A Great Christmas Idea

Blake and I are going to be at our house this year on Christmas day with our kids (something that has never happened before!). We are sad to not be with family in Oklahoma and to not be down with my family sooner, but we are really excited to start some traditions of our own and be able to celebrate this day with our little family! I have been thinking a lot about traditions and what kind of things we want to incorporate into our family during the Christmas season. We have been reading Advent passages (not 100% faithfully mind you!) to prepare our hearts for the true meaning of this season, when Jesus "who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant,being born in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:6-7).

I have loved reading what other people do during the Christmas season with their families and have tried to find ideas that will point us back to Jesus. I want to share a very simple, but I think very effective idea to get our hearts and minds in the right place.

"I thought of you..."

On Christmas mornings ever since my now six foot tall sons (3) were little, we GIVE our gifts. The pile by each person has the gifts they are giving, not getting, and "I thought you could use this Dad" or "I thought of you the minute I saw it" can be heard instead of "it's MY turn".

This was on one of the GirlTalk blog posts (one of my favorite websites) about Christmas traditions. Check out the full post here.

What a great way to turn the attention from what I am getting to what I am giving! I am looking forward to starting this with our family this year, and praying that this little practice will assist my little ones to be more mindful of giving than receiving.