Christmas was amazing for our family. Last year was so rough I decided to make some major changes.
1) we didn't talk about Santa. If the kids brought him up, I just smiled.
2) we talked a lot more about Christ and Christmas.
3) we had the kids deliver Christmas cards and gifts to the neighbors
4) we encouraged the kids to make homemade gifts for each other and they all really enjoyed that
5) we had our nice Christmas dinner on Christmas eve to get the mood going (and so I could nap on Christmas day...)
6) we had the kids enact the Christmas story as Steve read it Christmas Eve
7) Each of us received 3 gifts (just as Christ did). With 8 people opening 3 gifts (not to include a few family gifts and gifts from friends) that's already 24 presents being opened. We always open one at a time so all can enjoy the excitement. We actually took a break in the middle to eat breakfast then continued opening gifts!
8) we made sure each child was extremely appreciative of the gifts they received (it made the giving part much more enjoyable for them!)
It was a very magical day for the kids and probably one of the best we've had as a family. It helped that we had a nice dusting of snow the night before to make our Christmas a white one!
1 comment:
That's awesome!! I remember your experience the year before. It sounds like you avoided that by making the whole season special and de-santa-fied.
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