‘Tis the season for twinkling lights, Christmas carols, sweet treats, cold mornings, remembering Jesus’ birth, parties with family and friends, wrapping gifts for those we love, finding ways to help people around us, candy canes, and … busyness.
My calendar is full. Thankfully, it’s full of good things. Dinners with friends. Parties with family. Family-friend activities like a live nativity and Christmas parade. Plans to cut down a Christmas tree. A road trip to visit my side of the family. It’s full of so many things I love about December.
But I still enjoy the breaks. The days like today when I don’t have much planned and I’m still sitting in my pajamas while my kids argue {I mean, play …} with the Little People nativity and GeoTrax train to the North Pole.
These moments are as sweet as the busy ones. Because, really, time does fly.
I have a 4-year-old girl who soaks in everything around here. And my 2-year-old boy will try to do anything she’s doing. They’re both independent and determined. But they’re both loving and sweet. It seems like just yesterday I was trying to think about how to make these days — the ones where they’re watching and listening and soaking it all in — special.
I want them to know Jesus is alive and he was born as a baby, just like they were. He slept in a manager those first days, like they slept in their baby cribs. He cried. He needed his momma. His father — both his earthly one and his heavenly one — adored him.
Just like them.
That’s what this season is about. Jesus knows what it’s like to live this life. And he gave up his life so we could have abundant, eternal life. With him. And his father.
It’s a merry season indeed. Soak it in.
One of our favorite ways to take a break from the busyness and just enjoy each other is play games. We love that Cate is old enough to play some board games with us. And she loves that we’ll sit down and play with her. Sorry and Mancala are popular ones around here these days, regardless of the season.
How do you take a break and enjoy this season? Are you doing anything special this year to help your kids soak in what Christmas means? Tell me in the comments below and you could win one of our favorite board games from Wayfair.com, which was formerly CSN Stores. Thanks to Wayfair.com for making this giveaway possible and letting me choose something to share with you.
Here are the giveaway details:
- I will randomly choose two winners on Monday, Dec. 19, so you have until then to enter.
- Participants must live in the United States for shipping purposes should you win.
- I’ll need your email address, so I can contact you if you win.
- Extra entries can be earned by following me on Twitter and tweeting about this giveaway {daily, which means you can rack up the entries}. Please leave a comment here should you do any of those things.
Until then, may your days be full of all the joys of the season.
Want more? Subscribe to get “Insights” in your inbox. Or follow me on Twitter.
We do the normal busyness with visiting family. But this year I am starting a new tradition..a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas morning. half of my kids are old enough to understand that he is the real reason for the season. 🙂
Mindy Estes
We always have tons going on in December and I feel like I can hardly sit still sometimes, but I love all of it! We have never gone to the live nativity and I'm hoping that we'll get to this year. We make a birthday cake for Jesus and we read stories about his birth and of course read the bible. My kids paticipate in our children's choir at church and they do a musical in December. We love Christmas!! Blessings to yor family, Kristin!
We do Operation Christmas Child to give to those children that may not be able to have gifts this year.
hewella1 at gmail dot com
We always make sure we're home by Christmas Eve so we can veg all day on Christmas. We start the day with homemade biscuits & gravy, and end it, like you guys, with Jesus' bday cake.
We, of course, stay busy during this time of year…but take time out to focus on reading stories and the Bible about Christ and His birth throughout December. We take a night and play Christmas music and decorate the tree together.We play lots of games… then of course the Christmas parade, the live nativity, having a birthday party for Jesus, Operation Christmas Child and celebrations with friends and family. We also like to take a day or 2 and bake treats together. 🙂
Our family always chooses an angel on the angel tree and we have a cake for Jesus on Christmas.
littlegray88 at yahoo dot com
We make sure that we take time for each other at this time of the year. It is something we do anyway, but it seems Christmas just gets really busy, so it becomes harder to spend quality time together. We make a point of planning together time.
We have been *trying* to just sit near the Christmas tree after the kids are in bed. No shows, no computers, maybe some Christmas music, but just sit. I guess we aren't specifically talking about Christmas, but we are taking advantage of a pretty, glowing tree to just stop all the other stuff and enjoy a little peace on earth.
Although Sam's been super busy these days, he made time EVERY night opening our chocolate Advent Calendar- read the verse to Elijah, talked about Jesus' birth story, sang a few Christmas carols and of course, shared the little piece of chocolate with me and Elijah. I love the peace, joy and seriousness on their faces when we spend this special time together each night.