I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving! I found some cool resources to learn more about Thanksgiving but I’m too late. I will to have post them next year. Now it’s on to Christmas. Let’s talk about Christ-centered traditions.

To help my family have a Christ-centered Christmas, we are memorizing “The Living Christ” as part of our homeschool devotional each morning. You can get study aids here http://bookofmormondiscovery.com/livingchrist.html
The document has been broken down into 12 sections, so that 1 section is memorized for each week for 12 weeks. Since Christmas is less than 12 weeks away, you will have to memorize at a faster speed. That’s totally doable if you print these study aids and then learn a section every other day by presenting it at mealtime. I love the ideas at this site.

This site http://velluto.com/ccc/ has a book for sale with a devotional to day each day for the days in December up to Christmas.

If you want free ideas, check out http:///christcenteredtraditions.blogspot.com/,

I have to confess, I m not big on baking. I don’t do special Christmas treats because just getting three meals a day on the table is all the baking/cooking I want to do, plus I don’t need extra calories. I don’t have the money to buy neighbors gifts, or Christmas cards. I am into simplicity and frugality. So one free, very rewarding and noncaloric thing I like to do is to get Christmas picture books. I have a small collection and then I augment with those at the public library. I wrap them up like presents and then put them under the tree. We unwrap one a day and read. It’s a lovely way to slow down and be cozy together. Please see the discussion forum to see the list that I’ve compiled and contribute other titles..Ever after Christmas day we continue reading. I like to spread the season out through the dark winter.

I am thinking of combining that tradition with what I just read in an email, “One of our most cherished traditions is ‘Candle Story’. We put 24 dots down the side of a taper candle each year and each evening we pray, sing, read scriptures, read Christmas stories, and ponder or visit quietly by the light of the candle until it burns down to the next dot. It brings our hearts back to what matters each day and we LOVE it!”

Another one of my friends, Audrey, who lives in Mesa, does the following, “One thing we have done to center our Christmas on Christ….bought
several packages of little apple
ornaments….sprayed gold to match my tree decor & to better fit my mental
image of the tree of life :)…..put apples in little Christmas basket under the
tree…..in the evening when gathering for family prayer
by the tree (to start off, read from Nephi about Lehi’s dream & what the fruit
meant & how he wanted to share it w/ his family, etc), go around & share
how you felt the love of God in your life TODAY
& then hang an apple (fruit of the tree of life representing the love of God)
on the tree…can hang more than one if you have more than 1 story 🙂
Christmas tree becomes tree of life….all day you are watching, looking
seeing the hand of God in your life & then sharing that with your family….also
knowing that all good things come from him- it can come through just
recognizing those things without having had some big spiritual experience
that day :)”

I don’t have the time or money to make those decorations but I m thinking of just using the red apple ornaments handed down to me years ago. . I love it when I can use resources I already have.

What are some of your Christ-centered traditions for Christmas? Please share at the discussion forum. I wish you all no stress and much peace this holiday. Remember it doesn’t take a lot of money, just sharing and the spirit of Christ to have a merry and peaceful Christmas.