us when we believe in

Him and gives us the power to live for Jesus.

Church – This is where we go to worship God, learn more about Him, and fellowship

with other believers.

Candle – The candle represents light. Jesus is the light of the world and we are to let our

light shine so that others can know Him.

When you are finished, and after you eat some, of course, you can frost and decorate them to give as gifts.
Place the cookies in a cellophane bag and tie with a ribbon then attach a tag to the cookies that explains the meaning of each shape that shares Christmas: The Christmas Tree-green; the angel-white; the star-yellow; the heart – red; the cross-white with red stripes; the dove-white; the church; white; the candle yellow with a red ‘flame’.

** These can be given to lots of people as little ‘thank you’ gifts. I share them with my postal carrier, the tellers at the bank, as well as my friends and neighbors. Enjoy!

Family Movie Night- Host a family movie night and watch a movie the shares the true meaning of Christmas such as :

The Nativity StoryThe Little Drummer BoyNester, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey

Veggie Tales - The Toy that saved Christmas