Things have been winding down here as we all focus our time and attention to the One reason for this entire season of celebration and as we treasure the many gifts that He has given us. I hope and pray that in these coming days you are able to truly celebrate the humble yet glorious arrival of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I pray that each of you enjoy a meaningful celebration of His birth with your dear families, and that you experience Christ in new ways this Christmas.

If you haven’t already but would like to share what is on your heart this Christmas, please visit the post Your Heart This Season and leave a comment so we can all pray with you and praise Him as well for what He is doing in your life, whether it be through joyous celebration or perhaps even through a trial that is causing you to cling all the more closely to Jesus.

We look forward to getting things up and running again here after the New Year! There are some fun plans in the works, including the “Christmas Around The World Photo Challenge!“ Be sure to snap a good picture or two of your celebration or of the festivities in your city or town to submit. There will be a fun prize for the winner!

Have a blessed Christmas!

I wanted to open up this post today just as an opportunity for discussion and to hear from you about what your heart is feeling in the midst of  this holiday season. In an ideal world, this season would simply be full of joy, and anticipation, and pure worship of Jesus. I know however that with this time of year, along with those deep joys and powerful opportunities for worship, other strong emotions often arise.

I know many of you moms may be desiring to treasure the holidays but may be fighting the Christmas rush. I don’t just mean in the sense of shopping, but in the sense of life, in the sense of trying to hold on to tradition in the midst of everything else, in the sense of ministry, and so much more.  It can be so easy for this season of joy to become a season of stress. This time may also bring with it loneliness for many. Many of you live overseas and far away from family and may be mourning the loss of time with loved ones and the loss of beloved traditions. Many of you in the US may live in different states than your extended families and may not be able to be together to celebrate. It may bring about sadness as you are in the midst of what should be a season of joy yet are in the midst of a hardship or trial or loss in your life. If you are experiencing any of these struggles this season, I hope first of all that you experience Jesus as your hope, peace, joy and savior, and also that you know that you are not alone in these feelings!

Whatever you are experiencing in your heart at this time, it would be so wonderful to have an opportunity to share together with one another as you feel comfortable! Please take a moment to share in the comments as well as to pray for one another. Praise God with those who are experiencing a season of joy and happiness, and please hold up in prayer those who are facing various hardships or trials. I look forward to praying for you!

(Post by: Ashley)

Holidays, especially Christmas, are wonderful reasons to do crafts and other theme-related activities with your children. Since children learn better by doing, crafts and activities help to make the significance of Christmas and the story of Jesus’ birth much more real and meaningful, and they can strengthen age-appropriate skills. Crafts do not need to be elaborate or cost a lot of money to be meaningful and they make inexpensive gifts for friends, neighbors and family.

First I would encourage you to invest in a nativity set that’s safe for your children to play with, one that will not break or be a choking hazard. In addition to the heirloom fancy nativity set, we also have a few sets made from plastic and wood which we allow our girls to explore. Especially our 4-year-old understands the Christmas story and usually she acts out the story with her nativity set. It’s beautiful to see her working out the story of Christmas in her own way, through feeling the pieces in her hands and having the figurines “talk” with each other. Just yesterday she held the two Mary’s (one from each set) and pretended they were friends and rode on the donkey to Bethlehem! Barbara Curtis’ blog, MommyLife, has listed here some suitable children’s nativity sets: http://mommylife.net/archives/2009/10/nativity_sets_f.html

Here are some craft suggestions and websites with more ideas to help your kids celebrate the season:

• Make a paper chain, either to countdown to Christmas Day or just for decoration. This can help encourage patterning (green, red, green, red).
• This website has some good ideas; I particularly like the handprint wreath and brown paper stocking. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/
• This website also has some good ideas; I especially like the apple cinnamon ornaments to give as gifts or the Christmas hanger wreath for a door decoration. http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/christmas.shtml
• Danielle’s Place has a wealth of ideas for crafts for the whole year. Here is the Christmas page: http://www.daniellesplace.com/HTML/Bible_themes_-_Christmas.html
• Secular crafts involving Santa, stars, reindeer, and Christmas trees can be redeemed by discussing with your children the real stories behind them. An example being teaching them about the historical St. Nicholas and how he loved Jesus and served others by giving gifts or why a star or angel is placed on the top of Christmas trees, to signify those parts of the nativity story. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Nicholas
• Lastly, sites such as Oriental Trading Company carry crafting kits and supplies which make for fun projects, or may give you ideas and inspiration for things to do with your kids. Here is their Christmas page: http://www.orientaltrading.com/christmas-a1-90000+1240-6-0.fltr

What are some projects you’ve done with your kids? Please share so we may all enjoy your ideas!

(Post by: Addie)

The first Christmas after our wedding, my husband and I began to discuss traditions that we wanted our family to have.   Growing up in church, we knew about advent through the lighting of the candles each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas.  But we wanted to know more of the meaning behind advent and to bring it into our home.   This is what we found:

Advent is distinguished by a spirit of great anticipation and longing… a cry for deliverance from this world of sin and eagerly awaiting Christ’s return.   It’s also a time of commemorating Jesus’ first coming and reflecting upon all that He has given to us.

