After reading the web notes from church, I put a post out on FB for people to tell me about their favorite Christmas tradition they do. I got a lot of responses...everything from misbehaving elves in their house to baking a cake for Jesus.
Growing up, we had a family tradition we did every Christmas Eve, which I would like to continue doing with Avery. Since Jesus was God's gift to the world, and Christmas is Jesus' birthday, we always gave Jesus a Birthday gift on Christmas Eve. We would sit around the coffee table with one particular nativity set (my mom seriously has close to 10 nativity scenes!!) and present our gift to Baby Jesus. When we were little, our gifts were simple: a stuffed animal we loved, a friendship we treasured etc. But when my siblings and I got older, our gifts grew deeper in meaning. We would hand over things we were struggling with to Jesus, relationships that we wanted Him to reign in, and financial problems. My parents always made it a priority to do our yearly tradition, no matter how old we were, and no matter what other plans we may have made that night.
I for sure want to carry on that tradition with Avery, and our other future kids! I think it would be really neat to be able to tell them that mommy did this with her family when she was little, too. I'm looking forward to seeing how this tradition pans out with my family, and the roles now changing from me being the little girl who played a Christmas carol for Jesus on her squeaky violin, to a mother wanting to preserve a tradition and lead her kid(s) in something meaningful.
Our neighborhood lights luminary every Christmas Eve down the streets, and John and I really enjoyed driving through last year to see the streets glowing. I'm picturing doing this a few years from now with Avery, hot chocolate, and Rudolph the Red Nosed reindeer blasting in the car!
Whatever we do, I want to be intentional about it, and make it something that we can all enjoy. Just one part of parenting I love...enriching Avery's life with experiences that matter!
3 comments:
We alwAys have a christmas party on christmas eve to continue my wifes hispanic traditions of opening gifts at midnight. We have a bunch of friends over listen to carols and just celebrate the true meaning of christmas. Then on christmas morning we do the typical christmas morning.we also start christmas baking on the 11th every year.
The harris family: We alwAys have a christmas party on christmas eve to continue my wifes hispanic traditions of opening gifts at midnight. We have a bunch of friends over listen to carols and just celebrate the true meaning of christmas. Then on christmas morning we do the typical christmas morning.we also start christmas baking on the 11th every year. thanks John harris (watchdog)
Leah, this brought tears to my eyes as I read it. Such a wonderful tradition. Lindsey Ralls
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