Celebrate Christmas

It’s the most wonderful time…of the year! At least it’s supposed to be. Christmas can be stressful and challenging—especially when you throw in a global pandemic. In the midst of it all, we don’t want to miss out on the true meaning of the season. At Christmas, we are celebrating the birth of our Savior. Some of our holiday traditions may be affected this year, so we may have to come up with some new ideas. I’d like to share a few suggestions. I’d also like to ask you to share some more in the comments.

1. Go Christmas caroling to your neighbors. I know it’s not a good idea to go inside of our neighbors’ homes right now, but we can stand outside and sing to them. Living in the south makes this easier for us. It will bring some cheer to your neighbors and help them think about the true meaning of Christmas.
2. Ring the bell for Salvation Army. The Salvation Army is a good ministry that helps people in need in your community. You and your family can donate an hour to ring a bell at a local store and collect money for a needy cause.
3. Have family devotions that center around the Christmas season. You may or may not normally have devotions together as a family, but now would be a great time to start. Read some scripture like Isaiah 7:14 and Matthew 1:18-25; Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 2:1-12 and talk about the message of the passage, sing a Christmas carol, and have prayer together.
4. Drive around your community and look for Christmas decorations that focus on the true meaning of Christmas. You can discuss with your children or grandchildren the difference between the types of decorations and how the lights can remind us that Jesus is the light of the world.
5. Create an advent wreath. You may be a little late starting, but you can still celebrate the meaning of Christmas with the wreath. Just tweak the time frame. Here’s a resource that may help. You could connect this with your family devotions.
6. Read the book “The Last Straw” together and do something similar in your family that you’ll read about in the story. The cost of the paperback is a bit crazy, but the Kindle version is reasonable. This is one of my favorite Christmas stories for children. We did this when our children were younger, and it was awesome!

What other ideas do you have?