For our family…”Christmas is a Season”…not a day. Of course, December 25th is Christmas Day…I don’t dispute that. But in our home we like view Christmas as a string of many days put together…the entire experience…the entire season. We start singing and listening to Christmas songs the day after Thanksgiving. In the early weeks of December, the kids have fun moving Mary and Joseph each day closer to the nativity in expectation that baby Jesus will arrive on Christmas! Bible stories read and advent devotionals. Parties to attend and host. Visiting Santa, making gingerbread houses, baking cookies, fudge and other fun treats for friends and neighbors. Christmas programs at school and gifts for Annie and Nathan’s teachers. Teaching the kids about giving to those less fortunate and having them shop and give a toy to a charity. Then of course, family events!
We LOVE Christmas! AND we LOVE OUR FAMILIES! For some families Christmas is about getting together on Christmas Day itself and others make it Christmas Eve. Both Ammon and I have big families and huge extended families. SO…each year we make it a priority to make it to one of our extended family Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve (and then to celebrate that year with that side of the family), which often means our own family Christmas times are not always at the same time. Once we had kids we decided it was important to open our own family gifts/stockings together…just our family. The day wasn’t important…just that we did it together. I thought it might screw up our kids to not have Santa arrive on Christmas Eve every year (like everyone else)…but our kids seem to have managed. It’s nice to have a special time together amidst the rush and hurried schedules that Christmas can bring.
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