Have you struggled in the past to keep Jesus the center of your children's Christmas? You're definitely not alone. I remember the years when my children's wish list kept growing longer and I wondered what would be the best ways to refocus their attentions away from receiving to giving at Christmas. Over the years all sorts of ideas came to me, and I thought I'd take a minute to list a few that seemed to do the trick.
Delivered Gifts: Each year we tried to get the children involved in giving to our neighbors, or those less fortunate, by first making gifts we were sure they would enjoy and then delivering them door to door just before Christmas Eve. Here's one of our favorites:
Chocolate Pretzel Treats were always a welcomed treat!
We liked using the Peanut M&M's
The Recipe calls for
Preheat over to 200 degrees.
On a cookie sheet have your children lay out the pretzels in a single layer (no over lapping). Place a Hershey's Kiss in the center of each pretzels. Place cookie sheet in the oven until candy is soften about 2 minutes. Remove from the over and lightly push a M&M down in the center of each Hershey Kiss and allow to cool. Once cooled wrap in air-tight, decorative packages or tins.
Here's a few more winning recipes your neighbors would be sure to love:
__ A Free Movie Night: One year I went online and purchased Red Box FREE MOVIE coupon codes for $2 a piece. I wrote each code into individual Christmas cards and tied the cards to wrapped bags of microwave popcorn for a free family movie night. I can tell you this was also very much appreciated!
__ Visiting Shut-in: Each year we'd try to visit a nursing home. Many of our seniors are on special diets, so we tried to stay away from food items. Christmas time is a great time to buy pairs of silly socks or mittens if they are still living on their own. Even a simple carnation and a warm hug will brighten their day.
__ Christmas Caroling: Grab some neighbors and friends and head out caroling through the neighborhood! This was usually the night we delivered the homemade treats as well. Our favorite memory was a night we began singing at a house were no one came to the door, but we could see some movement inside, so we sang our hearts out until the curtains parted and we all discovered we'd been singing to their barking dogs!! We laughed, but the dogs didn't think it was so funny and wanted us to leave their property!
__ Attend a Cantata or Christmas Eve service at a local church! Sometimes it's nice to go to a local church you don't usually attend, for Christ unites us all on Christmas. Today I see more and more live nativity events which can also be fun for little ones.
__ Make a Birthday Cake for Jesus! There's all kinds of great ideas out there to include in your birthday cake. Ours always includes,
_Chocolate Cake to symbolize our sin.
_Pudding, raspberry filling, or other tasty treats in the center of the two layers to represent how sin always seems to be enticing at first.
_White Frosting which reflects that Christ Jesus' sacrifice made our sins as white as snow.
_ Red strips for his blood that was shed for us.
_Green candle for our new life and that we're to be lights in this world.
_Finally a golden star that appeared in the sky that pointed the Wise men to Jesus.
These are just a few of my favorite ideas! If your family does something unique and special that reflects Jesus during the Christmas season, I'd love for you to share them with us!
From all of us here at Women in the Word, Merry Christmas!