is there ever a moment in your life where it shouldn't be all about JESUS... is HE not worthy of all of our focus - all of our attention - all of our everything - all of the time...
He is.
I love celebrating HIM! I love seeing the awe in my children when they grasp a glimpse of how amazing HE is! The joy He gives is something this world cannot offer and few have truly tasted. JOY to the WORLD because HE has come!
We must be the pointers for our children for our friends for our families for every tribe tongue and nation. Pointing to HIM ....constantly.... always.... why?..... HE is worthy.
As i teach my kiddos about who HE is and HIS great love i become also amazing by Him in a new way!
Some people ask so here are 10 things we do to celebrate the miracle of CHRISTmas all in one post:
1. We make it a month long celebration of God's miraculous plan through Jesus. We just started a new tradition (God willing) where we volunteer at a christmas fundraiser to help orphans in poverty that is where we get our tree. It is the first weekend of December. 100% of all the proceeds from the fundraiser go to the orphans and are given in the name of Jesus. It is fun to serve with families and others with a like passion too!!
2. The coolest Advent Calendar Ever!! We stuff our "Joy to the World" Advent Calendar with 24 verse ornaments (click here and go to the verses we used) that tell the story of God's plan through Jesus and Christmas. (click on the link above to get yourself one- all goes to a worthy cause)
We also stuff it with these handmade Nations Doll ornaments (they come with the calendar - 24 different nations): each doll comes with a card with a short story about the nation/people group the doll represents. And finally we stuff it with pieces to our nativity (we hide baby jesus away till christmas day) and candies YUMMY(which keep the little ones mouths silent and listening ears while we read God's word).
On Christmas eve after the kids go to bed i take all of the nations dolls off of the tree hook their hands together in a garland. In the morning when they notice all of the nations holding hands. I tell them this is what it will be like when Jesus comes again... Rev. 7:9-10 People from every tribe tongue and nation will be worshiping Him all together singing sweet praises to our KING! :)
3. Night Time lighting of the candle: There are all kinds of ways people do this, but i think my favorite is the advent log (easy to make - cut log - drill 24 1/2 inch holes on one side - put candles in hole). We light one candle for each day by the time Christmas eve happens all of the candles are lite. After we light the candle one child (depending on whose turn it is) goes and gets all of the goodies out of the calendar pocket (we start at the bottom counting down the days till Christmas). Then we sit as a family read the Scriptures and the nations doll tag pray over the people group as a family and the kids hang the ornaments on the tree. Then they get to blow out the candles on the advent log.
4. Christmas Cookies: Yummy to eat and share with others aslo a great way to tell people the greatest love story of all time. :)
5. Movies and Books that tell the story. my favorite movies:
A few of my fav Christmas Books:
The Crippled Lamb by Mac Lucado
Voices of Christmas by Niki Grimms
The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt
The Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats
Room in the Stable by Crystal Bowman
The Nativity by Francesca Crespi (beautiful pop up book- p.s. has the other word for donkey in it...he he)
The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
6. Nativity Party: We have done this 2 years now and what was a little get together has now become a party. It was inspired by this little video.
We make Nativity scenes out of yummy things and then we let the kids dress up as parts to the Christmas play and improv act out scriptures and help narrate the play. (Luke 1-2)
This was this years play.... i apologize for the shaky video... not profession...but a fun memory indeed.
7. BIG PARTY: On Christmas Eve... after the kids go to bed we decorate festival style...It is JESUS's birth we are celebrating so we go BIG.
8. ALL of the gifts for Jesus: At the beginning of the month we talk about the things He wants from us. He want the simple and He wants all of us: He want our time, our love, our attention, our praise, our energy, all that He has given us can be a gift back to our creator. Each of us prepares something to give Him on Christmas morning (the kids have made up - a song, drawn pictures, creating things with wood, whatever). God's word over and over tells us He wants us to care for the poor and needy so we have the kids each pick something out of the GPPD catalog that they can give to help people and show HIS love.
We also share Jesus with people that may not know about HIS great love. This year we went downtown and gave out this video to people. We joined a group of friends at a nursing home. We visited all of our neighbors and gave out these cookies and spent time just chatting and praying with them. We made cookies for a local mission. Elijah made crosses for kids at Straight Street.
