How To Have a Christ-Centered Christmas

It's that time of year, now, when we hear things like, "Remember the reason for the season" and "Keep Christ in Christmas." But how, exactly, do we do that?

 

 

A few years ago, I really wrestled with that question. I was a new mom with a young baby and another on the way, and I was still kind of in a new mommy fog. (If you're a mom, I do not need to explain. If you're not, I can't possibly explain.) Anyway, somehow, about mid-December, I realized that the Christmas season was upon us and figured I'd better decide which traditions we were going to include in our family and GET A MOVE ON! I mean, after all, magical elves had been wreaking havoc in my friends' homes for weeks already!

 

I knew that I wanted our Christmases to be magical and wonderful and fun and full of traditions and family and centered on Christ, but as I considered the options, I was completely overwhelmed. There were so many Christ-centered traditions to choose from, and then, there was all the other extra stuff that wasn't Christ-centered but was still fun.

 

I wanted to do it all, and yet here it was the middle of December and I hadn't done anything! I spent several days overwhelmed and discouraged trying to figure things out on my own before I finally sought the Lord on this. My prayer went something like this: "God, I love Christmas. I want my children to love Christmas. But more than anything, I want my children to love the REASON for Christmas, and I want YOU to love how we celebrate Christmas. So, help me. Help me to know what to do and what not to do. And help me not to feel stressed or overwhelmed or discouraged. Help me not to judge or criticize others who celebrate differently than I do. Above all, let my attitude and my actions be pleasing to You."

 

Shortly after that prayer, God very clearly spoke to my heart. Not with an audible voice, but with clear conviction, I heard this message from the Lord: There is nothing wrong with all the extra stuff, but before you do anything else, honor ME! Before you worry about decorating a tree or taking pictures with Santa or buying gifts for everyone in your family or any of those other things that tend to consume people at this time of year, figure out how you are going to celebrate ME. Then, once you have placed me at the center of your heart and your plans, you can add anything extra that you have room for as long as you can do so with a heart that is joyful and do it in the spirit of celebrating MY birth.

So, that's exactly what I did. I sat down and decided what Christ-centered traditions we would include in our celebration. I decided to start small (December was already halfway over anyway):

• Have a birthday party for Jesus for just our family where we would have some simple party foods and decorations (I'll include more about this in another post.)
• Read the Christmas story from the Bible
• Give gifts to Jesus - tell what we wanted to do in the coming year to serve and love Jesus better, write it down, and put it in a stocking for Jesus.
• Talk about Jesus every time we do anything Christmas related - "Every time we look at our Christmas tree or any other Christmas decorations, we can remember that it is a 'party decoration' for Jesus' birthday It's something special that we only put up once a year to celebrate His birth." "We give gifts because we want to remind people of the gifts that Jesus has given us." "Santa brings us gifts to remind us of Jesus' birth and His love for us." etc.
• Give our Christmas offering to our church, giving more to Jesus than we spent on any other single person on our list

After I had those plans in place, I figured out what extra stuff I wanted to include. We didn't do much that year.

• Decorate a tree (not the whole house)
• Buy gifts for our family
• Have some friends over to decorate cookies.

Other than those things, I figured if an opportunity presented itself (like driving around to look at Christmas lights or taking pictures with Santa) and wouldn't cause any added stress, I would take advantage of it. However, I was not going out of my way to plan anything more. It was a wonderful, stress-free, Christ-centered Christmas.

Fast forward a few years, and we've added some traditions. It seems that each year, I am able to do more than I did the year before. We have done acts of service throughout the month of December with the idea of sharing the love of Christ with others. We have also added an advent scripture reading with a felt Christmas tree and advent ornaments every night in December. Last year, we did pictures with Santa for the first time. We like to find a night in December and drive around and look at Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate . We did a Grinch movie-watching party with my nieces last year (after Christmas) and decorated ice cream cone "Christmas trees." I am not sure if any of these will become annual traditions. My plan is that each year, we'll just see what God lays on our hearts to plan and what other opportunities present themselves.

Here's the thing, though, while the traditions are fun, none of them (not even the Christ-centered ones) are as important to me as the heart and spirit of worship in my home. If ever the traditions become cumbersome or I feel stressed or distracted from the real reason we celebrate, we'll cut it back to the bare minimum -- sitting around a Christmas tree (even if it's a Charlie Brown tree), talking about Jesus and what He's done for us. I believe my children will remember the atmosphere/attitude/heart/spirit in our home more than any traditions we embrace. To me, traditions are about creating memories, and the most important memory I want my children to have of Christmases in their childhood is a joyful and peaceful celebration of Jesus' birth and worship of Him!