If you know me very well you know that I love to decorate one room in my house at Christmas to be my Jesus room.  I have all the nativities I have collected over the years displayed in here.  I also have a tree that is decorated with symbols of Christ and pictures from his life.  My sister-in-law made me a beautiful felt nativity scene that has 25 pieces to count down to the holiday and by the last day the scene is complete.  All of these are favorites at my house at Christmas time.  Of course, another room has stockings and snowmen and village sets and a Christmas tree decorated with all the fun ornaments we have collected over the years or our children have made.  I love both rooms; but, today I wanted to focus on this new item that was added to my Jesus room and the new tradition that goes with it.

http://www.christwaslove.etsy.com

My good friend, Kristina, has done all the leg work for me.  She has commissioned new art and found a scripture to go with 25 days counting up to Christmas.  I thought about many different ways I could use this.  I could use it teaching a lesson at church or during Family Home Evening and just shoot them all at the same time.  I could just use it as a decoration and flip the cards over as we counted down.  Or I could try to incorporate it into something my family is already doing.  I decided to try and incorporate it into something my family is already doing and I’m really hoping it will help bring the spirit of the true meaning of Christmas into our whole month of December.

For several years now, my family does a nightly devotional.  It is more than just family prayer.  Each night we each take a turn to tell everyone something happy from our day and something sad.  It is a great conversation point and helps us all to be deeply invested in each other’s lives.  We also get an insight into the emotional state of our children and in general what is happening with them at school.  It is a good practice for everyone to do a quick review of the day.  I think we appreciate the days we are given more when we take a moment to reflect on all that happened in 24 hours.  We also have more gratitude as we are forced to think of something good that happened even on bad days.  And we gain empathy for each other when we see that everyone has to deal with something from the day that didn’t go quite right.  It is one of my favorite parts of the day.

Next, we read or memorize scriptures.  With such a young family we usually have a scripture for the week that we work on memorizing.  If we have more time or as the kids get older we can incorporate more time into family scripture study.  Of course, this doesn’t replace personal scripture study.  It’s fun to see the kids hear scriptures in church, during a talk or something, and then they will look over at me with wide eyes and knowing looks.  They’ve heard that one before, and they recognize it.  Their little brains are being formed with God’s word and there is nothing better to influence them. We then end with a family prayer.

For Christmas time, with my new scripture advent calendar, we will use the scriptures on the back of each card for our nightly scripture.  I’m so excited about this because I really think it will help my kids focus on the true meaning of Christmas nightly before they go to bed.  We can pass around the card with the picture on it and quickly discuss what the picture and scripture are about.  We are already in a good habit of doing a verse or two every night so it won’t be a huge strain to add this in and make it consistent.  I didn’t have to put much time and effort into figuring out what would best go next and finding art to keep the kids interested.  The best part is it does make a good decoration for my Jesus room and it is something that can last for many years as a tradition while my kids are growing.  It seems like it would make a great gift for my kids as they go off to live on their own.   A tradition that can be handed down to their children.  We will keep Christ in our hearts and at Christmas.  What better way to bring your children up right, then to bring them up as stewards of our Savior?  I can’t wait for Kristina to do all the work for me again and make an Easter advent calendar!

What traditions does your family do?