Cultivating Christ at Christmas

Repost from the archives...  I'll be sharing about an exciting new advent craft/devotional ebook on Friday!!!  It is perfect for the toddler/preschool/early elementary years! Be sure to check back.

Christmas is just around the corner. It's been on my mind for a while now. For us, Christmas is a wonderful time of remembering back to the anticipation of the coming Messiah and then the events leading up to God coming to earth and being born as a baby. 

I've found is that in order to have a peaceful, thoughtful experience I must:

First PRAY.

I want this to be a meaningful time for my family. In order for my hopes to become a reality, it is important to pray and ask God what He wants us to focus on at this time. There are a plethora of wonderful opportunities out there and I need His direction in what my family needs to hear, experience and do this next month.

Second - PLAN.

Without a plan, stress rises up as I dash about last minute to pull things together or I get so distracted by peripheral things, that I don't spend time doing what is really important. Times like Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc can serve as wonderful times to reflect, remember and worship. The excitement of these seasons lend themselves well to pulling our children into the wonder of God becoming man and redeeming a world that was lost.

But without a plan, this time can slip through our fingers before we've had a chance to reflect ourselves and instruct our children.

Things to keep in mind, especially with younger children:

Keep it concrete ~ Children need a firm grasp of concrete facts, or the narrative before they can move into understanding and appreciating the abstract.

• Read them the story. Both straight from the Bible (maybe at bedtime after they are tucked in) and utilize picture books. Here are some of our favorite Christmas books. (Over the past several years, I've wrapped up our favorite Christmas books (or coupons for Hot cocoa, evening walk around the neighborhood, etc) for them to do each night as we countdown to Christmas.)

Make it hands-on ~ Children learn best when they are moving their bodies and engaging their imaginations.

• Get a child friendly Nativity set. If they can play with one you already have, great. If not, consider investing in or creating paper dolls for them to play with. Play is a child's work. It is how they internalize what they are learning about. We love our Little People Nativity Playset (although I'm disappointed that they only have one that lights up and plays music now) and of course there are many lovely child-friendly nativities out there!

(Keegan with his 'town of Bethleham')

• Act the story out. Costumes don't have to be elaborate, or even absolutely necessary. (Although they do go along ways in 'stepping into character' and act out the story with your kids. Taking a long walk (around the block) while holding ball under your shirt and riding a stick horse will open up a wonderful dialogue on what the journey to Bethlehem must have been like.

• Make a craft.  We loved making these Joy to the World ornaments last year. 

Look Forward ~ Helping our children connect WHY Jesus came to earth as a baby is vitally important. This is no ordinary baby.  

Make it a BIG deal ~ I mentioned this when I blogged about celebrating Easter with young children, When we make something a BIG deal, they pick up on the importance of it and will place value on that. With there being such a materialist mindset at Christmas, it is easy to fixate only on that during this season, unless we as parents make a firm decision on where to draw their attention.

Advance preparation builds anticipation. Special activities and time spent reflecting and preparing for Christmas build excitement. This is a wonderful season to take stock of our priorities and enjoy special time with Jesus!

The cool thing about this is that there are so many ways to go about it. Each family will celebrate in their own unique and wonderful way.

Once they have played with the concrete facts, it can be so special and important to add in more layers to their understanding of God come to earth as man, the anticipation of His arrival, etc.

Other wonderful ideas:

Truth in the Tinsel. We are doing this delightful craft devotional this year!
Jesse Tree. There are many variations to this general devotional that follows the lineage of Jesus from Jesse on down. It utilizes daily scripture readings and a symbol (3-d or paper) that you place on a tree each day, leading up to Christmas. Here's one that includes pictures of the ornaments/symbols along with scripture reading and correlated readings in her two favorite Children's Bibles. I've also heard nothing but wonderful reviews on Ann Voskamp's Jesse Tree devotional. She came out with a new edition last year. The wonderful thing about this one is that you can print the symbols which will save time and make it do-able for this year! A simple google search on Jesse Tree devotions will lead to many more variations. 
Advent Fortold ~ This devotional focuses on the Old Testament prophecy about Jesus. It is clearly laid out and has a corresponding coloring page for each day. There is also the option of making an advent calender which correlates to the devotions as well. I was very close to deciding to to this one this year, but decided to wait until my kids are just a bit older.