Need a New Christmas Tradition? Here are 57+ Ideas!
Getting married caused us to look around and discover what ways we want to celebrate, what traditions we want to carry on from our family growing up and which ones we would like to add. And then as we had children, we started to ask, “How can we keep Jesus the center of all of it?” We can have Frosty the Snowman and Santa and chocolate calendars not to detract from Jesus, but as participants of Jesus’s big month-long birthday party!
And keep in mind that traditions are not commandments. Traditions can bring a steadfast rhythm to our remembrance, but too much structure can crowd our breathing space. Keep what makes you feel grounded, and take out what makes you feel suffocated. There are no rules, only celebrations!
If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, let’s take a moment and exhale. Breathe out all the stress, all the expectations, and breathe in the great anticipation that the Christmas season brings, which is that because Christ came, He is coming again! Let us not miss Him in the here and now. He is Immanuel, God with us. And He came is a very small, very quiet way, yet those who were looking for Him found Him. The wise men looked to the stars, Anna and Simeon waited in the temple, and the shepherds found him by simply doing their duty.
Let us look for Jesus in the poor, broken, and needy. Let us see a child crying (no matter how big or how small the matter), and see Jesus:
"Let the little children come to Me. Don't stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” Mark 10:14
When we get overwhelmed with holiday activities, let us stop our hustle, give thanks for abundance, and remember the poor:
“And the King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.'“ Matthew 25:40
And if we are starting to feel lost, we can always find Him in the church:
And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Luke 2:49
If you want to celebrate the gift of His presence, I’ve listed a lot of ways below. You just choose what you think fits you in this season, so you can experience more of Him!
Advent
I’ve realized I needed to customize how we celebrate Advent according to our stages of life. I’ve listed ideas for celebrating Advent with a family once a week, then list ideas for daily devotionals for adults and daily ideas for kids.
Dinner Table Advent
Each Sunday: You can do this Advent curriculum from Redeemer Church every Sunday around the dinner table leading up to Christmas. If you don’t have kids, you may substitute the Jesus Storybook Bible reading for a different excerpt of your choice! In the photo above, I had printed out verses for each week. You can find them when you subscribe to my email list and head to the Freebies section.
Read Advent Scripture each night: If you’d like to do something every night at dinner, here are the verses that cover Advent. One year, I printed each one out, cut the paper into slips, and formed them into a chain to decorate the tree. Each night, we would take one off and read it!
Advent Devotionals
I read Watch for the Light every year, but I’ve heard great things about these too!
Watch for the Light by Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Annie Dillard, et al.
Come Let Us Adore Him by Paul Tripp
The Dawning of Indestructible Joy by John Piper
An Active Advent
The three wise men followed the star, Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, and the shepherds went to find the baby after the angels announced the good news. We experience the same joy of His presence when we move in celebration (I have written all the proof of this in Move for Joy)!
Walk six minutes December 1st, and add on 1 minute each day until Christmas Day when you invite someone else to walk 30 minutes with you. Pray that your feet would bring “good news of great joy” with every step!
Exercise 25 minutes every day from December 1st until December 25th to offer your body as a living sacrifice, and make each movement a way to say thank you!
Find plenty of other ideas over at the Revelation Wellness Blog
Kids Advent
Young children
Jesus Storybook Bible Advent goes along with the Jesus Storybook Bible so you don’t have to buy anything new
Jesse Tree: Hang a daily ornament with symbols from the Bible that point to Jesus on a separate tree, branch, or banner. Start with simple explanations when they’re young and expand as they get older!
Little-big kids
The Wonder of the Greatest Gift: An Interactive Family Celebration of Advent by Ann Voskamp has a pop-up tree with ornaments for each day alongside a little devotional for each one
Older kids
Unwrapping the Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp is one I’ve been reading to my 5-year-old and it’s a little above her head, so we would be better off keeping this one until she’s older!
Ways to Give Back
Christmas is a time for giving, but sometimes local nonprofits can feel overwhelmed with volunteers, or it can be hard to get together a group and coordinate visits. If you’re not able to help out at a local soup kitchen, food pantry, or nursing home, here are some ways you can give back during this season.
