Tis' the Season

My little countdown ticker says 33 days till Christmas.. Christmas is the day we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Although many Christians and even Non Christian Biblical Scholars believe that Jesus was born in the spring (April 6), Christmas is celebrated on December 25th.. This is mainly due to the Christian "conversion" of pagan traditions. However it came about, the meaning is the same.. and for Christians, Jesus' birth is what we are celebrating...

I love the "Christmas Season". In fact I love the last 3 mos of the year.. Fall, with the colors and smells, is one of my favorite things.. And it all wraps up nicely with Christmas.. The one thing I do not like is the commercialism of the "Holiday". It seems more of a way to get a business out of the red than to celebrate some as important as Jesus.. I ask this year that all of us try to focus more on the Jesus part.

Every home has its traditions. In our house we decided when Jacob was born to not put a big focus on Santa.. at the time it was more because one, Mom has a hard time of keeping track of things and didn't want to get busted and two, we didn't want to start our kids with materialistic ideas. The reality for us was the gifts are from family member who love you, but may be on a budget, not a fabled source with unlimited resources. Its the spirit of Christmas we focus on.. But Santa is not obsolete.. He does leave candy on the tree and treats in out stockings..

One of my favorite traditions is that each year I make the kids a special gift.. Its my gift to them and I do it all by myself.. the best part is I didn't start off as a crafty person, and still struggle with most of it.. But the result is fantastic.. The kids have blankets and pillows that have kept over the years. As the kids get older I have had to come up with other ideas, last year I painted a few of the kids library bags and this year I have a few ideas in the works, but nothing concrete yet..

Another tradition we do is one my mother started, and we embellished upon. Each year I get the kids a special ornament for the tree.. Its the only gift we open on Christmas eve. Each Christmas eve we look at lights, come home for hot coco and open our gift.

The Tree is always real.. It goes up right around Jacobs birthday ( the 18th) and comes down New Years day. The kids help decorate it with ornaments from years past and a few new ones they may decide to make.. The other decorations start going up after Thanksgiving. Not around Halloween as seems to be the new tradition.

The meal has been basic.. although Joe wants to experiment with some meat combination ideas, I prefer ham with pineapple and cloves for Christmas. Green Bean Casserole is a MUST have and my family knows to make one just for me.. We have added a new dish to the menu, birthday cake of course ;)

As the traditions have been set in place my children seem to have a better understanding of the Christmas spirit. For them, they enjoy as much as I do the feeling of Christmas.. The gifts are fun but its not the all.. I posted a gift giving resource on my frugal blog. This year my kids will be working on handmade gifts as well.. We would have liked to undertake a service project but feel we may not be able to do a big one with all of our other undertakings. As the kids get older we will have the opportunity to do more..

Lastly, for Christmas, read the scriptures and other related material, in regards to the birth of Christ. Take time to recollect the story with your family..