Simply Celebrating Christmas: Ten Traditions

We decided to keep packaged gifts to a minimum this year, which left me wondering: how are we celebrating the season?  Yet as I reflected further, a number of our family traditions came to mind.  Coming up with a list Christmastime traditions we've developed (instead of a wish list) was a valuable exercise.  It helped me see that taking the focus off of stuff and celebrating the season in other simple, memorable ways truly is possible.


Here are some of the traditions we enjoyed this year:

1.  We chose new ornaments.

My ornament this year was inspired by passages in Isaiah.

2.  We performed a dramatic reading from Luke 2.  Our 7-year-old was the director and assigned the parts.  This year she was Mary, her little brother was Joseph, and Mama and her younger sister were angels.  Daddy was the donkey (and a shepherd).

3.  We took family portraits (and sent them as gifts).

4.  We sang Christmas carols at home and at church.

5.  We watched Christmas movies and specials, such as:

6.  We opened our time capsule ornament again (from 2001).

7. We made gingerbread cookies.

8. I savored a sample of my mom's fruitcake.

9. We connected with parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and siblings via phone calls.

10. We enjoyed spaghetti made from scratch by my husband.

What was a meaningful way for you to celebrate Christmas this year?