Merry White Christmas

Written by Kimberly Hartwell

Merry Christmas dear friends and family! Over the last couple of years Jay & I have discussed ways in which we might bring more meaning to this time of year and the celebration of Christmas. There are so many discussions it seems on what is Christmas - why do we celebrate it, is it just Winter Solstice commercialized, is it about gifts and Santa, is it truly about the birth of our Savior? We have decided that we are going to use this time to celebrate the miraculous Lord's birth and Christmas as a season to recognize the amazing gift that God has given us, Jesus Christ His son. So, this year we began celebrating Advent - so that our focus on Christmas isn't just about gifts, and hopefully will bring focus to our children and us on what we celebrate and why. Allow me to elaborate - - -

We started with an advent candleabra - the first two purple candles represent Hope (Prophecy) and Love, the pink candle represents Joy, and the last purple candle represents peace. The white candle is the Christ candle which we will light on Christmas day. As we've begun our research I'm amazed at how much Advent has even been commercialized - you can buy all kinds of items with fun candies, chocolates, goodies, etc, without even mentioning Christ! A dear friend gave me the book Christmas out of the Advent Box, then I retrieved a copy of the ABC's of Advent from another friend, and another book we now have is Celebrating a Christ-Centered Christmas, Ideas from A-Z.

After reviewing some of these idea, I chose to make an 'Advent Album' (the red one in the picture below). Each day beginning with 4 Sundays prior to Christmas, we turn the page and there is a Scripture to read (focused on the candle of that week - i.e. prophecy and hope), a Christmas song to sing, a short, very short (my kids are under 3 years of age) description or discussion item regarding what we read, and then an activity that goes along with it. Here are a few examples of what we have done this year. When reading that Jesus was born in a manger with probably a bunch of hay surrounding him - we made chocolate coconut haystacks, with a tiny marshmallow pressed in the middle to represent a little baby swaddled inside the hay. One night after talking about the shepherds that came to visit Jesus, we talked about what their lives might have been like - and so we went outside, sat around a fire, and ate s'mores (I'm sure the shepherds had s'mores, right?!). Another night we talked about Jesus being the light of the world - so we turned out all the lights and only had candles lit - to show how dark the world is without Christ, and another night we talked about how God shared His love with us and that we could do the same - this time, we called grandparents to tell them how much we love them and God loves them. These are just a few examples, but each day has been filled with fun.

It's been a great Christmas season and we're looking forward to years to follow with more great memories, more growth in our lives, and more joy in being a part of God's family. May you all have a Merry Christmas!