A typical advent wreath has three purple candles, a rose colored candle, and a white Christ-candle in the center. (of course, it’s rare to find these on the field… we’re happy to just find 5 candles!)  Purple is the color of repentance and fasting as well as royalty to welcome the coming of the King.  Purple is also the color of suffering.  As we look to Christ’s birth and second coming, we cannot separate these from His death and resurrection.  The pink candle is lit the third Sunday before Christmas and symbolizes joy!

The wreath itself (circle) symbolizes God Himself.  He is eternal and His mercy never ends.  And the light of the candles reminds us that Jesus is the light of the world!  He comes into the darkness of this world and into our lives and brings us new life and hope.  The light is also a reminder to us to live as children of light and to reflect God’s character to others.  As each candle is lit over the four weeks, we are reminded of this time of waiting and anticipation.  With each passing week, the light shines brighter and the darkness is less.  When the Christ candle is lit on Christmas day, we are reminded clearly that the Light has come into the world and that He fulfills his promises.

Each week/candle also holds a theme.   The first candle of Advent is the candle of Hope; the second is the candle of Peace; the third is the candle of Joy; the fourth is the candle of Love.  As a family, we choose scriptures and songs that coincide with these themes throughout that particular week.  On the Sunday when we introduce the new theme, we invite our neighbor over to join us.  The other nights of the week, we celebrate either as a family or as a couple after our daughter goes to bed (we want her to be a part of the tradition, but it can be distracting to have her join us every night!)

I love celebrating advent in these weeks preceding Christmas.  Despite whatever else is going on, I feel like it keeps bringing me back to Christ and who He is… and the true meaning of this wonderful season!

Does your family celebrate advent? Would you like to share some special ways that your family celebrates this joyous season of anticipation?

(Post by: Jami)

As we discuss the many traditions of Christmas, likely the greatest known tradition of all is that of gift giving. But what should giving look like during this season? I think you will be greatly encouraged by Advent Conspiracy’s ministry whose goal is to encourage believers to worship fully, give more, spend less, and love all during the season of advent. Please take a couple of minutes to watch these clips and to be greatly encouraged and potentially motivated to change how you give!

Also, Vicky at The City Cradle has been doing a great series on Advent Conspiracy. Go here to read more!

What do you do in your family to keep the tradition of giving focused on loving the Lord and loving others? Please share!

I was attempting a “happy family” moment.  It was time to decorate the Christmas tree. My daughter had had a basketball game that morning. When she came home and showed off her skills to her older brothers, she fell – so she was limping around with a  huge, oozing  scrape on her knee. One brother sat on the couch across the room and literally threw the ornaments at the Christmas tree to see where they would stick. The other brother was being the tree Gestapo. (WHO PUT TWO RED BALLS ON THE SAME BRANCH ?!!!)

That was years ago. My children of course have happy memories of decorating the tree together every year. They don’t quite remember things like I do!

Traditions have been a thread that have given our family continuity through all our changes. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you are establishing your own.

Keep it simple: your kids are more likely to remember that mom was stressed out than the end result  of elaborate preparations. Simple things work just as well.

Keep it movable. Some things are just lost to you when you move from country to country. We loved Guy Fawkes Night and Boxing Day when we lived in England – but we couldn’t keep them when we moved away. But there were other traditions that could go with us everywhere – and even now have gone with my kids as they have moved away.

Keep it up. There are times when it seems that no one but you cares about keeping the traditions. (Oh, Mom, do we have to do that??)  Don’t give up. There will undoubtedly come a time when they will treasure the memories, even if those memories are not … entirely accurate!

We had one Christmas when my husband was in the hospital and I did not know if he would walk or speak or eat again. There was another when we were all grieving the loss of our home, our friends, the culture that had become ours. But we kept the small traditions, and, over the years, they helped to keep us.

What are some of your family’s Christmas traditions? Have you experienced any challenges unique to your lifestyle that make it difficult to maintain tradition? Do you have any other suggestions to share on how to carry on with family traditions?

(Post by: Carolyn)

We recently had a Christmas party for the women on staff with our ministry during which we had a fun time brainstorming ways to use this joyful season to share the gospel as we celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. I thought I’d share a few of the ideas that we had, and it would be so great if you could share your ideas as well! Let’s not only celebrate Jesus with our families and friends this Christmas, but let’s help others have the opportunity to truly celebrate Him as well!

Some fun ways to share the love of Christ during the Christmas season:

-Bake cookies for your neighbors and put a Bible verse on the card. As you deliver the cookies take the opportunity to get to know your neighbors a bit more and share the significance of Christmas with them if it is a foreign holiday, and if it is not foreign to them, share its’ personal significance to you. Be sure to ask them how they celebrate Christmas if it is celebrated in your host culture, and if it is not, ask them about a religious holiday that they might celebrate. Use the conversation about traditions to find out their religious background and to share the gospel. (Perhaps deliver packaged tea or candies if you don’t know your neighbors well and think that they might not eat cookies made by a stranger).

