Simplify Christmas, Celebrate Advent

Simplify Christmas, Celebrate Advent!   Advent means the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

Don’t you just LOVE that?

Over the next 25 days, our family will be preparing our hearts, minds, and homes for the arrival of Jesus. We will be learning how to turn our focus away from worldly practices and move toward a God-honoring Christmas.  I can not tell you how excited I am about sharing my thoughts and ideas with you on how to simplify the season!

Let’s get started!

What is a Christ-Centered Christmas?

Well, in it’s simplest form it is taking all our Christmas Traditions Captive if you will, and evaluating them against Scripture.  Making sure all of the traditions and activities are focused on Jesus.   The traditions and activities that we have in place that have nothing to do with Jesus we eliminate.   I know there are a lot of fun traditions out there but if they don’t have anything to do with the birth of Christ, what place do they have in our Christmas Celebrations?  The Christmas Holiday is about one thing and one thing only.  It is Jesus’s Birthday.  Yep, that is it.

When approaching Jesus’s Birthday, we need to be intentional.  We need to take time to talk with our husbands and family about what they want to include and omit this season, as well as about what family traditions you will keep or toss.

Several weeks ago my husband and I sat down and talked about what we wanted to do this Christmas Season and actually more importantly what we wanted to NOT do.  You see if you really want to soak in all that a Christ-Centered Christmas Season has to offer, you have to clear the calendar.  Yes…clear it!  If you are too busy you will never have the time for a peaceful, reverent and holy Christmas.  You have to first start by eliminating everything that is not essential.

For our family, it meant saying no to some God-honoring activities at several churches.  Participation in every “good” activity that presents itself will always backfire.  It tires you out and causes stress, which you then pass on to your husband and kids.  By the time you hit December 25th, you have turned into a wreck and everyone knows it.   Now, every person and family is different so it will not look the same for each family.  Take a break this December so that you can have time to invest in your children, your husband and the needy in your area.

One of the Christmas Activities that we have kept over the years is to celebrate Advent.  We have an advent wreath and light the candles each evening after dinner.  Some years we are consistent and some years we have a less than stellar performance.  That is not the issue.  Keep at it, celebrating Advent is an intentional way to slow down and start off the Christmas Season!  It daily points you to Christ as you do a short or long daily devotion together as a family.  We always have tons of fun and lots of laughter!  Great memories have been formed by this simple tradition.

There are many Advent resources out there.  One of our favorites is a book called Jotham’s Journey: A Storybook for Advent is excellent, just excellent! Another great resource and it is FREE is Good News of Great Joy which is an e-book from Desiring God Ministry.

I am so thankful to be on this journey together as we daily seek to fill our days with peace, which can only come from Jesus!

More Christ-Centered Christmas Traditions  HERE! 

Blessings,

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