Ah, I remember the Christmases when I was a kid. Some of you won't understand what these mean to me, but my family will smile when they're reminded. Springerle. The best knoepfle ever. Too much tinsel on Oma and Opa's tree. Santa Claus somehow mysteriously coming down our chimney which was no bigger than a 5" pipe. A tiny advent calendar with cardboard doors. Sister #4 crying because tinsel was stuck in her crack and it hurt. Mooty Man with big black boots, a black fur coat, and foil (can't forget that). Opening presents to the light of the tree. Silent Night in German. Wrapped chocolates in dishes planted all over Oma and Opa's house. Endless supply of chips. Endless supply of pop. Loud Schwabisch conversations...and then loud translations for us kids. Lebkuchen. Hazelnut cookies. Hard, gray, star-shaped cookies that were gross but always there. Buckeyes...and more buckeyes.
Now that the kids are old enough to understand what the true meaning of Christmas is, we have begun to establish our own Christmas traditions. It's been easiest doing this in the form of an advent calendar/box. Most of these ideas were stolen and adapted from Sister #1.
1— put up the Christmas tree and decorate
2— tell the Christmas story with nativity scene
3— color Christmas picture together
4— sing Christmas carols at the piano
5— bake and decorate gingerbread men
6— nativity scene sticker activity
7— decorate sugar cookies
8— make apple-cinnamon tree ornaments
9— color paper Christmas ornaments
10— string popcorn
11— go to the bank open house
12— make stamped nametags on cardstock for presents
13 — open a little pre-Christmas gift: A Baby Born in Bethlehem book
14 — make hot chocolate (fancy, with whipped cream and sprinkles)
15 — make Christmas cards for people
16 — watch a Christmas movie
17 — cut out paper snowflakes
18 — make and decorate brown gift bags (idea from Nancy)
19 — sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
20 — open a little pre-Christmas gift
21 — make presents for cousins
22 — go on a Christmas treasure hunt
23 — eat a candlelit meal
24 — read the Christmas story out of the Bible, open one little gift
25 — open family’s gifts
22 — go on a Christmas treasure hunt
23 — eat a candlelit meal
24 — read the Christmas story out of the Bible, open one little gift
25 — open family’s gifts
I know there are so many other good ideas out there, and I'd love to hear them. Rachel, some day I'll get the guts to do gingerbread houses. Lisa, I wish I could think of some awesome ornament to give our kids each year; the pick-ups are so cute. Trains came to mind, but I think our kids have enough trains. Nancy, I heard about a cake that you make, but I can't remember the whole story.
The kids have enjoyed opening each door to see what daily verse and fun there might be. Each year will probably be a little bit different, but hopefully from now until they have a family of their own we can build lasting Christmas memories.
You got the _Baby Born in Bethlehem_ book! I hope your family likes it. Maybe next year I'll add verses to the activities. You have such good ideas, Maar. Thanks for the memories, too -- esp. the loudness and those hard, burnt cinnamon stars. I wanna buckeye!!
ReplyDeleteYou have lots of great ideas for making the season special! Your kids won't forget it! Here is another fun one that we do: we have a book called Santa Mouse and we "inherited" a little mouse figurine in a Santa hat from John's grandma years ago. After we decorate our tree...the ugly one with all the cool ornaments (not the "stuck up" tree in the front room)...the kids always played "hide the Santa Mouse" with each other...like the old "hide the thimble" game where you tell the hunter they are warm or cold as they get close/far away. You could do this with a baby Jesus in the manger from a nativity set if you didn't want the secular reference to Santa to be emphasized. Even last year with two high schoolers, they played after we decorated the tree! The little mouse is pretty ratty looking by now...no pun intended!
ReplyDeleteWhen our girls were little, Steve made a very simple cradle (out of leftover paneling, I think). We put it on the coffee table and every time we "caught" them "doing good" they would get to put a piece of straw in the cradle to make it nice and soft in preparation for Baby Jesus, and talked about making our hearts ready to celebrate His birth.
ReplyDeleteAbout the cake - it is that "SPECIAL" thing we have planned for the kids after caroling.
I'm looking forward to sharing it with Carly and Isaac. (Jim and all the other kids too!)
We always made two. One for us and one for one of the girls to share with someone else. It gave them the oppoortunity, (or forced them to!)share the gospel and their faith with someone.
Nancy...I remember one time when I was still teaching middle school and one of your girls chose to bring the cake to share with Leslie...I'm thinking it was probably Andrea, but can't really remember which girl. Just remember how neat it was that you gave them the chance (or like you point out...showed them the resonsibility they have) to share with others!
ReplyDelete