- Host a Christmas party for the kids in your neighborhood or in your kid’s class at school. Many parents, even if they aren’t Christian, will be happy to let their kids go to a party where they will have fun and learn about a different culture. Christmas cookie decorating is a big hit and is a fun piece of American culture to share. Also making gingerbread houses (or you can pre-make them and have the kids do the decorating) is a fun party activity. You can use rectangular cookies if you don’t have gingerbread and don’t want to go to the trouble of making it.  Making Christmas ornaments is also fun.  Be sure of course to share the story of Christmas! For those of you familiar with the Jesus Film, there is also The Jesus Film For Kids if you have access to it in your language. It has been highly translated.

-Have a Jesus Film party. This film is translated into almost every language and is a great film to show at a Christmas outreach. You can structure a party or gathering around the film. If there are few movies actually translated into the native tongue of your host culture, this film will be all the more exciting to those who see it. We have heard stories of people pirating the film in the Muslim regions of my host country simply because it is the only film in their native language! You can use other Christmas movies too for the sake of entertainment and use them as a platform for discussion about the true meaning of Christmas. It’s A Wonderful Life would be a good movie to use, or a variety of others, though this would leave much less time to focus on Jesus since the bulk of the time would be spent watching the film.

-Invite some women over to bake Christmas cookies with you. Use the time to share the significance of the Christmas holiday in your life and why you celebrate it. Use the informal time to get to know them better and what they think about Jesus and spiritual things.

-Throw a birthday party for Jesus. Little kids especially LOVE birthdays, and what a better way to help them understand the meaning of Christmas than celebrating Christmas for what it is, Jesus’ birthday! This is of course as easy as throwing any other birthday party, and you can share the story of Jesus’ birth in any number of ways.

Now it’s your turn! Please share some things that you have done or would like to do to share the love of Christ and meaning of Christmas this season! Your ideas and suggestions will be a blessing and help to others and just might be the cause of the gospel reaching people this season that it otherwise wouldn’t have!

(Post by: Ashley)

It seems that holidays overseas have a tendency to go one of two ways. Often they feel more sacred than before as we savor those special moments and traditions that are a part of our own personal history, and as we celebrate our God through meaningful tradition, often in a culture that does not love Him. There is something about remembering and giving thanks to God at Thanksgiving and celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus on Christmas in a place where it seems that nobody else is honoring Him… and as each of you faithful moms in the U.S. can certainly attest to, this reality of celebrating Jesus when nobody else does is just as true in America as it is in many countries overseas! This feeling of celebrating the Lord in the midst of a culture that does not love Him can be such a powerful reminder of the value of our work and the meaning of our existence as lights for Christ in this world. We can pray that the world around us would some day celebrate Jesus with us, and strive to make Him known as we celebrate Him through tradition. Tradition also bonds families together as we share these special moments in the midst of a culture that may be continuing on as always, or perhaps rather giving tribute to Santa Claus or someone or something else that is not at all the “reason for the season”. These days are special bonding moments for the missionary community as well as we come together in a foreign land and remember our own culture and traditions  and have the chance to be ourselves, something that we often shy away from as we seek to become more a part of the culture that we live in.

A second thing can happen too. Sometimes we begin to forget the meaning of our own traditions. Ministry and life are so busy and the culture doesn’t recognize our holidays, so it can be easy to give a quick half salute to the day and continue on with life as normal. Besides, decorations may be scarce or non-existent depending on where you are, not to mention that some of you may be welcoming hot summer weather rather than crisp snow and hot cocoa. There is also the loneliness that can set in that might make us want to be less sentimental about the holidays to spare ourselves added heartache. I know we have experienced several somewhat forgotten holidays since moving overseas. In theory we would have loved to have savored those holidays as we do at “home,” but in real life on the field we didn’t feel like we had the time or a festive feel around us to motivate us to make the effort. I’ve always felt a sense of loss when a holiday came and went in this way. I always realize in hindsight that we missed out on lasting moments that could have deepened our family bonds and gratefulness for our heritage, and we traded them for days that blended in with all of the rest. Not only that, but more importantly, we missed out on a special time to worship God as a family and time to create memories of honoring Him together.

If I could afford to send each of your a Christmas gift this year, I would send you this book. The great thing though is that it is free online at Desiring God Resources (click the icon above)! I’ve been thinking a lot about our family traditions as the holiday season approaches and decided to “pick up” (aka “download”) this book after remembering a dear friend having recommend it. It is such a wonderfully written book that goes into the heart of tradition, why they are meaningful, and how deeply they impact us and shape who we are. There is of course a great chapter devoted especially to Christmas that I have found very helpful as we seek to make sure we truly honor Jesus fully this season, and as we are in that young family stage where our traditions are still taking shape. It is a short book and a quick read, but it is something that you could refer back to many times and be encouraged by.

On which side of the spectrum do you feel like your traditions fall? Are they sacred and clung to? Do they have a tendency to be forgotten at times? What are some ways that you treasure God in your traditions?

(Post by: Ashley)