Family Traditions for the Christmas Holiday Season

Christmas Pajamas Tradition

Family Traditions for the Christmas Holiday Season by Author Patti Greene

It is amazing what you find when you start cleaning out files (I am speaking of file folders – the old manila ones that we used to use religiously). I pulled out these files from the garage that I haven't looked at for 20+ years. One of the items I found was a list of family Christmas traditions that I typed up (with a real typewriter) in December, 1989 for our Sunday School Class at First Baptist Church, Humble, TX.

So, knowing that Christmas is around the corner, I am going to share these with you now in hopes that maybe, just maybe, you will find one or two Christmas traditions to start in your family.

1. Read Christmas books and bedtime stories around the tree. It is best if you cuddle up in a blanket too.

2. Give each child a Christmas ornament annually, so that when they leave home, they will have their own childhood ornaments to take with them as they start their family.

3. Have a birthday party for Jesus. Let your children invite some friends over for a Jesus birthday party. Serve cake and ice-cream, sing Happy Birthday to Jesus, blow out candle, etc. Give out Christian party treats. Each child could bring a Christmas book to exchange.

4. Tie Christmas bows on your pets.

5. Show videos of past Christmases.

6. If you put Christmas apples (or fruit) on the tree, talk about the fall of Adam.

7. Go Christmas caroling with the family. But, be safe!

8. Have a Christmas photo taken each year of the entire family together. Over the years, you can see how much you all have matured/aged. LOL.

9.Old-Fashioned -  Make separate photo albums for your Christmas photos. Date each yearly section of photos. Then during the Christmas season, leave the albums out so all the family members can look and recall previous Christmases.
   New-Fashioned - Save Christmas photos on separate flash drives and have them scroll on a photo picture frame during the Christmas season.

10. On Christmas Eve, give everyone a new pair of pajamas to wear that evening. That way, everyone has a nice new pair of pajamas on for the pictures on Christmas morning. You can vary the themes each year. One year we had all camo pajamas; another all college-wear.

Disney PJ Year!

11. Drive around and look at the lights in your neighborhood. Take a widow or elderly neighbor or church member with you.

12. Use an Advent wreath or an Advent calendar.

13. Save your previous year Christmas cards for art projects.

14. Purchase a plastic manger, including all the Biblical characters, so that even the youngest member of the family can play with it. Keep it accessible throughout the holiday season.

15. Read Luke 2:1-20 (The Christmas Story) on Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. If you have an old family Bible, it is a great time to use it.

16. Bring a meal and/or gifts to a needy family.

17. Give favor coupons as gifts wrapped in Christmas boxes. Ex. Good for one free babysitting night.

18. Decide on one family to have over for dinner and/or desserts.

19. Start a Christmas diary. Write down a description of your holiday season each year. Be sure to note all the cute or unusual comments the children make.

20. Light candles for your Christmas Eve or Christmas dinner.

21. Have a Christmas bulb hunt - similar to an Easter egg hunt. Then, let each child hang the bulbs they find on the tree.

22. Have a cookie exchange party. Each person who is invited brings 4 dozen “homemade” cookies. Then, after some fellowship time, each person takes home 4 dozen different cookies from all the varieties brought. The host makes more cookies so cookies can be eaten at the party.

23.  Make a birthday cake for Jesus. Allow each member of the family to participate in decorating it.

24. Wrap each child or grandchild's gift with a different designed paper. Tell them what their wrapping paper looks like. They will enjoy the anticipation seeing the various gifts awaiting them.

25. Merry Christmas.

c2013 Patti Greene

 

Okay, I didn't want to make this blog a self-promotion, but just in case you are interested in either giving someone or getting a new devotional for yourself for 2014, here is a pic of my new book. Available at Crossbooks.com, Amazon.com, or Barnes and Noble online. Locally in Houston, it is available at Katy Budget Books.

Click here to order Awaken Me: A Devotional Prayer Journal

 

Merry Christmas Everyone, 2013!

Awaken Me: A Devotional Prayer Journal

Awaken Me: A Devotional Prayer Journal

by

Patti Londa Greene

 

 

 

 



 Welcome to my NEW BLOG PAGE! I am so glad you visited!

 

Please check back often to see what is new and exciting.

My plan is to make this blog an interesting and informative blog on a

variety of issues of interest to people from all walks of life and cultures.

 

Patti

I recently had a very special book published – Awaken Me: A Devotional Prayer Journal. The reason this book is so special to me is because the Lord has been preparing me for 40+ years to write this book. I was inspired to write this devotional prayer journal after realizing that maybe, just maybe, my experience of keeping track of my prayers, might be just what others might need.

Most of my prayer journaling took place in very plain and simple notebooks or binders. I changed my approach in journaling over the years until I found what worked for me, but I still change it up yearly as I feel like it.

 

 Awaken Me is a product of my conviction that prayer and Bible Study go hand in hand. So, I wrote this book to help others start or continue their walk with the Lord through their praying, prayer journaling, and Bible Study.

Psalm 118:8 states, “It is better to take refuge in the

Lord than to trust in man.”

 

Because of this verse, I am convinced believers must be armed daily in prayer and the Word of God. God is the one who understands all our dreams, concerns, hurts, and disappointments. So why shouldn’t we create a deeper intimacy and relationship with the Lord through personal prayer and Bible study to gain His perspective on our lives and the lives of others?

Life has its ups and downs. God knows that. But He sent His son, Jesus, to die for our sins, freeing us to love and have a deep intimacy with Him. In this prayer journal, you can be completely honest with the Lord and see how He can enlighten and transform you through His Word so you can feel confident you are living God’s plan for your life.

For the forty years I have kept journals of my prayer requests, I can confirm how faithful God has been in choosing to answer my requests. I have been amazed, entertained, transformed, terrified, enthused, and completely fulfilled in seeing what He has chosen to do in my life. Taking what I have gleaned in those forty years of prayer journaling, I have produced this 365-day prayer journal in the hope you will grow deeper in your love for the Lord and be able to discern His will in whatever twists and turns you face in your life.

While reading through the Bible recently in search of God’s will on a matter, I was enthralled by some of the beautiful and intriguing word medleys in the Bible. I highlighted these words and phrases, and the result is this workbook formatted devotional prayer journal.

Whether you choose to read just one Bible verse during your quiet time or read the entire suggested chapter, you will gain an organized, systematic, and chronological study of both the Old and New Testaments, starting in Genesis and ending in Revelation.

Awaken Me: A Devotional Prayer Journal by Patti Londa Greene can be purchased at CrossBooks.com, amazon.com, bn.com, and many bookstores.