15 Things My Family Does During Christmas

1. Watch Christmas movies – Some of our family favorites are “Silent Night”, “Elf”, “Rudolph”, “A Christmas Story”, “Miracle on 34th Street”; for the adults the Hallmark channel has Christmas movies 24/7; Freeform, formally ABC Family, shows a lot of Christmas movies, most are ok for children, and of course there is a wide selection of Christmas movies on Netflix
2. Bake – I love baking cookies, coconut, chocolate chip and graham cracker bars, and mini breads with our 6-year-old; we share them with teachers, neighbors and church members
3. Decorate – decorating for Christmas is one of my son and my favorite things to do. With the addition of my mom and dad’s decorations this year, it was a lot of fun getting everything out, and lots of memories to share!
4. Craft ornaments and gifts – the 6-year-old and I spent the whole day Saturday crafting! We had so much fun! We made 3 different tree ornaments and cute little tress decorated with jewels! These too will be passed out to teachers and family members


5. Drive around and look at Christmas lights – Every time we are out after dark we drive around a little looking at lights, but, Christmas eve is our big night; we go down into the historical district of our town and look at the beautiful lights!
6. Shop – I won’t lie, I did most of my shopping online this year. But, one thing I do enjoy, is taking the 6-year-old to Wal Mart in the Christmas department, her eyes light up and she gets super excited, it’s so much fun!!!!
7. Wrap gifts – I think our at-home-kids have as much fun wrapping gifts as they do opening them! Wrapping together gets their giving spirit excited, and we have super fun laughing at each other covered in glitter!
8. Help a family in need – per the worlds standards, we are not wealthy by any means, but, there is always someone who has less; weather through the church or school, we like to find a family in need and do what we can; again this ignites our children’s giving spirit, and makes them thankful.
9. Visit a live nativity – nothing brings the story of the birth of our Savior to life better than a live nativity; one of the churches here in our small town does one each year; it is so beautiful, and peaceful, and a great teaching moment
10. Take a sleigh ride – I love horses and pretty much anything to do with them; thankfully so does our 6-year-old {our other children never shared that love of horses with me}; and nothing says winter and Christmas like riding in a sleigh or buggy pulled by a beautiful horse thought the historical district, wearing sleigh bells! {snow would be an added bonus!}
11. Watch the parade – I guess I’ll always be a kid at heart because I love parades!!!!!! Every year, on the first Thursday of December, our town has its Christmas parade, complete with Santa and pictures!!!!!!
12. Visit a nursing home – my husband has a nursing home ministry, and we like to go visit this time of year and sing Christmas carols; the residents are so super sweet, and the 6-year-old loves visiting with them, it's like having 50 more sets of grandparents!
13. Elf on the shelf – even our 19-year-old son gets in on the action of hiding the elf from our 6-year-old!
14. Shepherd on the search – this one is new to us this year, but he is a lot of fun too; and the book that came with him is beautifully written; the 6-year-old enjoys searching for her elf and shepherd every day and playing with them!
15. Go for a Christmas eve walk - My parents live in the country, since I was a teen I can remember loving going for a walk in the night on Christmas eve; it was so dark, quiet and peaceful out there; the stars always seemed so much brighter on Christmas eve night; though I live in town now, it is still something I enjoy doing; even if it's only around my yard.

This year I am also taking the 6-year-old to the ballet, in Ft. Worth; we are going to see The Nut Cracker! I super excited, we are going to dress up and after the ballet we’re going to have a nice dinner in down town Ft. Worth, with all the beautiful decorations and lights!
We celebrate and participate in Advent and family devotions and Bible studies relating to and of, the birth of our Savior; and mainly; have lots of fun and create a bunch of memories!!

Father, I pray that whomever is reading this post would find peace at Christmas time; peace in Your Son, Jesus Christ, and rejoice, that our Savior has been born. Thank You Lord for sending Your Son to us; in Jesus name, amen.

Pecan St. Home Décor
BLOG ITEM OF THE WEEK!
December 11-17!
This week get 30% off this beautiful weathered white nativity set; it is absolutley gorgeous!

Other posts I think you'll love

If you haven't already, please connect with me on social media!
FaceBook  Pinterest  Twitter
Please leave a comment below, I love hearing from my readers!
Jenn