12 Intentional Days of Christmas Podcast interview with Wren Robbins & Mallory Allen. Listen to podcast episode 22 here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/faithful-31-moms/id1522181677?i=1000501059720
“Purpose Determines Priority”— Adrian Rogers
What is your priority this Christmas? Is it Jesus? What purposeful things can you do with your family to teach them this? With all of the shopping, meal planning and making arrangements for travels or for guests coming to stay are in full motion—somewhere in the middle of making all our lists and checking them twice, we can easily forget to be INTENTIONAL with our kids in teaching them that Christmas is about Jesus!
TOP 12: Make sure that we have our priorities are right this DECEMBER! You may even have to say NO to some things….
12: TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF! These are just SUGGESTIONS today…you don’t have to do everything. Ask the Lord to help you today choose how He wants you to be intentional this December.
11. Bake cookies (or buy a little something thoughtful) and give them to neighbors, your mail person or someone you live close to.
- EASY Snickerdoodle recipe by Mal: 1 pack of sugar cookie squares, 1/4 sugar, and 1 tbsp cinnamon….that’s it! Roll cookie squares into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Bake according to cookie pack directions. See….so easy yet festive!
10. Do something with your kids to help others: It may look different this year in the pandemic. Participate in: packing a Samaritans purse shoe box, help a family in need that you know from your church, school or neighbor, etc with a financial gift to buy Christmas gifts for their children.
9. Create a salt dough Nativity (or use store bought clay), then bake and let the kids paint them. Talk with them about the Nativity story as you work. Then, set them up with the Christmas decor in your house….your kids will be so proud!
8. Throw a Happy Birthday Jesus Party! Kids really respond to this because they identify with birthdays being a BIG deal in their own lives. Celebrating Jesus in this way, will help them understand that Christmas really is a day for JESUS! Use Idea #1 as the craft and interactive Bible story portion of the party and pair with some sort of cake or dessert to share in singing happy birthday to Jesus. Do as much or as little as you like with a few suggestions: use a candle for the dessert for kids to blow out, have the kids help you bake, invite neighbors or friends over to come share in the celebration, have the kids do the decorations, etc.
7. Make prayer a priority this Christmas season. Prayer before world—before social media, before shopping on amazon for presents, before the kids are up.
6. Make a Christmas paper chain with your kids (all you need is red and green construction paper, scissors and a stapler!) to decorate the house and on every paper chain piece write prayer requests and praises to the Lord together. Another idea, is to make homemade wrapping paper for you gifts this year. Use craft paper and have the kids Christmas stamp, fingerprint or glue pom pom balls onto them…they turn out really cute with a nice bow! Inside each gift or on the bottom, have the kids write that person a note or a prayer for that person.
5. Write a letter to someone to show how you are thankful for them. Maybe your spouse or a friend that has made a difference in your life.
4. Display your Christmas Cards: String them up with twine and clothes pins or incorporate them into green garland on your mantle or stairs. After the Christmas season is over, save them and use them as prayer cards to remember to pray for your friends and family throughout the next year.
3. Send a sympathy card—encourage one of so many who have lost a loved one this year, especially this year with the pandemic and so much loss!
2. Intentional Bed times: Read through the nativity story with your favorite children’s Bible (Jesus Storybook Bible, etc.)
- Other great Christmas reads for kids:
- Berenstain Bears: “The Joy of Giving” and “Christmas Angel”
- “God Gave Us Christmas”
- “A Birthday Party for Jesus”
- “The Crippled Lamb.”
1. Printable Nativity from Faithful 31 Moms at LWF. A fun idea to spend quality time with your kids or a creative way to do your Christmas Eve story reading this year!—ALL while your children are learning and you are all celebrating together the greatest gift of Christmas…JESUS! All you need is colors and scissors and you are set! Download and print here: