A Christ-centered Christmas Tradition
Today I wanted to share one of our favorite Christmas traditions! I don’t even remember how long ago we started doing this, but I look forward to it every year.
Each Christmas morning, before the wrapping paper frenzy begins, we kneel together as a family and offer a prayer of gratitude for all the gifts that we have because of Christ’s birth. We then each take a few minutes to review our “gift to Jesus” from the previous year and ponder a gift we would like to give Him in the coming year.
We each write these gifts down and place them in our special box. Taking these few minutes out on Christmas morning is such a special way to ground us and help us remember the true reason we are celebrating.
What is a “gift to Jesus?”
The beauty of this activity is that this will be different for every one of us. I like to choose something that I want to work on in the coming year and often tie in my gift with my “word of the year” that I’ve chosen. Other times I select something completely different.
This gift can be anything that you feel you want to do or work to become in the coming year.
It could be a “one time” project or service you want to accomplish.
It could be an ongoing, everyday effort to develop a more Christlike characteristic.
It could be specific.
It could be broad.
It can be anything you’d like!
The thing I emphasize as we do this is to choose something that will help me remember Him and become more like Him.
Free Printable Gifts to Jesus Tags
You can use this cute printable to record your own gifts to Jesus this year!
You could follow our pattern and do these on Christmas morning and then put them in a box.
Or here are some other ideas that you could use these gifts to Jesus cards for:
- Have a special stocking just for Jesus. Write your gifts and place them in a stocking. Leave the stocking up all year to help you remember Him and your efforts to give to Him.
- Use these cards for your Primary class or Activity Days group. Have a lesson about true gifts of Christmas and then have each child write down their gifts and take them home.
- Punch a hole in the top and tie these to your tree. You could even do this at the beginning of the month and have each gift be things that are short and can be accomplished within the weeks leading up to Christmas.
- Instead of putting the gifts in a box, post them on a mirror or bulletin board, place them in your scriptures our journal, or put them in another spot where you will be reminded often.
If you want to keep Christ as the center of the Christmas season, come see our Christ-centered printables to decorate your home! They’re perfect to display with your favorite nativity scene!
