25 Christ-Centered Christmas Traditions

First, a disclaimer. I love Thanksgiving. I never begin the Christmas season until Advent. I recently pinned this:

But if you’re going to prepare an activity or two for Advent, which begins December 1st this year, you probably want to start thinking about it now.

And a second disclaimer: I don’t mind if you’ve already put up your tree and Christmas lights are twinkling on your house.

And a third and final disclaimer: I despise all of the 10 ways to do this, 15 steps to a perfect holiday, 25 things that will frustrate you to no end if you actually try them, etc. So, I hesistated to title this post with a number. But, this is just a list of ideas. And a lot of them are really low effort. I’m practical, remember? I have perfectionistic tendencies around the holidays, but entering my 8th season as a mom, I’ve mellowed. And realized that most of my wonderful ideas just aren’t.going.to.happen. Welcome to reality.

I do want to share some ideas with you, though. You might want to use one. Maybe even two, who knows! In those eight seasons of Christmas as a mom, I’ve come up with some practical traditions that help accomplish my goal of celebrating it WITHOUT STUFF. It is possible! We have a wonderful, joyous, exciting Christmas season…and it doesn’t involve my children getting any presents. WHAT?! Seriously. I wasn’t sure it would be possible, but it is. You should hear how excited they are already. And, we don’t do anything elaborate.

I’ll stop talking about it now and just share the file. 25 Christ-Centered Traditions for this Christmas season.

Even better, I’ll be blogging about these different traditions in the run-up to Advent. December 1st! So if you read one and are intrigued, but not exactly sure what it involves, where to find it, how to set it up, etc., never fear! Check back this week, I’ll be sharing all the details.

[Edit: Here are my Child-Friendly Nativity Recommendations and my Advent Calendar Round Up, for the completely non-crafty to the seamstress!]

In the meantime, share your own ideas in the comments! And check out my holiday Pinterest board, where you’ll already find links to some of these ideas, and more!

(Note that when you click on the image, you’ll see a larger version of the image, but it will still be a little hard to read. If you want a clear copy, just click the link below the image to get the pdf!)