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Our Other Christmas Traditions

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To see an Updated version of Our Christmas Traditions 2012 Click HERE and for 2013 Click HERE
It’s almost here…December 1st! I am excited to get started doing all these fun things with my kids!  I thought I would share just a couple other traditions that we do in our family!family 018
25 Christmas Books…I have collected Christmas books over the years.  I got most of these books at garage sales and the DI, but some I bought because they are really special, and I wanted to have them to share with my children.  One of my favorite is The Giving Chest by Dick Van Dyke.  It is a sweet story that my kids love to hear each year.  We also love the simplified story in the My First Story of the First Christmas.  We have lots of fun ones and also some more spiritual ones!  I like to mix them up and trade off nights! I wrap these books and put them in a basket by the tree and let the kids trade off picking out a book to read each night!

Gift Giving and Gift Exchange…
My kids will each receive 3 gifts on Christmas morning {Plus what is in their stocking}.  Three to remember the 3 gifts given to Christ by the Wise men.  One that Santa will bring, one picked out by Dad, and one from Mom.  I don’t want to spoil my children, but I also want them to have something nice.  Since we really don’t buy our kids anything extra except for presents on their birthdays I think that 3 gifts is just perfect.  We are also going to pick a family member for them to get a gift for and then on Christmas Eve we will do a small gift exchange between the 6 of us. 

 25 Days of Christ Countdown Ornaments (added 2012)
 I was so excited to get this 25 days count down ornament set from 25 Days of Christ
On their site it says….

Start a new tradition this year that puts Christ at the center of your Christmas celebrations. Gather your family each night in December to study the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as you countdown to Christmas. Children of all ages will love and remember these scripture stories as they place a symbolic ornament on your tree after each night’s reading. You will build lasting memories as you fill your home with the true meaning of Christmas. What better gift can you give your children and extended family this Christmas season?

Update – They just started talking orders for 2013!  So go here to get your orders in now!!


I am excited to work on putting together these ornaments  at night and surprising my kids with them. I am also going to purchase a small tree to put in the extra room where we can hang these special ornaments on. 

25 Day Scripture Chain
Here is what I am using for Day 1 of the 25 Days of Christmas Spirit.   I wanted to find Scriptures from the Bible and also the Book of Mormon.  (If you don’t know what The Book of Mormon is and would like a copy of the Book of Mormon I can send you one, just email me your address)  You can also find more about it here.  If you click on each page and make the picture big or right click and save,  you can print it and make a paper chain!  Here is a Google Docs Link for the 25 Scriptures. There are 24 scriptures and then one that is the last one for Christmas day {but it’s on the first page}.  Or you could make our own fun thing at the end for day 25!

I hope you enjoy! Please let me know if these don’t work for you and I will fix it!  Also don’t forget to tell your friends to follow my blog and the 25 Days of Christmas and enter the Giveaway here!
Oh and come back tomorrow for a really fun Giveaway from Deseret Book!!

Comments

  4. I love this scripture chain. We do a count down to Christmas chain each year, but this will add a great new element to it. Thanks for sharing it.

  7. Just visiting from WW. 🙂

    I love your scripture countdown. Great idea.

    We love books in our home, too.
    2 of our favorite Christmas books are “Christmas in the Country” by Cynthia Rylant and “Dream Snow” by Eric Carle.

    Merry Christmas!

  8. Just popping in from WW. Could you list out the books and authors in another post? I really want to collect more Christmas stories and do one each day in December. I’d love to know more about the ones in your collection!

  11. Another good one is The Legend of the Candy Cane. When I taught at a Christian school, it was one of the favs every year.

  19. These are the weirdest scriptures ever for an Advent calendar. Some of them don’t even directly pertain to Christmas…there are so many other good verses you could have chosen….I wonder if you just picked them randomly….?

  20. I wish you had 24 scriptures that come from the mainline Holy Bible and not the book of mormon.

  21. too bad the book of Mormon was included in this- now i understand why there is a gift from Santa. maybe we just need to remember that this is NOT about Santa but ALL about Christ even if He wasn’t really born in December. there is also a book called the Advent Jesse Tree that goes in order from the beginning of time explaining prophesies of Christ.a great book to read with the familya has ornaments for the tree

  22. @Anonymous Yes I agree Christmas is ALL about Christ. I have chosen to also have fun with the belief of Santa by letting him bring one gift to my kids. (just like my kids love for super heroes…there is a small part of us that likes to hope that something like them is out there) It is the ideal that they inspire inside of us to do good.

    As far as the Book of Mormon is concerned it speaks of Christ all though out the book. I wanted to show how the people living on the American continent also had signs of Christ birth and knew he was coming. Christ is the center of my religious beliefs, and I really would be lost without him in my life! He is on my mind through all hours of the day.

    I will have to look into this Advent Jesse Tree book, it sounds like a great teaching tool!

  23. @Anonymous Yes I agree Christmas is ALL about Christ. I have chosen to also have fun with the belief of Santa by letting him bring one gift to my kids. (just like my kids love for super heroes…there is a small part of us that likes to hope that something like them is out there) It is the ideal that they inspire inside of us to do good.

    As far as the Book of Mormon is concerned it speaks of Christ all though out the book. I wanted to show how the people living on the American continent also had signs of Christ birth and knew he was coming. Christ is the center of my religious beliefs, and I really would be lost without him in my life! He is on my mind through all hours of the day.

    I will have to look into this Advent Jesse Tree book, it sounds like a great teaching tool!

  25. Love this post! Thanks for sharing your scriptures! If you’re looking for new scriptures for this year, check out my posts on advent scripture calendars as well. You can find 25 scriptures that each tell about a gift Christ has given us here: http://wp.me/p2Ckhi-h7
    And 24 scriptures that each reference a Name of Christ here:http://wp.me/p2Ckhi-dq
    Merry Christmas!

  30. I love your 25 days of Christmas stories! Thank you for sharing. We are starting something very similar this year. On my blog I am writing a roundup of the top 10 advent activities and will be linking back to this post. I would love to use one of your photos in that post if it is alright with you. Thank you again for sharing these ideas!