God wants us more than anything we can "do" for Him. He wants all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Christmas day 2012... :)
9. Wiseman Game: While they are sleeping Christmas eve we hide all of the gifts for Jesus we add some of our own gifts for Jesus too. We put stars around the house to give them hints where they are (they are little guys). Then on Christmas morning the kids get their wise man outfits on and search for the gifts to bring to the KING OF KINGs. They have a blast. We open the gifts for Jesus and worship HIM together. I made a life size manger puzzle with my dad last year and they follow the stars and set up the manager outside in the front yard as part of the game.
10. Celebrate with others. Throughout the month we usually go to see a live nativity or 2, look at lights, go to a candle light service, have Christmas dinners at our house, and go to a parade with friends, neighbors, and/or family.
Christmas day we usually go to celebrate him with family and have people over. This year sadly we missed out on all of those plans because the flu was running through our little ones.
We always do a BIRTHDAY CAKE for Jesus with the cousins at maw maw's house, we talk about the meaning of the colors in the cake and sing happy birthday to the KING of KING... Jesus days cannot be numbered, as you know, He was before time was..we celebrate his miraculous birth not a number.
As you can see i have made the symbolic cake in several different ways.. :)
Here are some other ideas i think i might do next year that i snagged from friends/other blogs :
*Christmas night camp out in the living room - that night talk about what each person must have thought the night Jesus was born... Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men...
*Chanukkah - Just started researching a little about Christ in Hanukkah. We went to a local party to start Hanukkah off this year. I think we would like to celebrate Him in this way to... i like all of the festivals of the Israelites/Jewish people because all of them point to HIM.
*Where are the Wisemen? My friend does this - seems like fun! Mommy puts the wise men in an obvious and peculiar spot in the house each day when kids aren't looking. Using pieces to your nativity... they are on there way to see Jesus.. they had to go along way so they travel throughout the house. The kid try to find them each day. The wise men find themselves going through all sorts of mischief before they make it to see Jesus on Christmas day.
There are a million great ideas out there... and all of it can be fun... but even in celebrating HIM it is easy to get caught up in traditions and miss the powerful simplicity of HIS love.
we do these things to remind our children and ourselves of what He did and each story, play, cookie we give out, symbol we talk about leaves me with tears in my eyes in awe of how worthy HE is of how great HIS love is. I know i am only get a small glimpse of our MIGHTY GOD's love with this human minut mind of mine but even in that little glimpse i am overwhelmed by.....
He is.
I love celebrating HIM! I love seeing the awe in my children when they grasp a glimpse of how amazing HE is! The joy He gives is something this world cannot offer and few have truly tasted. JOY to the WORLD because HE has come!
We must be the pointers for our children for our friends for our families for every tribe tongue and nation. Pointing to HIM ....constantly.... always.... why?..... HE is worthy.
As i teach my kiddos about who HE is and HIS great love i become also amazing by Him in a new way!
Some people ask so here are 10 things we do to celebrate the miracle of CHRISTmas all in one post:
1. We make it a month long celebration of God's miraculous plan through Jesus. We just started a new tradition (God willing) where we volunteer at a christmas fundraiser to help orphans in poverty that is where we get our tree. It is the first weekend of December. 100% of all the proceeds from the fundraiser go to the orphans and are given in the name of Jesus. It is fun to serve with families and others with a like passion too!!
2. The coolest Advent Calendar Ever!! We stuff our "Joy to the World" Advent Calendar with 24 verse ornaments (click here and go to the verses we used) that tell the story of God's plan through Jesus and Christmas. (click on the link above to get yourself one- all goes to a worthy cause)
We also stuff it with these handmade Nations Doll ornaments (they come with the calendar - 24 different nations): each doll comes with a card with a short story about the nation/people group the doll represents. And finally we stuff it with pieces to our nativity (we hide baby jesus away till christmas day) and candies YUMMY(which keep the little ones mouths silent and listening ears while we read God's word).
some of the verse ornaments...