Group
Homeless Care Packages: During your next group meeting, ask everyone to bring something from this list for homeless care packages that everyone can assemble together, then each person can take a few with them and keep them in the car to give out when they see someone in need:
Granola bars
Water bottles
Socks
Hats
Gloves
Bandaids
Ointment
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Tissues
A card with community resources and one for the church’s services
Bags for Food Pantry: Gather brown paper grocery bags and have the kids decorate them. Drop them off at a Food Pantry so they can use them to fill with meals for the homebound.
Cookie Swap: Ask everyone to bring 4 dozen treats. Invite everyone to enjoy a few samples, then provide bags so each person can bag up goodies to take home to put in the mailbox for the post office worker or take to a local fire or police station.
Clothes Swap: have people bring 20 gently used clothing items. Separate guys, gals, and kids. Take what you need and donate the rest!
Donation at the Door: Ask for donations of canned goods for the food pantry, household good for a local shelter, or Toys for Tots.
Christmas Cards to Soldiers: Provide already-made cards and card-making materials for the crafty. Write Christmas letters to deployed soldiers.
5K: Register fora 5K as a team and walk it together!
Caroling at a Nursing Home: Call ahead and ask if you can go door-to-door caroling
Toy Donations: Bring unwanted toys to a homeless shelter and, if authorized, play with the kids there
Individual
Ann Voskamp has a million ideas in her #bethegift calendars. Here are a few:
Hide a dollar bill in the toy section of the dollar store or tape one to a vending machine
Let someone go ahead of you in line
Offer to return someone’s cart
Sent pizza to a local hospital to say thank you for working over Christmas
Send all your neighbors hand-written Christmas cards
Bring flowers to a local non-profit near to your heart
Offer to watch a busy mama’s kids so she can have a free afternoon
Meaningful Christmas Decorations
These are my favorite Christmas decorations to put up as reminders that God is with us, though you can certainly be creative with what’s meaningful to you!
Hang a string of lights and pin Christmas cards to it to surround yourself with the love of family and friends
Put wise men far away from a Nativity set and move them a little closer each day to represent the Day of the Lord getting closer to us!
Advent candles on the kitchen table show us that Jesus is the light in the darkness
Chalkboard Christmas countdown reminds us to count our days
Hanging mistletoe encourages us to come together in our ordinary comings and goings :)
Live greenery (a tree, garlands, wreath, etc) displays how Jesus is the evergreen hope in our life
Nativity sets to display and to for kids to play with to remind us with the quietness of how Jesus came into the world and how He comes into our hearts
Out-Of-The-Box Christmasy Things To Do
We all have our ordinary wintery bucket lists, but how about putting a little creative spin on them and be “surprised by joy” (C.S. Lewis)?
Drive around with mugs of hot tea, blasting Christmas music, and find fun Christmas lights
Make a hot chocolate bar, and invite friends to bring their own toppings
Cut out paper snowflakes using old books
Make fingerprint snowmen ornaments as gifts
Decorate gingerbread men and have awards like “Best Dressed,” “Most Likely to Eaten,” and “Best All Around”
Go ice skating in Santa hats
Check out Christmas books from the library and read them at a coffee shop with specialty drinks
Cut down your own Christmas tree, and when you’re done, cut a slice off the bottom and keep as an ornament for next year
Pretend the power went out and eat by candlelight and play board games
Visit Santa and ask him what he wants for Christmas this year
Watch a classic Christmas movie you’ve never seen
Go to the store with someone else and pick out an ornament under $5 for each other
Go Southern sledding: save a large Amazon box, find a leafy hill, and slide down!
Christmas silent disco karaoke: Take turns putting on headphones, play your favorite Christmas song and belt it out while everyone who can’t hear has to guess what song it is
Make a gingerbread house, using your non-dominant hand
Christmas movie marathon day: stay in your pjs, make snowmen pancakes for breakfast, charcuterie board for lunch, and chili for dinner. Run up and down the stairs (or around the house) 10x before you can watch the next movie.
Christmas dance party: Play your favorite Christmas playlist. Try the following for each song:
Freeze dance
Marching parade
Switch off copying each other’s dance moves
Put your arms around each other and sing it out
Make up your own Christmas dance, film it, and send to someone special
Slumber party by the tree
Deliver treats anonymously to the neighbors
Go window shopping downtown with a hot drink in hand
Respond
What are your favorite Christmas traditions?
What would you like to add here?
