Christ Centered Christmas
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When I talk with friends, one common theme many of us bring up is the desire to make sure Christ is at the center of our Christmas celebrations. It might seem obvious that he should be our focus as we wouldn’t even be celebrating Christmas if he’d never been born. But, it is so easy to get caught up in the trappings society thrusts upon us so that by the time Christmas roles around we are exhausted and just thinking about what is coming next.
Of course, there is nothing that says we can’t enjoy traditions that help to bond our families and point our eyes towards the reason for the season.
Finding a balance is exactly what Hal and Melanie Young’s latest book, Christ Centered Christmas, is all about.
This title is filled with ideas to build those precious memories of holiday time with your family and friends. You’ll find some stories from their own family (e.g. Ornament of the Year) as well as crafts and recipes sure to make your Christmas both enjoyable and memorable.
I’m already dreaming of making Granny’s Christmas Tea to enjoy during these cold days of winter. And, I think the boys would love making Whoopie Pies using the recipe in this book. On the baking end of things, I love the spreadsheet they’ve included listing all the ingredients in a manner that you can plan for how much flour, sugar or other common ingredients you’ll need to have on hand. The Christmas Eve menu builds on those baked goods and has me eager to plan something more special for our family this year. They even have you covered for Christmas Day when it comes to food.
Topics such as Santa Claus and Christmas gift giving are covered as well. I have to admit that there are times I almost wish we didn’t ‘do’ Santa Claus in our house. And, I am working hard with the boys to remove emphasis off the idea of everyone getting ‘wonderful’ gifts. Both of these topics are difficult to manage in our secular society where we are bombarded by ads implying Santa will bring you anything your little heart desires.
You can order Christ Centered Christmas from Raising Real Men.
Disclaimer ~ We were sent Christ Centered Christmas in ebook format to facilitate this review. No monetary compensation occurred and all opinions are our own.
Thanks for sharing this. I know what you mean by wanting Christ to be the emphasis for our children and then dealing with the whole ‘santa’ thing in our society. I wrote a short ebook last year sharing simple, Christ-centered activities for kids and I also shared how my family dealt with the Christmas tree and Santa. My ebook is free….it is from the Lord! You can find it on my blog called, The Alabaster Jar, http://www.joleneengle.org. The book link is in my sidebar on my site. May it draw you closer to the Lord!
Blessings and Merry Christmas!
jolene engle
We work hard to keep the emphasis on celebrating Christ’s birth, rather than on presents. We read the Bible (Matthew and Luke) each night leading up to Christmas Day. We also try to emphasize giving by involving our kids in the process of choosing/giving gifts to our Pastors and Missionaries.
Debbi,
What a wonderful way to keep the focus on Christ and living the life He calls us to lead!
We all go to church together, even my children who have moved away from the Lord. They do it to honor me, but I do it to honor HIM.
We open our presents on Xmas eve, We always had problems or had two occasions for my first son was born on Xmas eve so I tried to have a party early in the month for him to make it special and to try and separate the two. Rita
It is hard to keep the real reason in mind for sure. Society and the world makes it so hard when in some places you can only say Happy Holidays and they are eliminating any Jesus or thoughts of him. Our society is anti God for sure and we are loosing our Christian rights while being polite allowing others their rights? Rita
One of our traditions is to always put out our Nativity set outside with a Christmas Star hanging above it-
the star was made by my hubby’s Dad with him when he was a child and it was handed down to our family and now has new lights and silver paint that our kids added with their Dad. Our neighbors all enjoy our light up display that reminds us all of Jesus’ birth 🙂
Merit,
That sounds just beautiful! I need to dig out our decorations this weekend as the boys and hubby will be harvesting the tree. And, “I Need a Little Christmas!”
Hello from Kansas!
May you have a sweet Holiday Season and a very Blessed Christmas.
Sounds like a great book!
d