On Christmas eve after the kids go to bed i take all of the nations dolls off of the tree hook their hands together in a garland. In the morning when they notice all of the nations holding hands. I tell them this is what it will be like when Jesus comes again... Rev. 7:9-10 People from every tribe tongue and nation will be worshiping Him all together singing sweet praises to our KING! :)
3. Night Time lighting of the candle: There are all kinds of ways people do this, but i think my favorite is the advent log (easy to make - cut log - drill 24 1/2 inch holes on one side - put candles in hole). We light one candle for each day by the time Christmas eve happens all of the candles are lite. After we light the candle one child (depending on whose turn it is) goes and gets all of the goodies out of the calendar pocket (we start at the bottom counting down the days till Christmas). Then we sit as a family read the Scriptures and the nations doll tag pray over the people group as a family and the kids hang the ornaments on the tree. Then they get to blow out the candles on the advent log.
4. Christmas Cookies: Yummy to eat and share with others aslo a great way to tell people the greatest love story of all time. :)
5. Movies and Books that tell the story. my favorite movies:
A few of my fav Christmas Books:
The Crippled Lamb by Mac Lucado
Voices of Christmas by Niki Grimms
The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt
The Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats
Room in the Stable by Crystal Bowman
The Nativity by Francesca Crespi (beautiful pop up book- p.s. has the other word for donkey in it...he he)
The Legend of the Candy Cane by Lori Walburg
6. Nativity Party: We have done this 2 years now and what was a little get together has now become a party. It was inspired by this little video.
We make Nativity scenes out of yummy things and then we let the kids dress up as parts to the Christmas play and improv act out scriptures and help narrate the play. (Luke 1-2)
This was this years play.... i apologize for the shaky video... not profession...but a fun memory indeed.
7. BIG PARTY: On Christmas Eve... after the kids go to bed we decorate festival style...It is JESUS's birth we are celebrating so we go BIG.
Left picture is of ballons that tumbled on the kids when they opened the door to their room Christmas morning.
We also share Jesus with people that may not know about HIS great love. This year we went downtown and gave out this video to people. We joined a group of friends at a nursing home. We visited all of our neighbors and gave out these cookies and spent time just chatting and praying with them. We made cookies for a local mission. Elijah made crosses for kids at Straight Street.
God wants us more than anything we can "do" for Him. He wants all of our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
Christmas day 2012... :)
9. Wiseman Game: While they are sleeping Christmas eve we hide all of the gifts for Jesus we add some of our own gifts for Jesus too. We put stars around the house to give them hints where they are (they are little guys). Then on Christmas morning the kids get their wise man outfits on and search for the gifts to bring to the KING OF KINGs. They have a blast. We open the gifts for Jesus and worship HIM together. I made a life size manger puzzle with my dad last year and they follow the stars and set up the manager outside in the front yard as part of the game.
10. Celebrate with others. Throughout the month we usually go to see a live nativity or 2, look at lights, go to a candle light service, have Christmas dinners at our house, and go to a parade with friends, neighbors, and/or family.
Christmas day we usually go to celebrate him with family and have people over. This year sadly we missed out on all of those plans because the flu was running through our little ones.
We always do a BIRTHDAY CAKE for Jesus with the cousins at maw maw's house, we talk about the meaning of the colors in the cake and sing happy birthday to the KING of KING... Jesus days cannot be numbered, as you know, He was before time was..we celebrate his miraculous birth not a number.
As you can see i have made the symbolic cake in several different ways.. :)
*Christmas night camp out in the living room - that night talk about what each person must have thought the night Jesus was born... Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the wise men...
*Chanukkah - Just started researching a little about Christ in Hanukkah. We went to a local party to start Hanukkah off this year. I think we would like to celebrate Him in this way to... i like all of the festivals of the Israelites/Jewish people because all of them point to HIM.
*Where are the Wisemen? My friend does this - seems like fun! Mommy puts the wise men in an obvious and peculiar spot in the house each day when kids aren't looking. Using pieces to your nativity... they are on there way to see Jesus.. they had to go along way so they travel throughout the house. The kid try to find them each day. The wise men find themselves going through all sorts of mischief before they make it to see Jesus on Christmas day.
There are a million great ideas out there... and all of it can be fun... but even in celebrating HIM it is easy to get caught up in traditions and miss the powerful simplicity of HIS love.
we do these things to remind our children and ourselves of what He did and each story, play, cookie we give out, symbol we talk about leaves me with tears in my eyes in awe of how worthy HE is of how great HIS love is. I know i am only get a small glimpse of our MIGHTY GOD's love with this human minut mind of mine but even in that little glimpse i am overwhelmed by.....
